GBH cuts 13 ‘American Experience’ staffers, will pause production of new broadcast episodes

GBH in Boston announced Tuesday that it will lay off 13 employees who work on the history documentary series American Experience and will pause production of new broadcast episodes.

In a statement, GBH CEO Susan Goldberg said the rescission of federal funding to public media led to the cuts. “Severe cuts in federal funding for public media are requiring the system — including PBS and GBH — to make difficult decisions about programming and staffing at American Experience,” she said in an email shared by a spokesperson.

Goldberg said American Experience will release its completed documentaries for the 37th season this fall, including a film about Henry Kissinger, which was showcased at the 2025 PBS Annual Meeting in May.

Next year, American Experience will feature documentaries from previous seasons and release digital programs tied to the PBS: America @ 250 initiative, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In her statement, Goldberg described 2026 as “a year to research and create, and evaluate ways to present content that connects all Americans to a shared history. PBS & GBH believe history is essential to our education mission; we’ll continue to innovate new approaches for American Experience to explore compelling topics, tell stories known and never heard before and grow our audiences. Innovation is paramount in this moment of upheaval. We need to do everything we can to ensure we can be here for generations to come.”

Created in 1988, American Experience has devoted 380 episodes to profiling historical figures — including presidents, musicians, civic leaders and athletes — and digging into topics like race riots, natural disasters and blue jeans. The series has won 30 Emmys and 19 Peabody awards, according to a GBH news story.

GBH has laid off 54 employees this year. It cut another 31 staffers last year to address a $7 million budget deficit. GBH receives about 8% of its funds from federal funding and CPB.

GBH is the largest station in public media and also distributes Frontline, Nova, Masterpiece and several children’s programs to public media stations.

Corrections: The headline on this article has been revised to clarify that GBH will pause production of new broadcast episodes of American Experience, though it will feature documentaries from previous seasons. A previously version of the article also incorrectly said that GBH receives 7% of its funding from CPB. It receives 8% of its funding from CPB.