Alaska station cuts PD to offset university budget reduction

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KUAC-FM in Fairbanks, Alaska, laid off programming director Jerry Evans Friday as part of ongoing measures to cut spending.

According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Evans was let go as part of a plan to offset $170,000 in funding cuts imposed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which operates the station. Evans’s duties will be absorbed by other employees. He had been with the pubcaster for six years.

The university announced in July that it would cut funding to the station in light of a $12 million shortfall of its own. The reduction imperiled KUAC’s ability to buy programming from the Alaska Public Radio Network. APRN agreed to a three-month extension at the end of August to give KUAC time to raise money.

KUAC’s general fund was reduced by $100,000, and an across-the-board 5 percent reduction in all university departments trimmed an additional $70,000 from the station’s budget. KUAC must also raise an additional $100,000 in funds this year over the prior year.

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