PBS station lays off 14 staffers

KCET-TV, the West Coast flagship station for PBS, laid off 14 staffers and eliminated two vacant positions Friday.

A spokeswoman for the station said that the cuts were due to lower-than-expected revenue from subscribers and corporate sponsorships. The projected station budget at the beginning of the fiscal year was $48 million, a figure that is now being reformulated.

The layoffs took place in several departments, including programming and broadcasting, and represent about 9% of the station’s 164-member workforce. Senior management was not affected.

The station’s most recent on-air pledge drive, which took place in December and a few days this month, raised more than $1.7 million. “That was better than we had expected, but it still was not enough to overcome the shortfall,” spokeswoman Laurel Lambert said.

In March, 2001, KCET laid off 15 staffers and eliminated 11 already-vacant positions.

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Greg Braxton