According to the Boston Globe an hour ago...
Yesterday, their News General Manager announced she'll be leaving at the end of May.
Yesterday, their News General Manager announced she'll be leaving at the end of May.
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WGBH Initiates Layoffs
- Thread starter theotherguy
- Start date
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like no matter how many times one of us tries to explain that ad revenue is down across all media, it's usually met with crickets or another post about how someone is doing layoffs. It's almost like reality doesn't stick.
But the minute a DJ uses VT, they're destroying radio. People want what they want, they want it their way, and they want it for free with no commercials or begging for money.
From the Herald this past March:
Meanwhile, WBUR’s on-air sponsorship income plummeted by about $7 million in recent years. As a result, WBUR is looking to begin the next fiscal year with a budget that’s at least $4 million lower than this year.
4 million in the hole.
Well there's no debate there - anyone who reads radio or any media trade can see that. In Q1 I think Audacy was the only radio company that wasn't down? But it was only up by a percent or two.
They cut 31 staff members & 3 TV shows:
GBH cuts staff and programming
GBH announced layoffs of 31 staff members on Wednesday, representing 4% of its overall workforce.
www.wgbh.org
I noted that some of the local PBS affiliates WETA and WMPT are running much more NHK and BBC news and shows than home-grown. I'd imagine that programming is either a yearly flat rate that stations pay anyway, or free.They cut 31 staff members & 3 TV shows:
GBH cuts staff and programming
GBH announced layoffs of 31 staff members on Wednesday, representing 4% of its overall workforce.www.wgbh.org
i can tell you BBC is a flat free, for radio, per year.
Since there are only a handful of physical radios in your area, you must get the lowest rate ever.
Kidding, of course...
Unfortunate. Thank goodness here in Phoenix, the public broadcasting model is different with the PBS station (KAET) owned by Arizona State not owning the main NPR station KJZZ, although they do have a classical station KBAQ & they're not having any of these issues with the amount of local programming they've got & compared to GBH & WETA, they're not a major PBS affiliate. Helps being owned by a major university in ASU.They cut 31 staff members & 3 TV shows:
GBH cuts staff and programming
GBH announced layoffs of 31 staff members on Wednesday, representing 4% of its overall workforce.www.wgbh.org
There are lots of that same model everywhere, and they're all suffering the same thing. WAMU in Washington, DC is owned by American University, consistently top three in major demos, yet still is feeling the slow down in underwriting, having to lay off a batch of folks recently. WAMU has to pay for NPR programming like everyone else. WHUT-TV is owned by Howard University, and a PBS affiliate, and they've cut back on expenses too. At this rate, it's only a matter of when, not if, ASU will need to cut expenses.
What does it say about staffing levels when 31 positions are cut. And 96% of positions remain? 31 positions are 4% of your workforce? That’s a staffing level divorced from reality.They cut 31 staff members & 3 TV shows:
GBH cuts staff and programming
GBH announced layoffs of 31 staff members on Wednesday, representing 4% of its overall workforce.www.wgbh.org
Keep in mind it's both a TV and radio station. And they're not co-owned with anybody else. So they don't share back office, engineering, or maintenance staff with 6 others stations. They're all in Boston. This is what radio was like when a company owned an AM, FM, and TV in one town. You prefer consolidation?
You’ve never worked at a public tv station or a public radio station, have you?
I liked it just as you described: an owner could have ONE AM, ONE FM, ONE TV station in a city/town. I, too, am probably divorced from reality, according to some (many?).
That's the difference between non-profit and for-profit.
Precisely! A far more diplomatic way of saying “divorced from reality”. Reality is over-rated lol. Especially present media reality.
Maybe WGBH should use its near 100K ERP signal for something Boston doesn't have Jazz and Blues and move away from News/Talk. Los Angeles has six Jazz stations. One of them, KKJZ (KJAZZ) is very popular and streams world-wide. Listener supported radio stations should offer the listener more options other than just news/talk on both GBH and WBUR. Even Boston's classical station WCRB, owned by GBH, has its transmitter in North Andover doesn't work south and southwest of Boston.
Like most NPR affiliates around the country, this isn't about a lack of listeners. It's about a lack of advertisers/underwriters buying traditional media. Also, surveys have shown the public is suffering from what's called 'donor fatigue' that is weighing on public stations being able to maintain budgets from donations. Changing formats to some jazz-fusion, or whatever music genre would probably kill an otherwise successful station.
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