KQED to cut 15% of staff, affecting almost 70 positions
Jason O’Rear / KQED
KQED's headquarters. (Photo: KQED)
KQED, the dual licensee in San Francisco, announced plans Tuesday to cut its workforce by 15% in an effort to stabilize its financial position.
In total, 67 positions are being affected. The cuts include 45 layoffs and 12 voluntary buyouts, and 10 open positions will not be filled. The reductions affect every department, according to a staff memo obtained by Current. Almost three-quarters of affected positions are in content-producing teams, according to a KQED news story.
“The fiscal impact of our cuts amounts to an annualized savings of about $13 million,” said CEO Michael Isip in an email to staff obtained by Current. “Uncertainties still remain around federal funding and we must remain vigilant and ready to act should unanticipated scenarios arise. But for now, we have stabilized our financial position.”
Last month, Isip told employees at an all-staff meeting that KQED had a deficit of $12 million. He added that the station has been dipping into cash reserves while lowering revenue projections.
In a separate email obtained by Current last month, Isip said losses in corporate underwriting and foundation grants, as well as the looming threat of losing federal funding, weighed heavily on the station. The station received $7.6 million in CPB funding in fiscal year 2024, accounting for 6.6% of total revenue based on the station’s FY23 990 form. In KQED’s Tuesday news story, Isip said one positive is that individual donations from viewers and listeners remain strong.
The cuts ordered this month are the second major staff reduction KQED has made in the last 14 months. In May 2024, the station cut 19 staffers, and another 11 took early retirement or voluntary buyouts. It also ended production of Rightnowish, a podcast covering Bay Area artists. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the station laid off 20 employees.
With the new layoffs, KQED is dissolving its entire digital video team but will continue to produce its Deep Look video series, though with fewer resources. The station will spend less on new original video podcast series to focus on expanding “the reach of existing popular programs such as Forum, Political Breakdown, and others,” Isip wrote to staff. KQED reported that six affected positions are in the newsroom, including four layoffs and two buyouts.
KQED’s education department is losing eight of its 13 staffers, according to the station’s news story. In addition, KQED is sunsetting its Youth Takeover program, which gives high school students the opportunity to be heard on the airwaves.
KQED will also lead fewer educator workshops but will continue to maintain the KQED Teach online platform for K-12 teachers. Media literacy projects will continue but with fewer resources.
The cuts will reduce KQED’s workforce from 369 full-time employees to 312, according to the station’s story, though that number does not include the additional 10 positions that will remain vacant. Many of the laid-off staffers’ last day is Friday, though some will stay longer to transition their work. Employees who took buyouts will leave throughout this year and next year.
On Oct. 1, the station will pause matching contributions to employees’ retirement accounts and will also freeze salaries, though it plans to reinstate both in October 2026. The station said it has reached out to unions representing remaining workers. Union leaders said the station still needs to negotiate before freezing pay for unionized members, according to the KQED article.
KQED’s story said that from 2013–18 the station added 60 employees, mostly focused on digital services. The station then raised $140 million in a fundraising campaign that helped renovate its headquarters. A bright spot has been the station’s acquisition of Snap Judgement and Spooked, which Isip said during the all-staff meeting last month helped the organization double podcast downloads and podcast-related underwriting revenue.
“Despite the depth of these cuts—and no matter what lies ahead—I have faith that we will not only continue to deliver on our mission, but will ultimately reemerge stronger,” Isip said in his email to staff.
As a taxpayer living in the Bay Area. The public should not be burden with funding KQED, PBS and NPR. Learn to do what the rest of society has to do day to day. Raise your own funds! Hire industrious people who are versed in fund raising.