Ellen Weiss, NPR's vice president for news, sent the following note, obtained by FishbowlDC, to staffers today:

Dear All,

I wanted to share with you some details about where NPR and the News division are regarding this year's budget. The News Division is currently over by $742,000, or about 2% -- and at the current rate of spending, we are projected to be almost $3 million dollars over budget by the end of September, the end of the fiscal year. This is an earlier ballooning of expenses -- last year at this time we were still under budget. Some of this overrun is the necessary cost of doing business -- an unexpectedly long and demanding election season that exceeded even our generous budget planning, additional security and travel costs in Iraq as well as the weak dollar overseas. In addition, NPR is also seeing a serious slowdown in the sponsorship market (underwriting) and this year we reduced the prime time program license fees for Member stations so the revenue side of NPR is also projected to be far less optimistic than it was last year. In fact, last year, we ended up with a several million dollar surplus because our colleagues who sell the underwriting credits did better than expected.

So rather than wait until the 11th hour to look for cuts to stay on budget -- I've asked all of your managers to identify savings now. Some of what we discussed:

Limit the discretionary travel. We aren't going to stop covering the news, but we are going to place the bar slightly higher for when we send staff or hosts into the field. This won't apply to breaking news stories, but really to those stories where we have more of a choice.
Limit overtime. I've asked your supervisors to really try to hold the line on overtime to just those hours that are essential to getting the job done under deadline.

Open positions. There are some open positions we will not fill. These will not be the jobs essential to our work -- but there are some positions we will have to do without this year.

This savings is totally doable if we start now. And it will be particularly important for us to get our 2008 budget house in order before we head into FY2009, particularly if the economic picture remains the same.

Thanks in advance for your help in this effort.

Best,
Ellen

This sponsorship problem is similar to the one affecting PBS' "NewsHour."

From the release:

XM radio's POTUS '08 channel today created a groundbreaking media partnership agreement with Campaigns & Elections' Politics magazine to provide top coverage for the 2008 campaign.

With this media partnership, Politics magazine staff will appear weekly on the new 24-hour commercial-free XM radio channel POTUS '08. In bringing its knowledge and coverage of campaigns and the political industry to XM, Politics joins other regular contributors to the radio station, including The Washington Post, FOX News, The Los Angeles Times and the polling firm Zogby International.

From the release:

The Washington Times is teaming with Internet radio leader wsRadio for two new one-hour Internet radio programs called "Inside the Story," and "Inside the Beltway."

Well-known West Coast talk show host and occasional Washington Times contributor Rick Amato will serve as moderator of "Inside the Story." The show will feature the best and the brightest reporters and columnists from The Washington Times, in addition to high-profile leaders in the political, social, and cultural communities. "Inside the Story" will delve deeper into the political and cultural news dominating the week's headlines and will also serve as a showcase for the newspaper's exclusive enterprise stories.

Long-time Washington Times columnist John McCaslin will host his own one-hour talk show "Inside the Beltway," which will expand on his daily column of insider political news.

The collaboration with wsRadio is one of several new partnerships The Washington Times is forming to expand the reach of The Washington Times to a national audience.

That was XM Radio broadcasting live from the Newseum last Friday. We've got the pics:

...that MSNBC and CBS dropped "Imus."

A staff memo, obtained by FishbowlDC:

To: 3WT Staff
CC: Joel Oxley
From: Greg Tantum
Date: 4/11/2008
Re: New Beginnings

You may have read rumors about me returning to California. Well not immediately but after long and serious consideration I’ve resigned as program director at 3WT. Many of you know I came to DC specifically for Washington Post Radio. 3WT has a GREAT future but after more than 35 years of all news and live and local talk, I decided to explore some opportunities out west. I love everyone in this building and have been so impressed with the hard work and dedication on all levels.

One of the benefits of our business is while we may move on as co-workers we will always be friends.

DCRTV has more...

The Washington City Paper's Mike DeBonis reports that "Plotkin, reached at his Glover Park home, says he hasn't been feeling like his usual vigorous self lately. 'I have some health concerns,' he says, 'and I took some time off until I feel better again.' He declined to elaborate or predict when he might return to his show, except to say, 'I hope to come back very soon.'"

Finally: Bob Edwards and Howard Stern reunited at last (come on FCC!)...

More here...

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