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In August of last year, Vermont Public, our organization, got a new CEO. Vijay Singh. He came to us by way of two public radio stations in California: LAist, (formerly KPCC) in Los Angeles, and most recently Capital Radio, in Sacramento. This is Vijay's first time being a CEO, though he has had a hand in leading and ushering companies through times of deep change, including digital transitions at those radio-forward organizations. He also learned how to quickly put out some fires, in that most recent job, as Chief Operating and Content Officer at CapRadio. A skill that was put to the test just nine months into his tenure at Vermont Publicm after Congress voted to rescind more than $1 billion in federal funding for public media.
On August 27, Vermont Public eliminated 15 positions at the organization and shifted two full-time roles to part-time. Those cuts amounted to a 14% reduction in Vermont Public’s workforce. In an interview after the announcement, Vijay said the layoffs were a direct result of the loss of federal funds.
This conversation, between Vijay and Homegoings host Myra Flynn happened just two days after.
What really bothers me is this was targeted at NPR and PBS. The funding that we lost disproportionately impacts local stations, and even more so, local stations in rural and low income areas. And so when I saw that news, that's where my mind went. If this sticks, and if more people sort of believe this angle and buy into this angle, America is worse off.Vijay Singh
Credits
This episode was hosted and reported by Myra Flynn with help from James Stewart. Our producer/director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings artist portrait.
Thank you for listening. You can see a video version of this episode on our YouTube Channel.
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