California’s public broadcasting stations to start laying off staff

The KPBS newsroom File photo courtesy SDSU Dozens of California masses broadcasting stations will lose millions of dollars in funding after Republicans in Congress voted to strip them of federal funding cutting off a vital lifeline in rural communities and limiting access to local news initiatives in an era of hyperpartisan national media While California broadcasters are assuring audiences that they plan to keep their signals running they also warn that cost-saving changes are inevitable Radio and television stations of all sizes across the Golden State say that to survive they ll likely be forced to lay off staff and cut activities unless they re able to make up the losses through fundraising Their leaders warn that the cuts will disproportionately harm locally produced programs the the greater part expensive to create but among their greater part popular content that inform millions of listeners and viewers Republicans have long demanded to cut funding for community broadcasting arguing such services should be funded by private donors not taxpayers Their efforts prevailed when Congress last week finalized the Trump administration s request to rescind billion from the Corporation for Populace Broadcasting which provides grants to National Populace Radio the Populace Broadcasting Arrangement their affiliates and other independent masses media creators All nine of California s Republican members of Congress voted in favor of the funding cuts Now roughly stations from San Diego to Hoopa in Humboldt County have lost critical funding While a large number of inhabitants broadcasters remain hopeful that they ll find methods to endure all agree the rescission undermines the egalitarian mission of population media to create a nationwide infrastructure that provides access to quality information stories and music for local communities That has been our superpower explained Joe Moore president and general manager of KVPR Valley General Radio in Fresno His station lost about of its budget or from the CPB The New York Times doesn t have the type of resources in Alaska or in North Dakota or on tribal reservations bringing local news from these communities that constituents radio does Smaller stations whose budgets relied heavily on federal dollars to make ends meet are the greater part at exposure of closure In Eureka the community-owned PBS affiliate KEET-TV stands to lose nearly half of its operating budget due to the defunding of CPB To survive all of its funding will need to come from population patronage since the station has no institutional backer such as a local college or school district David Gordon KEET s general manager and executive director says that as much as he hopes the station will stay afloat even at reduced quota he won t make the same bold proclamation that We re not going anywhere like several stations have I can t guarantee that KEET will be here once the dust settles from this defunding move Gordon commented He emphasized that he was speaking for himself and not on behalf of his station I hope it is and I think there s a good chance that it ll survive in specific form But absolutely will it I don t know if I can say that Nearby Mendocino-based NPR member station KZYX was forced to lay off its news director after losing of its operating budget or from the CPB That means news will include fewer in-depth stories such as interviews with city council members or county supervisors mentioned Andre de Channes KZYX s general manager and director of operations There isn t the time to source out those kinds of things he explained So the news gets more like a headline news The station serves roughly listeners including in Mendocino County and part of Lake County When de Channes first learned about the CPB cuts he right now worried about fire safety since listeners who live in off-the-grid rural areas without access to internet or cell system rely on KZYX for urgency information Those potentially lifesaving exigency alerts became a rallying cry for residents media providers and their allies as they begged Congress to preserve funding for their stations especially those in remote rural areas that also tend to be Republican Frank Lanzone the longtime general manager of the NPR-affiliated KCBX in San Luis Obispo disclosed his station has sometimes been the only on-air source providing urgency information during severe weather events There s been several times in very bad storms when we re the only station on the air in our area because of either power outages or people s generators ran out of propane reported Lanzone who has worked in residents radio for more than years KCBX which serves about listeners from Santa Barbara to Monterey will lose in funding from CPB about of its operating budget It s going to hurt the stations and the people that listen to them who need it the the majority Lanzone revealed The the majority vulnerable the ones out in the middle of nowhere Local programs are greater part at pitfall Both radio and television station leaders emphasized that local offerings shows that are created and produced in-house rather than purchased from another producer will be first on the chopping block To produce locally focused inhabitants television activities stations must invest additional time money and work on top of the membership dues they pay to be affiliated with PBS which unlocks a large catalogue of activities that they can air at no additional cost For PBS viewers in the Inland Empire that likely means the loss of popular local programs such as Inland Edition an Emmy-winning weekly half-hour residents affairs show and Learn With Me an award-winning bilingual English-Spanish children s show both of which are produced in house by affiliate KVCR The local stuff that s so essential to people is apparently the stuff that ll go away reported Connie Leyva executive director of KVCR and a former Democratic state senator The station stands to lose about in annual CPB funding about of its budget The U S Capitol in Washington D C on July Photo by Aashish Kiphayet NurPhoto via Reuters She emphasized that the station also desired to preserve its journalism staff two full-time reporters and one part-time who have in recent times focused on federal immigration raids taking place across the region If we re not here the Inland Empire is just hearing about what s happening in Los Angeles Leyva mentioned We want to know what s happening in our backyard what s happening at the schools around us what s happening at the Home Depots around us Large stations and independents suffer too While larger radio stations such as KQED in San Francisco are better equipped than their smaller counterparts to withstand the blow to their budgets they too will lose massive chunks of funding that at this time fund journalist positions and popular shows Tony Marcano who runs a statewide partnership architecture of citizens radio stations and CalMatters known as the California Newsroom explained the loss of society funding will require even more collaboration Smaller stations are likely to be more affected but that doesn t mean that the large stations are out of the woods Marcano declared There ll be pain KQED one of the country s majority of listened-to citizens radio stations and the largest in California laid off employees earlier this month and lost more from early retirement offers The reduction came on the eve of Congress passing the budget cuts and is KQED s third round of layoffs in just five years Though the station stressed that the cuts were due to longstanding financial challenges KQED now stands to lose close to million or about of its revenue LAist the Los Angeles area s largest NPR affiliate laid off eight people earlier this year and has slashed positions since It will lose million in federal funding about of its budget The consequences go beyond newsroom staff and programs The federal regime funds repairs to transmission infrastructure and played a role in helping negotiate artist royalty fees on behalf of local stations Radio Biling e a Central Valley-based organization that is one of the largest Spanish-language radio outlets and broadcasts throughout the U S and Mexico was in the final stages of negotiations for a million grant from the CPB to improve its transmission equipment which hasn t been updated since the s But the funding rollback means it will have to find the money elsewhere announced Hugo Morales the group s co-executive director and founder You re talking about transmitters that are years old Morales disclosed At a few point it s going to give out and we re going to have to find somewhere else to raise the money for that Morales also made the hard decision earlier this year to cancel the construction of three additional stations across Arizona and New Mexico that would have primarily served rural communities and farm workers who don t have access to broadband The organization and its stations will lose in annual CPB grants roughly of its yearly budget During the COVID- pandemic Radio Biling e shared vital information about testing centers vaccine availability and how to sign up for social services in Spanish and Indigenous languages such as Mixteco and Triqui The loss of CPB funding will also jeopardize independent documentary filmmakers supported by the San Francisco-based ITVS which Congress created in as an independent provision with a mandate to increase diversity and innovation in residents media It received roughly of its budget million from federal grants ITVS leaders say the group has partnered with hundreds of independent filmmakers to co-produce more than feature documentaries distributed to PBS stations nationwide Community media is a space for all Americans revealed Carrie Lozano the organization s president and CEO These films are not partisan They are generally speaking films that touch everybody s lives They are there in utility of the citizens In anticipation of the cuts the organization laid off employees in June or roughly of its staff Lozano expects roughly films to lose out on funding this year a big cut from the to feature and short documentaries that ITVS typically funds every year While the organization is determined to stay afloat Lozano worries the loss of federal assets will prevent crucial stories from being notified and create a domino effect on the rest of the ecosystem There s no question that this is a huge blow to the field Lozano mentioned and to everything that surrounds it CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable