Posted on 03/27/2023 7:19:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On Thursday, NPR disclosed that they were stopping production on several podcasts as part of a larger series of cutbacks the nonprofit news organization has been forced to make as they confront a decline in revenue projected at $30 million.
According to the Washington Post, this week "the Washington-based audio and digital-news organization began laying off about 100 employees, or 10 percent of its staff."
The employee layoffs mark one the most significant staff reductions in the company's 53 years of operation.
The company's most popular shows, All Things Considered and Morning Edition, remain in production and will continue to broadcast on public-radio affiliates but their podcast division has been reduced.
The NPR program Invisibilia, which premiered in 2015 and dealt with psychology and the social sciences, at one time topped Apple's podcast charts but has become one of the shows the company has ended production on.
The foreign news analysis program Rough Translation and hip-hop culture show Louder Than a Riot were also axed along with the comedy show Everyone and Their Mom.
NPR has said they are "stopping production" on the shows, not that they were canceled.
NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said, "Unfortunately, NPR has had to take painful but necessary steps to address its financial issues. We’ve tried as much as possible to retain industry-leading podcast portfolios and focus on key strategic priorities, daily habits and serving new audiences."
NPR previously froze new hiring and made $20 million in budget cuts in November 2022.
NPR chief executive John Lansing said in a memo to staff, "Unlike the financial challenges we faced during the worst of the pandemic, we project increasing costs and no sign of a quick revenue rebound. We must make adjustments to what we control, and that is our spending."
Lansing said that if not for the recent cuts the company would have become fiscally insoluble by 2025.
NPR's budget is funded in part by taxpayers and the company claims that amount is 2 percent of their overall revenue. The rest is made up of ads, payments from stations, and donations.
"NPR reported revenue of $309.7 million and an operating surplus of $28.8 million in fiscal 2021, the most recent year figures are available. This was a sharp increase over its pandemic-beset fiscal 2020, when it recorded revenue of $275.4 million and a $13.6 million operating surplus," reports the Washington Post.
1) Don’t celebrate too very much. Most companies are slashing. It’s not just them. This doesn’t reflect go woke, go broke. They would be getting hit if they were hardcore conservative, too.
2) The problem is not their bias. The problem is their location. They live in and around DC and that’s a blue area. THIS is the problem. Their philosophy derives from very objective judgement of what they see around them, which is blue.
3) You want balance? DRAIN THE SWAMP. Don’t watch any MSM that is based in LA, NYC, DC — and that’s all of them. And btw, STOP POSTING STORIES FROM THESE OUTLETS. They are farming FR clicks and sending money to the DNC.
Click and clack was the ONLY thing worth listening to on NPR. They’d probably get better ratings if they moved to a different broadcasting venues.
Ugh. I remember touring DC in 2016 (to see the capitol before Killary destroyed it) and boy the tour guides were BRAGGING about the brand new NPR/PBS HQ being built there.
Truth. I loved how they would often skewer leftist idols. Remember their "gayest car" list? LOL! Funny because it was so true.
NPR was solid Democrat, not liberal. If a liberal disagreed with a Democrat, they were treated just like a conservative. During Iran-Contra, they repeated every rumor about supposed arrests that were going around. When allegations were made about Clinton, they said they didn’t spread rumors. When the blue dress came out, they labeled it “salacious” and said they would avoid it.
I knew someone who was a contractor for NPR and they didn’t pay squat.
While tax paying employers are having to layoff people by the thousands. NPR lays off a hundred and it’s “significant.” ROTFL!
NPR and PBS reporting nauseates me. Both of those organization’s employees can burn in Hell.
100 employees is a good start. I’d rather see 100% though
Die NPR die!♠️
RE: NPR always offered CHOICE, and without NPR, my choices are limited.
Do we have a CHOICE as to whether or not we want our tax dollars ( taken from us under the barrel of a gun ) to be used to fund them?
100 layoffs sounds like a good start.
The low end of the FM dial is the most valuable? I hadn’t realized that.
Antiques Roadshow is good—but I miss the brothers who were so entertaining.
Also—Keeping Up Appearances is funny-—
I miss As time Goes By
I got confused with PBS——
SORRY
I was shocked to hear they only have 700 employees.
They way they talk, you would think it was 10,000
the Car Guys...
Oh yeah, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, a.k.a. Tom and Ray Magliozzi. The show was called Car Talk.
Used to listen to them every Sunday on the way home from Church.
Now they're doing commercials for eBay motors.
Don't drive like my brother! I loved all of the made up names in their closing credits. "Russian Chauffeur - Picov Andropov"
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