Budget Cut, Restructuring At WQED/Pittsburgh Includes Layoffs

Cutbacks

WQED MULTIMEDIA, parent of Classical WQED-F and PBS affiliate WQED-TV/PITTSBURGH, announced a three-year restructuring that cuts staff and executive salaries as well as paring back local programming production.

The PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE reports that the move included over a dozen staff layoffs across radio, television, and digital (including two of the company's four VPs), voluntary salary reductions for executive members, and a budget cut for 2016 by 6.8% to $12.3 million in an attempt to show a revenue base over three years to allow for refinancing debt and eliminating $5 million of longterm debt.

The company has lost grants from key donors in the last year, with the HEINZ ENDOWMENTS and R.K. MELLON FOUNDATION falling off the list of benefactors.

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