Today will be the last day of work for ten WKAR employees as the television and radio station tries to avoid digging itself into a financial hole.
WKAR is trimming its staff to address a long-standing budget deficit, WKAR’s acting director of broadcasting Gary Reid said.
For the 2010 fiscal year, the station’s operating expenses exceeded its revenues by about $635,000, Reid said. The station has ended the last three fiscal years with significant budget deficits, he added.
The employee layoffs come about four months after MSU Broadcasting Services formally joined the College of Communications Arts and Sciences on July 1.
MSU Broadcasting Services includes both WKAR’s radio and television operations.
Reid took over as acting director of WKAR on July 15.
Radio reporter Rob South, a seven-year veteran of the station who is among those losing their jobs, called the situation “frustrating.”
“I don’t know that I have any really hard feelings about it,” he said.
“It’s hard to not take it personally, (but) I think the layoffs happened in spite of (my work).”
Although Reid declined to discuss specific salary information regarding other employees, the station is expected to save about $526,000 through the cuts — which Reid called a “sizable” amount of savings.
In the near future, Reid said WKAR would not replace the employees’ positions and
instead current staff would take on any additional duties internally.
Some of WKAR’s issues related to employee cuts first rose to the surface in late August when the decision to cut the positions was announced.
College of Communication Arts and Sciences communications manager Kirsten Khire said the college was devastated by the personnel moves.
“We’re extremely disheartened that that had to occur,” she said.
“It’s very painful for everyone involved.”
Khire said the moves were made as part of the ongoing, repetitive budget challenges the station is facing.
“It’s a very difficult time for public broadcasting in general,” she said.
Federal funding uncertainties also have contributed to some of the station’s issues.
National government support for WKAR was up in the air as recently as this spring when the U.S. House passed a bill that would strip $430 million in government funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a group that supports programs such as WKAR.
President Barack Obama later signed a bill that kept the full funding in place.
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The layoffs and budget cuts at the broadcasting station didn’t really interest some students.
General management freshman Emily Cottrell said she does not watch WKAR programs, but would change her mind if programming was geared more toward MSU students.
“(I might watch the station) if there was something on there that pertained to me,” she said.
As the station deals with budget issues and looks to strengthen local ties, greater integration between the college and the station will be key, Reid said.
“The professionals that we have are some of the most dedicated and hardworking people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” he said.
“They have completely embraced this integration and the opportunities for students have never been better.”
