In Friday’s (8/29) Los Angeles Times, Stephen Battaglio writes, “Los Angeles classical music station KUSC-FM (91.5) has laid off employees after Republicans cut federal funding from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. James A. Muhammad, president of Classical California, the entity that operates the nonprofit KUSC and its sister station, KDFC in San Francisco, confirmed the workforce reduction in a note sent Thursday to its listeners…. ‘The fact is that Classical California has experienced a reduction of $1.1 million in support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,’ Muhammad wrote. ‘This, along with other impacts, requires us to make difficult decisions across KUSC-FM and KDFC-FM.’… A person briefed on the move who was not authorized to comment publicly said it was eight positions, including two department managers, all based in Los Angeles. None of the announcers at the two stations were included in the cuts. Classical California is among the many public media outlets that are scrambling to fill the budget gaps caused by the decision by the Trump White House and the Republican Congress to [take] back the $1.1 billion in federal money allocated to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. The nonprofit entity administered the funds for public radio and TV stations … Both KUSC and KDFC, which are owned and operated by the University of Southern California, play classical music 24 hours a day and are not NPR affiliates. They are the most-listened-to classical radio stations in the U.S.”
