WQED to lay off 35% of staff due to federal funding cuts

[AMRadioGuy]

That report is from two decades ago and says nothing to indicated that there was permanent staff there.

A selection from a decade of visits to tower and studio sites in the Northeast and beyond

Glad I didn't miss anything, David. That was all I could find on Fybush's site, too. No mention of the staffing situation on that page as you note.

 

[khoculock]

So if we do the math, that means there were around 55 full & part-time employees there. That does seem (to me at least) to be on the high side for an organization with a single TV station and single classical radio station. Especially considering (to my knowledge - please correct me if I'm wrong) there's not a ton of locally originating programming on the TV side. It's not 1970 w/ Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood anymore at WQED.

I'm not advocating that a bunch of their employees are fired/laid off as is now the case. But I do question whether 55 full & part-time employees were needed. The number seems high at first blush. But admittedly, I don't have a TV nor any streaming services, so I don't know what all they do on their TV channel - just what I've heard. I do listen to the FM relatively frequently, though.

It is excessive. Management won't agree, though. WPSU-TV has 44 employees now, but it's doing a lot more than WQED these days, mostly because they have better programming resources among the Penn State faculty. Now they're under fire because WHYY in Philly, their proposed "buyer", won't guarantee employment to everyone on staff. Nor should they.

 

[radiofan2023]

It is excessive. Management won't agree, though. WPSU-TV has 44 employees now, but it's doing a lot more than WQED these days, mostly because they have better programming resources among the Penn State faculty. Now they're under fire because WHYY in Philly, their proposed "buyer", won't guarantee employment to everyone on staff. Nor should they.

I bet you're yet another person who's never worked in public broadcasting.

 

[Yabadabado1]

Good thing Fred Rogers is dead. I have a feeling we'd be watching "Mr. Roger's Unemployment Line" or maybe "Mr. Roger's Block"

 

[Yabadabado1]

Ignore this post. This site apparently has a stutter and repeated the one up above.

 

[davideduardo]

Actually they're running DHS spots now paid for with public money.

Stations have run spots funded by local, state and national government for as long as I have been in radio.

And, of course, one of the big income items for local newspapers for decades was government legal notices, which by law in nearly every jurisdiction had to be published in a widely circulated journal.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Stations have run spots funded by local, state and national government for as long as I have been in radio.

And, of course, one of the big income items for local newspapers for decades was government legal notices, which by law in nearly every jurisdiction had to be published in a widely circulated journal.

Oh yes, I know. All these years later I am still getting mail addressed to my dead mother and all of my siblings after they had to publish my address in legally required notices as her executor. I don't dispute that this hasn't been going on for decades. Only that it does create a conflict of interest. You can't really cover someone objectively if they are a source of revenue. It's why all those consumer reporters who used to investigate car dealerships disappeared.

 

[TheBigA]

You can't really cover someone objectively if they are a source of revenue.

So then how do you propose to pay for that reporting? That's the situation we're in now. Nobody wants to pay, and you get what you pay for.

 

[ILOVERADIO]

Radio stations have not "staffed" transmitter sites for decades. And the bulk of maintenance is on the station's transmitter, associated power and audio and metering gear, a generator and the antenna. Stations did not ever spend a lot of time on "tower maintenance" which is not frequent or management time consuming.

Just like the sales staff at commercial stations.

Many stations still do client promotions and format-related events. And most do contesting, even if for tickets or t-shirts.

I donated to the LA TV public station after enjoying a particular show, and I got regular calls for further donations. The last one was in "Chingrish" and I could not even understand most of it. So they were using offshore call centers!

When I looked at the Pittsburgh radio ratings, I could not find WQED. I listen to them on the Internet sometimes. Their local morning and afternoon drive time shows both sound good. I often heard WQED in prior years, and they always sounded professional. I’m curious why they are not listed.