Downsizing at KYUK in Bethel will eliminate nine jobs
Katie Basile
KYUK News Director Sage Smiley and Morris Alexie of the Woodwell Climate Research Center visit a proposed climate-related relocation site for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta's Native Nunapitchuk village.
KYUK, the bilingual public broadcaster that serves remote communities across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of southwestern Alaska, is preparing to cut a third of its staff in response to the loss of federal funding.
The dual-licensee organization is the nation’s first Indigenous-led noncommercial station and provides NPR, PBS and Alaska Public Media radio and television programs to the vast coastal region. In response to Typhoon Halong in October, KYUK delivered vital news and public safety information to listeners. The storm ravaged the region with high winds and flooding, displacing over 1,600 people, according to KYUK’s own reporting.
The station’s response to the natural disaster and its unique service to Alaska Native communities have garnered national coverage from NPR News, Code Switch and Mother Jones. And the station’s recent fall fundraiser was the most successful in its history, raising well over $100,000, GM Kristin Hall said.
But with the loss of CPB funds, KYUK plans to eliminate jobs of six full-time and three part-time and on-call staff by January, Hall said. After the downsizing, only four full-time employees and 10 part-time and on-call employees will remain. On-call staff work during weather emergencies or respond to technical failures.
“It is just heartbreaking for us,” Hall said. “These are people that we’ve known and built relationships with over the years, and it’s just quite a change for all of us.”
The layoffs are organization-wide and include staff from editorial operations and production to janitorial duties, Hall said. The remaining staff will either take on more duties or work collaboratively to manage the station’s service to more than 50 unique communities across 70,000 square miles.
“We were already a very small team for the coverage area that we serve,” Hall said. With an even smaller staff, she’s concerned about managing her team’s expectations along with “our community members’ expectations in terms of what we can deliver.”
KYUK’s CPB grants provided just over $1 million annually — approximately 70% of the budget, Hall said. Those monies mainly covered the costs of employee salaries and benefits. The station still expects to receive a one-time grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ $9.4 million fund to support tribal broadcasting.
Though some tribal stations are receiving grants directly from BIA, KYUK partnered with the Orutsaramiut Native Council, Bethel’s largest tribe, for receipt of the BIA grant.
“We’re deeply grateful to the Orutsaramiut Native Council for their willingness to be a pass-through entity for the BIA funding to ensure KYUK receives the funding as quickly as possible,” Hall said.
The Anchorage-based Alaska Community Foundation recently awarded more than $437,000 to KYUK through its “Voices Across Alaska” fund. The foundation created the fund in August to assist the state’s public broadcasters following the rescission of CPB funding. The foundation’s support has given KYUK “room to really breathe and plan moving forward,” Hall said
Programming changes
In addition to the staff cuts, KYUK is preparing to change to its radio schedule in January, Hall said. Maintaining critical local news and programs like River Watch were top priorities in revamping the lineup.
But some local shows will scale back, and KYUK’s request line will shut down. Coffee at KYUK, a daily interview program that runs 15-17 minutes, will stop producing three of its four weekly English-language episodes. Its weekly Yugtun-language episode will stay on the air, Hall said. Unhosted music blocks will replace the English-language episodes and the live-hosted request line.
KYUK-TV’s programming will remain the same, Hall said. But the loss of CPB funds means the staff will have “less capacity to create new local programming like our Arctic Artists series.” The staff is pursuing grants and other funding to continue production, Hall said.
Despite the historic success of KYUK’s recent fall fundraiser, the station must remain realistic about the viability of sustaining that level of financial support from donors and philanthropies over the long term, Hall said.
For example, the AIRRAQ Network, a partnership of regional telecommunications providers, donated $50,000 of the fall campaign’s $100,000 proceeds, she said. GCI and Bethel Native Corporation formed the network to bring broadband internet infrastructure to Western Alaska. Both GCI and Bethel Native Corporation have provided financial support in the past, but AIRRAQ Network’s donation is its first contribution to KYUK, Hall said.
The $50,000 donation “is not guaranteed for years to come,” she added.
“We are so grateful for the success of our fall fundraiser,” Hall said. “We know the reality is we will not be raising $100,000 from here on out for our fall pledge drives. On average, every year we raise about half of that, $50,000. We are planning for our fundraising numbers to kind of level out, if you will.”
A ‘new landscape’
Hall plans to reassess whether the current staffing plan is sustainable in March, she said. If further changes are needed, the next round of spending cuts will exclusively affect programming.
“I really think four full-time and 10 part-time [staff] is about as lean as we can get,” Hall said of the workforce reduction.
Hall hopes that the station’s remaining staff find solace in the significance of their work to the communities KYUK serves, such as the station’s coverage of Typhoon Halong.
“I look at my staff who have worked tirelessly to respond to this event — before, during and after — and I hope that they are able to be realistic and give themselves grace you in this new landscape, knowing that they will not be able to produce as many stories as they did before, but knowing that their work is still so meaningful to the community,” Hall said.
The one-time grant from Bureau of Indian affairs will help…one-time. But it’s “Judas money” that got weak politicians to vote to kill CPB. This article portrays the disgusting outcome of those beltway shenanigans. Indeed, heartbreaking.