South Carolina’s public broadcaster is cutting back its NPR programming to focus more on local content.
NPR member station South Carolina Public Radio is “beginning the process of unwinding their membership from NPR,” Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier reported Friday. NPR content won’t completely disappear from SCPR’s airwaves, but “there will be much less of it,” according to the newspaper.
The cuts will not include PBS programming, according to the paper, which did not say which programs will be cut or when the changes will occur.
Landon Masters, spokesperson for SCPR and South Carolina ETV, declined to answer Current’s questions about the decision and instead referred to the Post and Courier article.
The paper reported that the network will use a “data-driven analysis to decide which national programs are underperforming and where there may be gaps to fill in local content coverage.”
Adrienne Fairwell, CEO of SCPR and SCETV, told the paper that the network hopes to add up to 20 journalists in the next 18 to 24 months. Its editorial team now consists of seven staffers.
“NPR will remain an important partner providing access to national news, our emergency response network, etcetera,” Richard Cohn, chair of the SCETV commission, told the paper. The commission oversees the network.
“But our goal is to reduce reliance on national programming hours and expand our coverage of local issues that matter to our community,” Cohn said.
“The decision to expand local programming is not a statement on NPR’s editorial stance, but rather a response to listener interest in more South Carolina-focused content,” he added. “They want state and local news and content about what’s going on here. It’s what our listeners have been saying.”
SCPR currently airs four hours of Morning Edition and two-and-a-half hours of All Things Considered weekdays on its news/talk stations. It also airs programs that are produced, co-produced or distributed by NPR such as Fresh Air, Here & Now and 1A. On weekends, it airs Weekend Edition, Weekend ATC, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Fresh Air Weekend, Mountain Stage and others.
NPR told the Post and Courier in a statement that its member organizations are “independently owned and operated” and “understand the needs of their local communities best.” NPR did not respond to Current’s request for comment.