American Public Media Group, the parent organization of public radio programming provider American Public Media, Minnesota Public Radio, and “LAist” Southern California Public Radio eliminated 30 positions on Friday, affecting 6% of its total workforce.
Chief People and Culture Officer Roycie Eppler told MPR News, “Due to reductions in funding from both federal sources and the State of Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media is facing a budget shortfall of more than $6 million this fiscal year. While MPR-APM remains financially strong, these cuts required us to make the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 30 positions — about 6 percent of staff.” The cuts included staffers from the APM Research Lab, IT, national programming distribution as well as Classical “Your Classical” 99.5 KSJN Minneapolis and AAA “The Current” 89.3 KCMP Minneapolis.
Among those exiting are KCMP Assistant Program Director Kendall Stewart. Stewart joined KCMP in January 2023 after eight years at Saga Communications AAA “106.1 The Corner” WCNR Charlottesville VA where she rose from MD/midday host to APD/afternoon host and then PD/morning host. Stewart began her career in college at 88.9 WERS Boston and later worked at AAA’s “92.5 The River” WXRV and 91.9 WUMB in the market. Stewart can be reached at kendall.aiguier.stewart@gmail.com.
Original Report 7/24: American Public Media Group, the parent organization of public radio programming provider American Public Media, Minnesota Public Radio, and “LAist” Southern California Public Radio has announced plans to lay off 5 to 8 percent of its staff and make other reductions following the loss of funding that has led to a $6 million hole in its budget.
A report from its Minnesota Public Radio says that staffers were informed of the upcoming cuts at a meeting today with Chief People and Culture Officer Roycie Eppler stating, “While we are fortunate among public media organizations to be in a relatively strong financial position, these are significant cuts. We shared with staff that we will be implementing cost savings including some reductions in employee benefits and a strategic reduction in force in the coming weeks. We are working through details with care and respect and will continue to keep our team updated.”
APMG currently has around 500 employees between its three divisions with the cuts to the Corporation For Public Broadcasting affecting 6 percent of the MPR budget. Minnesota Public Radio also is getting less funding from the state of Minnesota for cultural heritage and legacy programming .
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com