Boston Radio: GBH Lays-Off 31 Staffers

Public media organization GBH laid off 31 employees, or 4 percent of its workforce, on Wednesday and suspended production of three television programs, CEO Susan Goldberg told employees.

“GBH, like many other media companies, is facing financial headwinds,” Goldberg wrote. “Although our business is complex and our industry is rapidly changing, the basic reason for these reductions is simple: revenues are flat and the cost of doing business has gone up.”

The Boston Globe reports GBH, which operates one of Boston’s two public radio stations, is the latest media organization this year to cut staff in the face of financial challenges. Newsrooms across the country have been grappling with changing audience habits in the digital age, which have threatened traditional business models that long sustained newspapers, radio stations, and other media outlets.

Eleven of the 31 employees laid off were part of GBH’s newsroom, management told staff Wednesday, according to employees who were present for the meeting.

In addition to laying off staff across 13 departments, GBH will also stop producing “Greater Boston,” “Talking Politics,” and “Basic Black,” Goldberg said in her note, adding that the shows “no longer draw enough viewers to justify the cost of making them for television.” She added that GBH will “reinvent them as digital-first programming,” but did not share details on what that will look like.

“Basic Black,” which was initially called “Say Brother,” started in 1968 amid the civil rights movement to cover issues of importance to people of color.

“It was filling in and responding to a need in the community,” said Juan Cofield, former president of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP. The show’s suspended production, he added, “is going to be harmful to the Black community.”

Laid-off staff were notified in one-on-one meetings, multiple former GBH employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Globe. They added that they felt blindsided by the decision and were dismayed that GBH was cutting the three television programs.

Goldberg added that GBH will also stop its Jazz 24/7 stream and expand GBH Music’s Jazz on 89.7 with overnight weekend hours.