The parent of the main public broadcasting station serving Seattle-Tacoma and the region since 1954 and its sibling serving Yakima and the Tri-Cities of Washington has moved forward with a significant restructuring plan that it says is a direct result of “Congress’s complete defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in July.”
What does this mean for employees at Cascade PBS and viewers of KCTS-9 and KYVE-47? Cascade PBS will eliminate 16 positions across its marketing, creative, and editorial departments, representing a 12% reduction in staff.
That’s because Cascade PBS, which also indirectly serves British Columbia cities including Vancouver and Victoria, has lost $3.5 million from its annual budget. “This unprecedented federal decision has had devastating effects on more than 300 public television and radio outlets across the country, and we’re not immune here at home,” said Cascade PBS President/CEO Rob Dunlop. “These are painful cuts to make. It has an impact both on our community and on the staff who’ve served this region with passion. Their work has earned well-deserved industry recognition, and we’re grateful for their dedication and achievements.”
Cascade PBS will support the affected team members with severance services during this transition, including benefits “that go beyond organization policy and those outlined in the collective bargaining agreement.”
Cascade PBS will continue producing such local series as Mossback’s Northwest, The Nosh, Nick on the Rocks, Out & Back, and Art by Northwest and plans to expand its news show, “The Newsfeed,” to five days a week.
However, Cascade PBS “will cease production of long-form written journalism” as part of the budget cuts, even as supporters of Cascade PBS have responded in recent weeks to the loss of federal funding with new and additional gifts to the outlet. Dunlop explained Cascade PBS “cannot count on emergency donations as a sustainable form of support in the long run.”
Meanwhile, the existential threat of federal funding for music licensing and shared infrastructure is an underreported topic that could threaten listener-supported Adult Alternative and eclectic music outlets ranging from KCBX in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Buffalo Toronto Public Media to WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and large internationally renown outlets such as Santa Monica College’s KCRW, serving Southern California, and its KERW-FM in San Luis Obispo, which exclusively airs its “Eclectic 24” music feed to help reduce its royalty fees while keeping NPR spoken word programming in the hands of Cal Lutheran University’s KCLU/KCLM.
