Wisconsin Public Radio cuts staff, will end shows to reduce deficit

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Wisconsin Public Radio cuts staff, will end shows to reduce deficit - Current

The station also cited “pressures around state and federal funding” faced by public radio nationally.

current.org

This mirrors similar situations among local public media outlets around the country with KQED, WGBH also facing cuts in local staff due to cuts to federal funding to CPB.

Wisconsin Public Radio announced Friday that it is laying off employees and ending production of four programs to address a budget deficit.

The station will stop producing three nationally distributed shows: To the Best of Our Knowledge, Zorba Paster on Your Health and BETA. It is also ending University of the Air, a show that airs statewide.WPR did not disclose how many employees it is laying off in the announcement posted on its website. Citing an anonymous source, a WPR news article posted Friday reported that the station is cutting 15 full-time positions and leaving several vacancies unfilled. The station has not responded to Current’s request for details about the cuts.

 

[b-turner]

Sounds like to me the ratings drop meant fewer dollars from donors and perhaps underwriting. Some layoffs were discussed up to a year ago. Sounds to me like they are making adjustments based on their research of what listeners want.

 

[Fighting Irish]

Sounds like to me the ratings drop meant fewer dollars from donors and perhaps underwriting. Some layoffs were discussed up to a year ago. Sounds to me like they are making adjustments based on their research of what listeners want.

The ratings don't mean as much to WPR, or most public stations for that matter. Might help for underwriting, but that's about it. Keep in mind, the largest market they have a news/talk station in is Madison (#89). The rest (Green Bay, LA Crosse, Eau Claire, Wausau, Superior/Duluth, etc.) are in much smaller markets. Last year, they flipped their Milwaukee area station to their classical music service (with news/talk on HD2), as WUWM (non-WPR) was already entrenched as the local NPR outlet (and duplicated a large amount of programming).

This is all about the shaky economy, and the threat of federal defunding. The ratings, for what it's worth, are probably the same or higher than they've ever been, once Milwaukee is removed from the equation.

On a side note, WPR should work a deal with WUWM to pick up their shows. At this point, they could easily fit in to the schedule.

 

[TheBigA]

During the senate hearings last week, it was pointed out that if the rescission happens, it will take effect at the end of the year. So stations have about six months to figure out how they will handle an 8-10% budget cut. If they're already in the hole thanks to a softening of the sponsorship market, then it's a good idea to get ahead of the curve. In the old days, stations would do national shows because they were easier to fund than local shows. But if that sponsorship is harder to find, then it's one way to cut costs.

 

[radiofan2023]

During the senate hearings last week, it was pointed out that if the rescission happens, it will take effect at the end of the year. So stations have about six months to figure out how they will handle an 8-10% budget cut. If they're already in the hole thanks to a softening of the sponsorship market, then it's a good idea to get ahead of the curve. In the old days, stations would do national shows because they were easier to fund than local shows. But if that sponsorship is harder to find, then it's one way to cut costs.

Also, in the past, when station shows like KQED’s Forum were run on SiriusXM’s NPR channel, the station didn’t get anything in terms of payment from SiriusXM.