The silver anniversary of Hawai'i Public Radio will be celebrated Nov. 13, and listeners probably don't realize what an achievement it is to survive 25 years in the difficult climate of American public broadcasting.

There is National Public Radio "network" linking stations, but only in the the most loosely confederated sense possible. HPR pays to broadcast popular programming — like Garrison Keillor, whose "Prairie Home Companion" live broadcast on Saturday is part of the celebration.

But for financial survival, HPR draws largely on its own, grassroots resources.

The station derives about two-thirds of its money from listener donations; private gifts account for much of the remainder. A little less than 8 percent comes from the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting — and HPR would like to wean itself even further.

Reliance on government funds is a bad gamble for public broadcasters, as the corporation's political turmoil of recent years illustrates. Some federal funds are necessary to support stations serving sparsely populated regions such as Alaska or other wide-open states where commercial radio would struggle. But financial independence, where possible, is far better: Stations then are accountable only to listeners, who vote with their dollars.

The best birthday wish for HPR would be for more of the same, enabling public radio to sharpen its "made in Hawai'i" brand.