Cutbacks at NPR: Will The Economy Also Impact Local Affiliates?

[aaronread]

Many people may not know this but years ago WRUR could have been granted an increase in power only if certain paperwork had been filed with the FCC. That paperwork was never filed, therefore instead of a 20k FM signal the station today has what...2.5k?

A few weeks ago WRUR was granted an minor mod to increase ERP to 18000 watts. Admittedly with a goofy DA pattern, that throws a lot of the signal SE of Pinnacle Hill...but 18kW nonetheless.

 

[aaronread]

There probably should be a thread on the Maine boards about this, but the answer to the original question of this thread...Will The Economy Also Impact Local Affiliates?...is a resounding YES at Maine Public Broadcasting Network. They are shutting down (for six months, in theory) two FM's and one TV, laying off 6 staffers (of 86 total) and 3 open positions eliminated, many salaries are being cut, and contributions to the employee retirement funds are slashed. It's gettin' ugly up there in Maine!

Story by way of Current.org

MPBN shutting down transmitters, cutting jobs, salaries

Cutbacks in state and federal funding have prompted changes at Maine Public Broadcasting Network, President Jim Dowe announced to staff on Dec. 18. Six jobs will be cut from a full-time staff of 86. There will be a hiring freeze on three additional open positions, temporary wage reductions of 5 percent to 20 percent through the end of the fiscal year next June, temporary suspension of the company’s contributions to employees’ 403(b) retirement plans and the shutting down of transmitters for WMED-DTV in Calais, WMEF-FM in Fort Kent and WMED-FM in Calais.

 

[aaronread]

Holy crap! The hits just keep on coming: American Public Media's alleged $2mil deficit has spelled doom for Weekend America and its 13 staffers are in limbo.

While, of course, I don't have any inside knowledge of the situation....in my uninformed opinion I always thought the creation of APM was a naked power play and made little sense. It certainly antagonized affiliate stations, who now had to pay even more licensing fees to a third content clearinghouse (APM, PRI and NPR) and it fragmented things badly; neither PRI nor APM had any really rock-solid shows that could be viewed by affiliates as "they're not going anywhere". Well, maybe APM had Marketplace, but that's no Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air or Car Talk.

This led to all three outlets scrambling to sign new programs (for example, PRI "stole" Living on Earth away from NPR, but NPR "stole" Mountain Stage, too...and APM "stole" Marketplace, American Routes and Prairie Home Companion from PRI) and also to create new shows (APM's The Story, PRI's The Takeaway, etc). These are not bad things per se, but I think the feeding frenzy was way too much to be sustained in anything but a boom time, and now we're seeing the painful fallout from that.

I mean, in the past year or so: Bryant Park Project, Justice Talking, Fair Game, Infinite Mind, Day 2 Day, News & Notes, Weekend America...all gone. And WGBH is laying people off which could directly impact The Takeaway since it's a partnership between WGBH and WNYC. I really hope The Takeaway hangs in there...I like Morning Edition but morning drive needs SOME alternative.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Holy crap! The hits just keep on coming: American Public Media's alleged $2mil deficit has spelled doom for Weekend America and its 13 staffers are in limbo.

While, of course, I don't have any inside knowledge of the situation....in my uninformed opinion I always thought the creation of APM was a naked power play and made little sense. It certainly antagonized affiliate stations, who now had to pay even more licensing fees to a third content clearinghouse (APM, PRI and NPR) and it fragmented things badly; neither PRI nor APM had any really rock-solid shows that could be viewed by affiliates as "they're not going anywhere". Well, maybe APM had Marketplace, but that's no Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air or Car Talk.

This led to all three outlets scrambling to sign new programs (for example, PRI "stole" Living on Earth away from NPR, but NPR "stole" Mountain Stage, too...and APM "stole" Marketplace, American Routes and Prairie Home Companion from PRI) and also to create new shows (APM's The Story, PRI's The Takeaway, etc). These are not bad things per se, but I think the feeding frenzy was way too much to be sustained in anything but a boom time, and now we're seeing the painful fallout from that.

I mean, in the past year or so: Bryant Park Project, Justice Talking, Fair Game, Infinite Mind, Day 2 Day, News & Notes, Weekend America...all gone. And WGBH is laying people off which could directly impact The Takeaway since it's a partnership between WGBH and WNYC. I really hope The Takeaway hangs in there...I like Morning Edition but morning drive needs SOME alternative.

As my original post indicated, with this weak economy and people not spending money like they used to, expect even more bad news coming in 2009.

These layoffs and elimination of national programs are going to have a serious impact on all NPR affiliates across the country.

 

[Element9]

I'll (sadly) second that. The recession of '08 is going to affect public radio as critically as commercial radio. A few days ago while reading an account of the Arthur Madoff Ponzi scheme, an economics professor opined that he feared there will be more bad news to come on all fronts, resulting primarily from a lack of government oversight and flawed accountability in the private sector.

Hours later it was revealed that the SEC years ago looked the other way when allegations of impropriety were raised against about Madoff.

Now we've heared that Madoff's scam affected non-profits and charities as well (?) as corporations and individuals. Would it surprise any of us to find public and commercial radio stations resorting to minor and extreme measures, such as signing off at midnight or 1 a.m. just to save a few bucks on the electric bill, or as noted earlier, going silent and/or dark altogether?

These are not encouraging times. (Not like this is breaking-news on my part.)

 

[aaronread]

These layoffs and elimination of national programs are going to have a serious impact on all NPR affiliates across the country.

True, but let's not forget not all of them will be negative. It's not like there's going to be dead air on these stations. Well, okay, maybe on MPBN there is, but on most stations...they'll need new, cheap programming to fill the time. This is an ideal situation for the dozens of little independent productions out there that have mostly gotten to where they are via podcasting. Stations will want decent, free (or cheap) programming...these podcasts will want the exposure. Win-win.

Okay, yeah...obviously the world's still going to hell in a handbasket, but let's try and remember that it's not ALL doom and gloom.

 

[JakeLongwell]

I agree with Aaron in that this could be an interesting time for public radio and indie programmers.

While this is going to sound like a shameless plug for yours truly, I think it's relevant to the topic at hand.

After the holidays, I'll be launching several new radio shows. Initially, I was just going to have them broadcast locally, however, I decided to see if maybe some of the smaller non-comm stations out there might be interested in picking up any of these shows. Sure enough, I got a few takers right out of the box.

While I'm not trying to capitalize on someone else's misfortune, I realize that there could be more opportunities for these shows to be heard in more markets, maybe even on full power stations. After all, my shows come at the right price (free).