State budget cuts limit WFIU, WTIU

IU’s public broadcasting stations WFIU and WTIU are looking for ways to reduce expenses after becoming the latest victims of the state’s newest round of budget cuts.

Due to a $1.6 million reduction announced Jan. 7, Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations will not receive their third or fourth quarter distributions from the state, totaling $200,000 for the IU stations. WFIU, IU’s public radio station, will lose $30,000 and WTIU, IU’s public television station, will lose $170,000.

Perry Metz, general manager for Radio and Television Services, said both broadcasting stations will first look at reducing professional travel, limiting part-time employment, postponing equipment purchases and curtailing local productions to offset the budget cuts.

“The stations have a large number of academic partnerships with schools on campus,” he said. “The cut limits what we can do to produce programming in cooperation with those schools.”

The stations employ 75 to 100 students a year, Phil Meyer, station manager for WTIU, said.

Though the number of students who volunteer or participate in a work-study program will not change, he said some part-time hours will be reduced.

“When cutting more than $200,000 after the year is half over and most of the budget is in salaries, it calls into question how much of that we can do,” Metz said.

Sophomore Robert Rossman, who began a work-study program at WFIU in September 2008, said opportunities for creative production will be lessened due to the cut.

“The ability to do new, cool things will be limited,” he said. “And I would assume there might be less internships.”

Christina Kuzmych, station manager and program director at WFIU, said if the cuts force the stations to cut back on full-time personnel, students who intern will fail to benefit from their teachings.

“It has always been our philosophy to preserve as much as possible of our full-time staff,” she said. “If we start cutting the staff, we’ll have to start cutting local programs soon and then you don’t have a local radio station.

“Public broadcasting is very important to the state of Indiana,” said Kuzmych. “More and more education is through the media.”

Station employees understand the state’s budget problems; however, Kuzmych said it appears public broadcasting has been singled out in the cuts.

“It looks like they proposed a 10 percent cut to other state agencies,” she said. “But at the same time they’re cutting public broadcasting 50 percent.”

State support makes up 3 percent of WFIU’s funds. Kuzmych said the funds chiefly pay for coverage of news initiatives such as coverage of the 2008 presidential election in Indiana.

Meyer said state support is higher at WTIU.

“It has more impact on the TV side,” he said.

State funding for WTIU helps sponsor their children’s series and outreach for day care providers, Meyer said. The funding goes toward helping children learn to read and do other activities related to the television shows, he said.

In a February 2009 budget proposal by Daniels, he suggested zeroing out state funding of public broadcasting. But both legislative houses agreed they wanted to keep public broadcasting in the budget with relatively stable funding, Metz said.

“If they cut our entire budget, it would surely impact what the public gets out of public radio and unduly deprive Indiana listeners from information they need to get,” Kuzmych said.