KQED announced yesterday that it is reducing its staff in an attempt to close a budget deficit.
The Bay Area’s largest public radio station is running a 12 million dollar budget deficit for the current fiscal year. The station’s CEO and president Michael Isip said the budget tightening moves should cut the shortfall by 90 percent next year.
KQED said it is laying off 45 staff members. Another dozen have accepted voluntary retirement offers. Altogether, the reductions make up about 15 percent of KQED’s full time staff.
This week’s round of layoffs are KQED’s third in the past five years.
In addition, the station announced that it was pausing contributions to employee retirement accounts and freezing scheduled salary increases this fall. KQED added that it hoped to restart both next year.
