A technician works in the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH, August 12. Last year, more than 22 employees lost their jobs, and the station expects to have budget cuts as high as 8 percent this year. | Daniel Sato/Voices
By Yowei Shaw
Voices
In December, National Public Radio laid off 64 employees and canceled two California-based shows, “Day to Day” and “News & Notes.” In June, PBS informed workers that 45 positions would be eliminated, roughly 10 percent of its staff.
At the local level, television station WGBH in Boston recently imposed weeklong worker furloughs and suspended the station’s match on employee retirement plans to close a deficit. Even stations that managed to balance budgets are cutting back on discretionary spending and avoiding extra phone calls, mileage, and meals.
“We’re certainly traveling less and we’re not bringing food in for meetings that we might have in the past,” said Jason Daisey, chief financial officer for television station KERA in Dallas. “We’re watching what’s discretionary and what doesn’t make a difference in the end result to the quality of content we bring to the local community.”
But the forecast is not entirely bleak.
“Public broadcasters need to put the recession in perspective,” says Paul Niwa, a professor of journalism at Emerson University. “Commercial broadcasters are in much worse shape.”
Commercial media depends heavily on advertising revenue, whereas public radio and TV draw from several sources of funding including corporate underwriting, individual donations, government support and endowment payouts. “One of the greatest strengths of public radio over the years is the diversification of funding,” says Greg Schnirring, senior director of radio at the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. “In any particular year, one of those things might be more down so other areas can try to make up the difference.”
This year, the recession has placed significant stress on all levels of funding for public broadcasting. According to a CPB analysis in January, public radio and TV revenues may drop $418 million this year with the biggest losses in corporate underwriting. Yet, some local stations are experiencing benefits. Pledge drives are said to be successful and audience numbers are going up.
At WFCR radio in Amherst, Mass., program director Helen Barrington was pleased to hear this from one listener during the station’s pledge drive: “My hours were cut and I was thinking I wouldn’t give any money, but then I realized I’m going to be home more now and listening to the radio so I decided to give.”
The number of listeners is not only going up but stations and national shows are seeing a whole new audience opening up online.
Jonathan Dyer is managing editor of “The World,” an international radio news program produced by the BBC World Service and WGBH in Boston. He says there have been more than 1.5 million downloads of the show’s podcasts and “who knows how many new listeners.”
Dyer appeared with six other public broadcasting experts Friday at an AAJA panel on the future of PBS. The panel was held in the theater of WGBH’s new state-of-the-art facilities. WGBH produces the majority of programs for PBS.
“We are looking at doing more with less,” Dyer said. “But this is a creative opportunity because it does mean we have to go beyond our conventional boundaries.”
New media has dissolved some of the barriers to the world of public broadcasting: expensive equipment and technical know-how.
“The biggest explosion I’ve seen is cheaper technology. It gives access to anyone with a small camera, who can shoot,” said Raney Aronson-Rath, a senior producer for the PBS program “Frontline.”
Aronson-Rath says “Frontline” is still very limited in what it can air. But its online program, “Frontline World” is more accessible and offers a chance for more experimental projects.
And veteran journalists are forced to learn new skills and adjust to the changing environment as radio and TV production becomes cheaper and more accessible.
Arun Rath, host of the podcast for “Frontline,” has gone from “radio to TV back to radio and then both TV and radio. Now I’m doing podcasts. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.”
Public broadcasters are no different than their commercial counterparts having to reinvent themselves to stay marketable. And while they admit this is not a good time for the industry financially … public radio and TV experts are optimistic that their industry will stay relevant.
[podcast]http://blogs.aaja.org/conventionnews/wp-content/podcast/blogvx.mp3[/podcast]
Wanna-be radio insider on public broadcasting’s future
When my editor Traci Tong sent me a list of possible stories to cover, I jumped at the chance to report on the future of public broadcasting.
That was before I had the facts.
I’ve been seriously considering a career in public radio. But my initial research was a bit depressing.
First the bad news:
• Public radio is projected to lose roughly $83 million in revenue this year
• The entire system may lose $418 million in fiscal year 2009
Here’s the good news and what helps Me Sleep at Night:
• WNYC and WBUR, the local public radio stations in New York and Boston exceeded their pledge expectations
A Future of Public Broadcasting panel gave new hope to those who want to break into the industry. If you can work across various journalist mediums, there could be a future for you.
(Facts courtesy of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and Current.org)
