Pennsylvania’s WVIA turns around budget after 18 percent state cut

After losing 18 percent of its budget in state funding cuts last year, WVIA in Pittston, Pa., ended its fiscal year 2010 on June 30 with a surplus, reports the Times-Leader newspaper. “We’ve got a better station today than we had a year ago,” President and CEO Bill Kelly told the paper. “If you had told me that a year ago, I’d have told you you were nuts.” It hasn’t been an easy journey, however. More than seven positions were eliminated and the remaining 38 full-time staffers took a 5 percent pay cut and furloughs. Kelly took a 15 percent salary reduction and management took 12 percent. On the programming side, The Ballroom Dancing Show and Pennsylvania Polka ended, as well as the station’s Pennsylvania Independent Film Festival. Some $35,000 in revenue came from a new “video for hire” service. Listeners stepped up donations, particularly on the radio side, nearly offsetting the funding drop by contributing $718,000. Of the experience, Kelly said: “It was a culture change, of which we had no choice.”