In a Wednesday staff memo, New York Public Radio CEO LaFontaine Oliver announced a second round of job cuts at the station in less than twelve months.
In the memo, which NYPR provided to Current, Oliver told staff that the organization “made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce by a minimum of 8% in mid-September.” The CEO said leadership will open a voluntary layoff program through Aug. 29.
“[D]espite our best efforts to contain costs and grow our revenue, we continue to face severe financial headwinds,” he wrote. “Our deficit has continued to mount and it has become painfully clear that without swift action, we will soon face significant questions about our ability to continue to serve New York.”
Oliver described the financial shortfall as “serious,” adding, “[W]hile voluntary layoffs will not eliminate the need for involuntary layoffs, they could impact the total number necessary and give employees who are ready to leave the organization an opportunity to raise their hand. The package for voluntary layoffs is identical to that for involuntary layoffs, and is open to union and non-union employees alike.”
New York Public Radio oversees the flagship station WNYC, music station WQXR, New Jersey Public Radio and the news website Gothamist. It previously cut 6% of staff in October 2023, amounting to about 20 positions.
The station imposed a hiring freeze, eliminated some senior executive roles, forewent annual pay increases last year, and has kept its paid internship program on ice, Oliver wrote. All of that “hasn’t been enough to outpace increased expenses and declines in revenue,” he said.
Oliver cited a May staff meeting where he said the organization’s deficit “continues to climb, and with our Q4 reconciliation complete and the books closed on FY24, we are now projecting a deficit for FY25 that is on course to once again reach more than $10 million by the end of the year.”
The challenges are not “an isolated event on the broader journalism and media landscape,” Oliver said, pointing to struggles facing for-profit, nonprofit and public media groups due to “declines in advertising, shifting audience behaviors, disruptions in the tech space, stubbornly high interest rates, and overall uncertainty in the markets.”
Oliver added that “[c]ompetition for philanthropic support is stiff, not only from our peers in non-profit media, but also from for-profit news outlets who are accelerating their pursuit of these same dollars in the face of increased challenges.”
“This is not where we wanted to be,” Oliver wrote. “Our work is absolutely essential and we have a staff that is beyond dedicated to each other and our audiences. I am grateful to you all for your commitment to NYPR and to those who rely on us, and I’m truly sorry that we are not in a different place.”