SAN FRANCISCO — The NPR and PBS giant serving Northern California’s biggest population zone has announced that it will move forward with a reduction-in-force initiative resulting in the loss of 45 people. Additionally, 12 individuals have accepted voluntary separation agreements.
The result is a 15% staff shrinkage for KQED as Congress considers a final version of a Senate-approved rescissions package that would “claw back” funding for public media across the U.S.
The latest layoffs are the third such initiative in five years for KQED, which enjoys a large audience for its FM at 88.5 MHz in the Bay Area and can also be heard in the Sacramento market on KQEI-FM.
In a report appearing on KQED’s website, the latest reduction-in-force effort impacts all levels of the massive public media organization. Chief Operations and Administrative Officer Maria Miller and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Eric Abrams are among those exiting KQED. Station management confirmed that Abrams’ departure is not linked to the Carr Commission and Trump Administration’s efforts to tame DEI initiatives believed to be discriminatory in nature.
In particular, content producers are being impacted more than top executives and custodial staff. The digital video team is gone. The media literacy curriculum is being significantly reduced in scope. Six newsroom staffers are leaving, including two people who accepted voluntary separation agreements.
“In these uncertain times, the prudent, responsible thing to do is address what we have control over and to stabilize the organization so we can better navigate whatever challenges and uncertainty comes our way,” said President/CEO Michael Isip.
KQED will also discontinue employees’ matching to retirement accounts and this fall will begin a salary freeze, with a duration of no more than 12 to 18 months. Unionized employees will likely be subject to mediation before any salary freeze transpires.
With the latest job cuts, KQED’s total workforce will number 312. Ten vacant positions will not be filled. Ahead of the latest reduction-in-force, KQED Chief Content Officer Holly Kernan departed to accept the role of Nashville Public Radio CEO. She will not be replaced, as Isip instead promoted VP of News Ethan Toven-Lindsey to the newly created role of Editor-in-Chief.
For the current fiscal year, KQED is operating at a $12 million deficit despite its radio station earning a record-setting 11.3 share of all radio listening in June 2025 in San Francisco-Oakland, according to Nielsen Audio. KQED-FM’s cume in the month ranked forth at some 685,700 people.
In Sacramento, KQEI has long been a laggard behind fiscally troubled Cap Radio. In the latest ratings for the market, the station had a 0.6 share.
With NPR under fire among conservatives for news and commentary that has oftentimes taken a liberal, progressive tone and PBS caught up in the mix for its longtime news programming, organizations such as KQED have also attracted attention for their largess. Why does KQEI need to be included in the mix and is it worth the expense? Did KQED get too big for its britches? These are questions that some within the organization may be asking now, as KQED has been running “a board-approved deficit” since 2022.
At the time, revenue projections suggested the organization would be in the black by fiscal year 2027, expecting revenue growth of 2.4% a year. Instead, growth has come in at 1.3%. “It wasn’t just one thing that’s causing this deficit, it’s multiple investments in growing our service,” Isip said to the KQED newsroom.
Meanwhile, the “claw back” of some $1.1 billion appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting appears to be nearing, given a late-night Senate vote on Tuesday that saw Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. Maine Senator Susan Collins voted against the rescission plan.
In 2024, KQED received $7.6 million from the CPB. Without that funding, KQED would be likely forced to use its cash reserves, at least in the short term.
