NPR Announces Cuts To Staff, Programs

[CatholicEdHead]

Source: NPR

NPR.org, December 10, 2008 · NPR News announced Wednesday that it is canceling two daily radio programs — Day to Day and News and Notes — as part of a broader effort by the company to close a projected budget shortfall of $23 million for its current fiscal year. Overall, NPR will cut 7 percent of its work force and slash expenses further around the company.

"It's a very difficult time for us all, but NPR is not exempt, unfortunately, from the recession that has covered our country in the last several months," Dennis Haarsager, NPR's interim president and CEO, said at its corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We simply must react to it in a responsible way — and that's what we've tried to do."

The two shows will go off the air on March 20, and the 34 journalists working for them will lose their jobs, including hosts Madeleine Brand and Farai Chideya. The shows are both based in Culver City, Calif., at NPR West, a major satellite operation.

Day to Day was designed as a midday complement to mainstays Morning Edition and All Things Considered, while News and Notes, a successor to The Tavis Smiley Show, was intended to draw more African-American listeners. Beyond the two shows, another 12 journalists will lose their jobs throughout NPR News.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98095326

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This is not surprising given the climate. Out here in American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio territory we only get Day to Day and not News and Notes.

[Captain Hilts]

1. They had Bill O'Reilly on this morning. Forget them. nt

[Bonescrat]

11. It was surreal...

I've been in a 2nd shift situation for awhile. Just long enough to get used to it. Then I get put in a training class for two days requiring me to be at work at around 8am. Being so used to getting home late and getting up late I couldn't fall asleep before 3am or so. Not a happy morning at 6 when oozed out of my bed...

I finally got around and got in the car. The radio was on NPR from the ride home the night before. I turned the car on. O'Reilly...? I did a double take on the station. Sure enough, it was our local NPR station. I said out loud (LOUDLY),"What the fuck is O'Reilly doing on NPR?"

Seriously! What the fuck was Bill O'Reilly doing on NPR?

I shut it off and drove to work.

[ogneopasno]

2. This is very sad. I like Madeleine Brand.

[Glorfindel]

5. Me, too

And here in darkest Mississippi, NPR is about the only "alternative" source for entertainment and information.

[rurallib]

3. On the Talk of America show this afternoon the reason given

was softness in corporate underwriting. Or the way I would say it, non commercial NPR was not selling enough commercial time.
NPR has been about as much of a lackey as the other so called M$M. They have been a major hindrance to the diversification of media in this country.
Sadly they are the closest this corporate media country has to an alternative voice.
I would say it is time for them to let Williams and Liason go to FUX full time and let Cokie haunt ABC.

[jkappy]

12. the only game in town...but even then, for whom?

i can listen, i can listen, but just so long.... till that upper white middle class voice just gets to me. and does npr ever step outside the framework of default liberalism/conservatism---or the status quo. if so, only locally, and very rarely. that voice they demand of their producers just kills me (the idea of a voice on one's own is verboten on npr)

[mrs_p]

4. well, if they didn't have so many

nincompoops on who spew right wing shit then maybe i'd give them money again. if they want to please the right, then let the right pay and my money can go to better news sources like democracy now.

edit: grammar

[newscott]

6. In an ironic twist during their recent fund raising

I heard the local host going on and on about how the networks are cutting back and the newspapers are cutting their staff but not NPR!


D'oh!

[harmonicon]

7. two not very good shows...

I feel bad for the people losing their jobs, but neither of those shows is very good at all. News and Notes is a little better than Day to Day, but to call it "good" would be quite a stretch.

[Ohio Joe]

8. As long as I get my Car Talk and Wait Wait

I can live with it, I don't listen to much else on the radio.

[MaineDem]

9. My two favorites!

I do enjoy Marketplace, too.

[CatholicEdHead]

13. Marketplace is American Public Media (Minnesota Public Radio)

and not National Public Radio, so they are safe from NPR-specific cuts but APM will probably be announcing cuts sooner than later. :( Marketplace is probably pretty safe as it is pretty popular and well received by all.

[Elidor]

10. More at WaPo

Hit by Recession, NPR to Lay Off Seven Percent of Staff

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 10, 2008; 2:44 PM

<snip>
Washington-based NPR said it would lay off about 7 percent of workforce and eliminate two daily programs produced out of its facilities in Culver City, Cal. The shows include "Day to Day," which was aimed at younger listeners, and the newsmaker-interview program "News & Notes," which NPR hoped would attract African Americans.

The layoffs of 64 of NPR's 889 employees is designed to close a $23 million shortfall in NPR's current fiscal year, said Dennis Haarsager, NPR's interim president and chief executive in an interview. The cutback will affect all departments, including reporters, producers, researchers and digital media employees.

<snip>
Underwriting -- the public broadcasting equivalent of advertising -- accounted for about a third of NPR's annual budget, and is the most seriously impaired. In particular, the decline of support from companies in the entertainment, automotive and financial fields prompted NPR to cut its projected underwriting revenue from $47 million to $33 million this year, according to Dana Davis Rehm, NPR's senior vice president of strategy and partnerships.

At the same time, some of the stations that carry NPR's programming are themselves in trouble, threatening NPR's fees from its member stations. For example, WBEZ-FM, a Chicago station that hosts production of the weekly program "This American Life," on Friday announced a round of layoffs amid expectations of a drop in revenue from pledge drives and other sources.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121002064.html?wprss=rss_nation

I'm hopeful that under a democratic administration they can free themselves somewhat from the creeping politicization and corporatism that has affected them in recent years.

[3.141592653]

14. I love NPR but...

I've never really understood why the Federal Gov. subsidizes it. Come on, NPR, stand on your own two feet or shut your doors.

I love ya, but if you cant make it then move out of the way and let someone new onto the dial.