NPR Ponders Budget Cuts

A tipster tells us:

Ellen Weiss, who just last week was promoted to Senior Vice President for News at NPR, will travel west this week to drop the hammer on NPR’s LA production facility, NPR West. It’s believed that the two programs produced in LA, Day to Day and News and Notes will be cancelled. About 80 people work at the network’s Culver City facility. It appears the NPR will shut down the production site, which was launched about six years ago. Weiss is expected to deliver the bad news on Wednesday. Employees say NPR West management confirmed on Friday that widespread rumors of the cancellations and layoffs were true. There is a great deal of bitterness over the fact that as the company cuts into its core business, radio, it is spending millions on NPR.org, and yet has no business plan that would make the Web site pay for itself.

LA Observed hears similar things.

From Richard Prince: “Rumors Swirl About NPR’s Black-Oriented Show”

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