On Wednesday, Colorado Public Radio announced the largest downsizing the public broadcaster has undertaken in more than 25 years. The cut, involving 15 employees, affected the group’s audio and podcast production departments.
This reduction in staff follows a period of rapid expansion for CPR, which saw its employee count rise from 48 in the fiscal year 2006 to 214 by 2022. However, this growth has been accompanied by financial challenges, with expenses outpacing revenue by significant margins in the last two fiscal years.
Recent years saw CPR taking control of KRCC in Colorado Springs, acquiring Denverite, and moving to a new headquarters in Denver, signaling a bold phase of expansion that began as a modest student operation in 1970.
The broader media landscape is undergoing transformations that have impacted traditional audio news consumption, with the pandemic altering commuting patterns and a surge in digital content from new players challenging CPR’s audience engagement. These industry-wide shifts have led to similar downsizing efforts at other public radio stations across the country, including WNYC in New York City, WAMU, and Sacramento’s CapRadio.
CPR News Executive Editor Kevin Dale said, “I hate to see talented colleagues lose their positions for financial reasons. CPR News has been growing into a powerful news source for the past six years. Our mission has been to become an urgent newsroom that also has time to devote to enterprise reporting and accountability reporting, and we remain dedicated to that.”
CPR CEO Stewart Vanderwilt has opted to withhold comments until a staff meeting on Thursday.
