S-F Radio: Non-Com KQED Offers Buyout Packages

KQED 88.5 FM is initiating staff buyouts, an effort to reduce costs in the face of a budget deficit, SFGATE has learned. 

In an April 17 email to staff at the Bay Area’s best-known public broadcasting station, KQED President Michael Isip said the buyouts are a first step in reducing costs and that additional tactics might be necessary, including layoffs or a hiring freeze.

“We’ve operated with a board approved budget deficit for the last two years and we’re now projecting a higher than expected budget deficit at the end of this fiscal year,” Isip said in the email. “This is not sustainable long term and we need to take action and find savings to get us back on track to reducing our deficit.”

In an April 17 email to staff at the Bay Area’s best-known public broadcasting station, KQED President Michael Isip said the buyouts are a first step in reducing costs and that additional tactics might be necessary, including layoffs or a hiring freeze.

“We’ve operated with a board approved budget deficit for the last two years and we’re now projecting a higher than expected budget deficit at the end of this fiscal year,” Isip said in the email. “This is not sustainable long term and we need to take action and find savings to get us back on track to reducing our deficit.”