KTOO furloughs temporary staff, limits Gavel Alaska special session coverage, due to federal funding cuts
- Mark Sabbatini
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Station manager says much bigger concerns ahead on same day Corporation for Public Broadcasting announces it is shutting down
This is a developing story.
On-screen graphics identifying lawmakers and providing other information will be missing from Gavel Alaska’s coverage of the House and Senate floor sessions when a special legislative session starts Saturday, due to KTOO furloughing temporary staff in the wake of federal funding cuts, the station’s general manager said Friday.
His remarks came on the same day the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced it will cease most operations Oct. 1 and complete its shutdown by January due to its funding being stripped by Congress and President Donald Trump. The CPB, in a statement, notes it supports more than 1,500 “locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide," and the shutdown is an end to a nearly 60-year Congressionally mandated mission.
KTOO’s website states federal grant funding is 34% of the station’s operating revenue, and the loss of funds will result in programs and staffing being cut. An early indicator of those cuts is what KTOO President and General Manager Justin Shoman, in an email Friday, called "small changes to Gavel coverage tomorrow."
"We typically rely on 5-7 temporary staff to produce and stream concurrent meetings during the legislative sessions," he wrote. "Due to our funding loss, we've furloughed temporary staff so the concurrent House and Senate floor sessions will air without on-screen graphics including legislators' names, districts, and bill information because we lack the capacity to offer that service on multiple streams simultaneously. Joint sessions or single meetings will look like they always do."
Legislative leaders have said there is a strong probability the session will last a single day, with the primary focus being an override vote during a joint session on education funds vetoed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. But lawmakers could also take up other bills he has vetoed and the session can by law last up to 30 days.
Shoman, in a previous statement when Congress was voting to claw back about $1.1 billion in CPB funds, declared that rescission "will result in sweeping cuts to local services at KTOO including music programs, news, and Gavel Alaska."
On Friday, following CPB’s shutdown announcement, he stated "we have more questions than answers right now."
"It's unclear what the immediate and long-term ramifications of their closure will be for KTOO," Shoman wrote. "Symbolically it stings, marking the end of nearly 60 years of public media as this nation has known it. While I'm confident that KTOO and many of our peers will endure, I'm mourning the loss of an institution that has been an important part of my entire life beginning in those formative years spent with Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street."
KTOO hosted a community barbecue for residents preparing for a possible glacial lake outburst flood on the same day Congress gave final approval to the rescission. KTOO Managing Editor Claire Stremple announced at the time the station was launching a new "Outburst" podcast series made possible with non-federal grant funds as part of an effort to expand flood coverage despite "incredibly challenging decisions in the weeks ahead."
Other stations in Alaska are facing much greater impacts — federal funding is about 70% of Bethel station KYUK’s operating budget, for instance.
"Our ability to provide three concurrent streams with the production value our audience is accustomed to is very much at risk," he wrote. "The video, television, and streaming infrastructure is expensive and while we may have to make cuts to Gavel Alaska services, we are very focused on fundraising between now and January to stave off canceling legislative coverage altogether."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com (907) 957-2306.
