KQED, the public broadcasting giant covering California, has laid off 45 people and accepted buyouts from 12 others, amounting to 15 percent of its workforce, according to an all-staff email sent Tuesday afternoon.
Michael Isip, the station’s president, wrote in an email at 3:30 p.m. that layoffs affected “all areas” of the newsroom. The workforce reductions would save $13 million a year, he wrote. Though federal cuts to public broadcasters remain a concern, Isip wrote, “for now, we have stabilized our financial position.”
KQED’s video team was hard hit: It will be disbanded entirely, Isip wrote, as part of the station “rethinking our digital video production strategy.”
KQED’s “Youth Takeover” program, in which high school students oversee KQED programs for a week each spring, will also “sunset,” Isip wrote. The station’s media literacy programs generally have been reduced in recent years, and Isip wrote that just a “core team” would be maintained.
Many of the laid-off employees’ last day is Friday.
“It comes with a heavy heart to let you know that this afternoon we completed conversations with those who will be leaving as part of budget reductions,” Isip wrote. The cuts, he added, are “painful, but necessary due to our financial realities amidst grave threats to federal funding and a tumultuous, fragmented media landscape.”
“Overall these changes will amount to a 15% reduction of our workforce,” he continued. “We are laying off 45 people.”
The station, which is 71 years old, will also pause salary raises and its employer match to 403(b) accounts — equivalent to 401(k)s, but for nonprofits — for a year starting on Oct. 1. Isip wrote that management was in contact with the KQED workers’ union about the changes.
Ten open positions will not be filled, Isip wrote.
KQED, KALW, and other public broadcasters have been facing an existential threat from Republican attempts to cut funding for public media. Congress is expected to vote on a $500 million annual cut this week.
The looming federal cuts combined with “market conditions” to put KQED in a poor position, the station wrote in a public statement sent Tuesday afternoon. It has been operating a $12 million annual deficit because of decreasing revenue in “key” areas, including “downward trends” in corporate sponsorships and philanthropic support.
Isip, for his part, ended his email saying the station was changed.
“For all of us who remain, we are a different organization today,” he wrote. “We are coping with dramatic change and loss and it will take time to adjust, reset and move forward.”
I was laid-off my job after 26 years; I got an even better job after that.
Horribly sorry to read this. The station does a great job.
So will Michael Isip take a pay cut? His $533,000 salary seems a little high. If I were him, I would take a 15% pay cut to share the pain imposed by the current administration.
Tax the rich!!!!