NPR Budget Shortfall

[TheBigA]

NPR announced staff cuts earlier this year, and now we see how big their budget shortfall is:

http://www.insideradio.com/free/mar...cle_301dd980-cbdc-11ea-bb1d-0f36979bfaca.html

So there will be pay cuts across the board and more staff furloughs.

 

[boombox4]

So, it sounds like the underwriters are hurting and/or pulling back from NPR, too.

 

[TheBigA]

So, it sounds like the underwriters are hurting and/or pulling back from NPR, too.

Today, the government announced the GDP of this country dropped by a record 32%. That means about one third of our economy just disappeared.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/30/us-gdp-economy-worst-quarter-covid-19-unemployment

The concept of largesse exists in a strong economy, when companies have excess wealth. That's not the case right now.

This hole will take years to dig out of. It's not the kind of thing that will get fixed quickly by some miracle virus cure.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Today, the government announced the GDP of this country dropped by a record 32%. That means about one third of our economy just disappeared.

No, it means about 1/3rd of the economy would disappear, if those conditions had persisted for an entire year. The quarter-to-quarter decline was between 8% and 9%.

 

[Kemosabe]

Local stations are affected as well. In recent weeks, my public stations—both radio and television—have dunned me with increasing frequency and urgency.

 

[b-turner]

Underwriters, many times, are businesses that, like the commercial radio counterpart, has seen radio spending decline substantially. Even underwriters that may be non-profit have likely seen substantial drops in their contributions from contributors. Certainly listener donations are down as well. Much of public radio's dollars come through grants and donations from non-profits and companies that may not be classified as traditional businesses. Underwriters are largely businesses reliant on customer count and consumer spending.

Many stations on the commercial side have seen easily a 50% loss in advertising revenue due to the pandemic. Of the LPFM stations I know, it's about a 75% loss. I only know a couple of public stations. One shared with me they dropped from $160,500 to a projected $40,000 assuming things do not improve in coming months.

Radio, both public and commercial has struggled to win back dollars since the housing bubble burst. The pandemic is just salt in the wounds.