Another Round of Layoffs at WNET-13 and Parent Organization

This morning, Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET.org, broke some more bad news to the employees of WNET-Thirteen, PBS's flagship station in New York, and its sister station WLIW-21.

At a station meeting, Mr. Shapiro told employees that the organization would be going through another round of layoffs. Roughly 50 staffers will be losing their jobs. The changes will take place over the course of the next month.

Today's grim news hit the stations' employees just five months after a previous round of extensive job cuts.

This year continues to be a brutal one for fund-raising at public television stations around the country. The fund-raising environment in New York is no exception. According to a spokesperson, versus last year, WNET.org's endowment is off 23 percent in 2009. "Everything is down," said the spokesperson.

"Corporate sponsorship, membership, individual giving—it's all down."