Another Round Of Layoffs At America’s Largest Public Radio Outlet

Staff cuts at New York Public Radio (NYPR), which operates news/talk WNYC-AM/FM (820/93.9), classical WQXR (105.9), WNYC Studios, New Jersey Public Radio, and the Gothamist online news publication will affect 8% of the public media group’s workforce.

The action is being taken as the group faces a $10 million budget deficit, President/CEO LaFontaine Oliver explained in an email to staff.

“While we have continued to control what we can control to avoid this moment — including the staff cuts in the fall of 2023, re-introducing a hiring hold, eliminating senior executive roles, forgoing annual increases in 2023, and keeping our paid internship program on hold — it hasn’t been enough to outpace increased expenses and declines in revenue,” Oliver said in the email. “Our deficit continues to climb, and with our Q4 reconciliation complete and the books closed on FY24, we are now projecting a deficit for FY25 that is on course to once again reach more than $10 million by the end of the year.”

Last September, NYPR reduced its headcount by 12%, due to a “free fall in the advertising market,” Oliver said at the time. In announcing the cuts to staff this week, Oliver explained, “For-profit, nonprofit, and public media outlets alike are continuing to sustain losses wrought by declines in advertising, shifting audience behaviors, disruptions in the tech space, stubbornly high interest rates, and overall uncertainty in the markets.”

Sponsorship and underwriting support of NYPR’s radio outlets have seen “a rapid decline,” he said, adding that “competition for philanthropic support is stiff, not only from our peers in nonprofit news outlets who are accelerating their pursuit of these same dollars in the face of increased challenges. Membership, long the hallmark of the public media model, is being strongly impacted by shifts from legacy media to digital platforms.”

While the number of affected positions has not been announced, union reps say 30 employees will lose their jobs due to the cuts.

NYPR is offering voluntary buyout packages over the next two weeks before it will institute the job cuts in mid-September.