Dwight Miller has been warning us for months that if something didn’t change in the state budget for the upcoming year, it was going to be a painful summer for public broadcasting in NWPA.

The pain is here.

In advance of the elimination of state funding for public broadcasting coming in two weeks, WQLN Public Media made deep cuts to its personnel and operating budget Tuesday. According to broadcast and published reports, five employees have been let go, including program director Gordon Stroufe, and Director of Engineering Ed Upton.

Other cost-cutting moves include:

• 5% salary cuts for all management, with Miller taking a 10% cut
• Two-week unpaid furloughs fro all employees
• Hiring and wage freeze
• No unnecessary travel, conference attendance, and staff training
• The “Marketplace” financial program on WQLN-FM will be dropped

Miller told JET-TV that they tried to cushion the blow on the viewer:

Our goal is for viewers not to see an impact on the services we provide to them. We were very strategic in choosing positions to try to minimize the impact that the public will see. But eventually it will have an impact in the long run.

WQLN normally receives $800,000 from the Commonwealth, and neither version of the state budget currently being considered in Harrisburg would continue that funding. There is hope that a portion of the funding could be restored in the final budget bill. If that were not to happen, more layoffs could be likely.