The music program had been on WNYC for four decades. Listener contributions spared it from the ax.
The music program had been on WNYC for four decades. Listener contributions spared it from the ax.
The music program had been on WNYC for four decades. Listener contributions spared it from the ax.
Good morning. It’s Friday. Today we’ll find out how a program on the public radio station WNYC avoided cancellation thanks to donations from just over 1,000 listeners, one of whom gave $1.2 million. We’ll also get details on how congestion pricing got a boost from a federal judge.
New York Public Radio, which has laid off about 50 employees in the last 18 months, says it has “saved” a program that was facing cancellation after more than 40 years on its station WNYC.
WNYC has run a fund-raising campaign in the last few weeks that raised $1.5 million for the program, “New Sounds,” which has a particularly influential hold on New York’s new music universe. Of the roughly 1,000 listeners who contributed, one far outpaced the others, giving $1.2 million to keep “New Sounds” going. The station said he had asked not to be named.
The fund-raising for “New Sounds” came as New York Public Radio — whose holdings include WNYC and WQXR as well as the website Gothamist — said layoffs and other cost-cutting measures had closed a $12 billion budget gap. It announced one round of layoffs just as it was celebrating the 100th anniversary of WNYC with a broadcast from Central Park last September.
New York Public Radio says its payroll now numbers 257 people, down from just over 341 in 2023.
Marquee programs like “The Brian Lehrer Show” and “All of It With Alison Stewart” on WNYC were not affected, the station said. But a program called “Notes from America” disappeared.