Colorado Public Radio RIFs 15 Staffers

Colorado Public Radio (CPR) recently implemented layoffs, affecting 15 employees. These cuts primarily impacted the audio and podcast production departments. It’s worth noting that this is the largest reduction in CPR’s payroll in at least a quarter of a century.

Here are the key details about the layoffs:

Reason: The layoffs were necessitated by a budget deficit faced by CPR.. CEO’s Statement: Stewart Vanderwilt, CPR’s President and CEO, acknowledged the difficulty of this decision. He emphasized that it was essential to reset the organization financially and position CPR for future success. Despite the pain of saying goodbye to talented colleagues, the move was strategic to ensure sustainability in the face of changing economic realities.

“I hate to see talented colleagues lose their positions for financial reasons,” said Kevin Dale, CPR News Executive Editor. “CPR News has been growing into a powerful news source for the past six years. Our mission has been to become an urgent newsroom that also has time to devote to enterprise reporting and accountability reporting, and we remain dedicated to that.”

Stewart Vanderwilt

Colorado Public Radio’s President and CEO Stewart Vanderwilt initially declined to comment. The organization then issued a statement late Thursday morning as Vanderwilt met with staff to explain the cuts.

“This was a painful and difficult decision to come to, but it is necessary to reset the organization financially and position CPR for future success,” Vanderwilt said. “This is a strategic reduction in workforce to clearly focus our efforts to provide free access to Colorado-focused news across the state, and to do so while being sustainable in the face of changing economic realities. And it is also never easy to say goodbye to talented, hard working colleagues.”

Background: CPR experienced significant growth in staff over the years, but revenue growth did not keep pace with expenses. While member giving remained strong, corporate sponsorship declined. Rising programming and fundraising expenses, driven partly by employee costs, contributed to the financial challenges.