There is an interesting article in Friday’s Democrat & Chronicle newspaper outlining what problems local TV stations face with moving the date to switch from analog to digital.
What I found interesting in the article is a comment by the CEO of WXXI who said the station stands to lose a large amount of state aid, from $1.6 million to $825,000 dollars, this fiscal year. The big question is how does the station plan to make up that deficit?
My guess is they will be laying off staff. There will be no raises. And expect more pledge drives.
Now I know that the defenders of public broadcasting ( alw, Bob 1370 and Fybush) will most likely respond to what I have to say, and of course they are welcomed to offer their comments. But after reading that article and noting that over a million dollars in state goes to just one public station, I have to wonder how much of our total tax dollars goes to support the other public stations in New York? And in these tough economic times, couldn’t that money be best spent elsewhere, or even used to help erase the multi-billion dollar deficit New York faces? And in all honesty these figures kind of shoots down the theory that taxpayer dollars play a little role in the overall funding of a public broadcasting operating. I personally know of several commercial stations that would love to have $1.6 million or even $825,000 extra added to their budgets.
With national underwriting and grants virtually drying up, public stations will have to rely more on local contributors to stay afloat. And let’s be honest here, donating to public radio and TV isn’t going to be a top priority, especially in a household where the main bread winner may have just lost his or her job.
My suggestion to help public stations ease the pain of losing state aid is as follows:
1. All top executives making over six-figure salaries take a 10% pay cut.
2. Eliminate some top and middle management positions.
3. No pay raises this year.
4. Cut back on some local programs.
It is almost a certainty that public station executives have already been meeting behind closed doors to figure out the percentage of staff will lose their jobs. I just hope that they don’t layoff people who actually do the work, while keeping others on the payroll who contribute very little except to have a nice job title.
What I found interesting in the article is a comment by the CEO of WXXI who said the station stands to lose a large amount of state aid, from $1.6 million to $825,000 dollars, this fiscal year. The big question is how does the station plan to make up that deficit?
My guess is they will be laying off staff. There will be no raises. And expect more pledge drives.
Now I know that the defenders of public broadcasting ( alw, Bob 1370 and Fybush) will most likely respond to what I have to say, and of course they are welcomed to offer their comments. But after reading that article and noting that over a million dollars in state goes to just one public station, I have to wonder how much of our total tax dollars goes to support the other public stations in New York? And in these tough economic times, couldn’t that money be best spent elsewhere, or even used to help erase the multi-billion dollar deficit New York faces? And in all honesty these figures kind of shoots down the theory that taxpayer dollars play a little role in the overall funding of a public broadcasting operating. I personally know of several commercial stations that would love to have $1.6 million or even $825,000 extra added to their budgets.
With national underwriting and grants virtually drying up, public stations will have to rely more on local contributors to stay afloat. And let’s be honest here, donating to public radio and TV isn’t going to be a top priority, especially in a household where the main bread winner may have just lost his or her job.
My suggestion to help public stations ease the pain of losing state aid is as follows:
1. All top executives making over six-figure salaries take a 10% pay cut.
2. Eliminate some top and middle management positions.
3. No pay raises this year.
4. Cut back on some local programs.
It is almost a certainty that public station executives have already been meeting behind closed doors to figure out the percentage of staff will lose their jobs. I just hope that they don’t layoff people who actually do the work, while keeping others on the payroll who contribute very little except to have a nice job title.