KCPT slashes staff, show; Key sources of funding dry up

Crunched by severe shortfalls in fund raising, government support and viewership, public television station KCPT on Thursday made even deeper cuts in its work force and local programming. Station president Bill Reed said four staffers were laid off and five vacant positions eliminated in the second round of reductions this year at KCPT, which, like other public television stations, has been hit hard by the slowing economy and the Sept. 11 attacks. With Thursday's news, KCPT has eliminated 26 positions, or 27 percent of its staff, so far this year. Also announced Thursday was the cancellation of the popular public-affairs series "Ruckus," which joins two occasional programs that were canceled earlier in the year. For Reed, who has been a public television executive for 35 years, Thursday's announcement culminated what he called "the toughest year of my professional life." "When you have to fire someone for performance, it's hard," Reed said. "But when you have to lay off hard-working and loyal employees because of budget shortfalls - I've never had to do that before." Those affected say the cutbacks caught them by surprise. "This was the first I had any inkling of it," said Mike Shanin, the KMBZ newscaster and host of "Ruckus," which recently marked its seventh anniversary. "I'm disappointed that this happened," Shanin said, "but I understand the factors that were involved." For the station's top managers, however, Thursday's announcement was something they saw coming for months. By January it had become clear that pledge money and government grants would fall far short of the $8.7 million needed to meet the 2002 budget. In March, 16 persons were laid off and the position of vice president for marketing and development was eliminated when that person resigned. At that point the board reduced the budget to $8.3 million. Now, with the last major pledge drive of the fiscal year set to begin this weekend, Reed said he is looking at an even lower figure, perhaps $8.1 million. With Thursday's reductions, KCPT will have an operating budget in 2003 of just $7.1 million. Its outreach programs in Missouri and Kansas public schools will be sliced by more than $100,000. The advertising budget will be zero. Voice-overs that had been done by an outside announcer will be handled in-house. KCPT Magazine will become a bimonthly. The station will not subscribe to Nielsen ratings. The most visible change, though, will be the loss of local programs. Though Reed emphasized that "Ruckus" is on temporary hiatus, he could not say when it might return. ("Kansas City Week in Review," which has sufficient underwriting, will remain on the air.) In addition, the station's newly formed endowment for local programming, named for former KCPT producer John Masterman, is on hold for lack of funds. KCPT has funding partners for a number of specials, including election-related programming. Its adult education program KC REACHE is not affected. The occasional "Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations" will go on. "I don't want people to feel we're shutting down operations, because we're not," said Reed. "I'm hoping that many of these are temporary changes until we can get the cash flow going again." That cash comes from a multitude of sources. Unfortunately for KCPT - and many other public TV stations nationwide - several key sources dried up all at once: The Sept. 11 attacks affected charitable giving to nonprofit organizations, including public television. KCPT's membership rolls are down 10 percent this year, which is crucial because member giving is by far the station's No. 1 source of support. The state of Missouri's own budget woes affected Channel 19. The station was expecting a $250,000 payment this summer from the state's permanent trust fund for the arts. That money was withheld as Missouri tried to make ends meet. The Sept. 11 attacks also wiped out a September 2001 pledge weekend, which station officials expected to raise $150,000. Ironically, Channel 19's recent capital campaign - the most successful in its history - probably had a short-term effect on membership. Nonprofit experts say it's not uncommon for an organization to see a falloff in annual giving after a highly publicized capital drive. The economic slowdown caused local companies to scale back their underwriting and their gifts to KCPT's fund-raising auctions. PBS failed to deliver on a promise, made last year by its president, Pat Mitchell, to increase viewership and membership at its member stations. Ratings for KCPT are down, and public TV stations are losing members across the country. All this has added up to a terrible year for public TV. So far this summer Chicago's WTTW-TV has cut 15 jobs, KERA-TV in Dallas is down 36 positions, and South Carolina ETV has eliminated 13 jobs. In Topeka, KTWU general manager Eugene Williams said he anticipates no layoffs or budget reductions, thanks to pledge drives this year that helped the station meet its budget. Going forward, however, he said modest pay raises would be the only increases next year. "We're just being real conservative in the way we plan," Williams said. Over on public broadcasting's other medium, however, it has been a very different story since Sept. 11. Public radio listenership is up. So are memberships and giving. Stations like KCUR-FM (89.3) are hiring people and adding local programs, not the opposite. KCUR and KTWU have one major advantage over Channel 19: They're located on the campuses of universities, which absorb many operating and personnel expenses. But clearly, listeners are responding to the unique voice of National Public Radio and KCUR's locally produced news, talk and music programs. The station's spring fund-raising drive goal was an ambitious $300,000. Listeners pledged $330,000. "I think it's because there's not much out on the radio dial that's like us," said general manager Patricia Deal Cahill. "Our listeners appreciated our in-depth coverage (of Sept. 11 and the war on terrorism) instead of the same pictures of an airplane and a building." - To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:KCPT revenues @ART:Graphic @ART CREDIT:GENTRY MULLEN/The Kansas City Star