One may not associate advertising revenue trends with NPR, the nation’s largest provider of noncommercial spoken word and music programming. However, underwriting support in the form of ad dollars, a big driver of NPR Podcasts, is crucial toward meeting the annual budget.
There’s a problem. A $32 million gap between the annual budget and advertising revenue is shaping up. As a result, at least 100 people will be losing their jobs.
Roughly 10% of the NPR workforce will be parting ways with the organization, while vacant positions will not be filled.
That’s according to NPR reporter David Folkenflik, citing CEO John Lansing and comments made in an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday.
“When we say we are eliminating filled positions, we are talking about our colleagues — people whose skills, spirit and talents help make NPR what it is today,” Lansing wrote. “This will be a major loss.”
NPR’s annual budget is roughly $300 million; ad revenues are at least $30 million shy of what they need to be.
A cloudy financial outlook for 2023, something Sinclair Broadcast Group President/CEO Chris Ripley also discussed during that company’s Q4 2022 earnings call on Wednesday morning, is also impacting Lansing’s decision-making.
As noted by Folkenflik, NPR’s programming division, which produces its podcasts, has more than doubled since 2019. Lansing is “1000%” committed to podcasting as well as signature newsmagazines Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
While some will argue that both programs have taken a decisively liberal, progressive approach to its content, NPR remains a vital and oftentimes singular source of news and information on the radio dial. In South Florida, WLRN-FM maintains a commanding lead over iHeartMedia News/Talk AMs with respect to spoken word programming. In Washington, D.C., WAMU-FM and Hubbard Radio’s WTOP, the top-billing commercial radio station in the U.S., are in a heated battle for ratings supremacy.
Thus, the job cuts, with decision-making likely due by March 24, could be impactful in various ways. In November 2022, travel was eliminated from the budget; internships were suspended.
What does SAG-AFTRA have to say? Lansing on Tuesday shared information about the impending job cuts, but the union, which represents 570 people at NPR, has not commented as of yet.
According to Folkenflik, the NPR newsroom currently stands at just shy of 490 people, while programming has shot up to 230. That content executive position has not yet been filled; its creation led to the departure of then-NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes.
