By Adam Pagnucco.
WAMU’s layoffs are the latest blow to local media coverage in the region. After an ominous email was sent to staff, the radio station announced that it was laying off 15 employees, terminating the DCist website and “focusing on audio.” This generated a firestorm from journalists and listeners alike. So why did the station take these actions? It’s hard to know aside from management’s explanation, but there is one resource to tap:
WAMU’s financial reports.
Most media organizations are privately held and therefore have opaque finances. Even publicly-traded ones like Gannett Company supply limited information about individual outlets. But WAMU actually publishes balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements on its website going back to 2006. This enables us to get some insight into the station’s financial condition, a key factor in deciding structural issues like layoffs.
First, some background. WAMU is a public radio station that has been owned and operated by American University (AU) since 1961. It is an affiliate of National Public Radio (NPR), to which it pays dues in return for content. It also runs local programming, including news, and maintains a staff of journalists and production employees. Its largest revenue sources are individual contributions, corporate underwriting and contributions of goods and services from AU.
WAMU is tiny compared to AU. WAMU listed $38 million in revenues and $46 million in net assets for the year ending on 6/30/23 in its most recent financial report. AU listed $998 million in revenues and $$1.5 billion in net assets for the year ending on 6/30/22 in its most recent filing with the IRS. Compared to AU, WAMU is a small planetoid orbiting its sun.
A few key events have impacted WAMU’s condition over the last decade.
In 2013, WAMU received a $6.25 million loan from AU to finance leasehold improvements at its office on 4401 Connecticut Avenue NW, which it leases from AU. The loan carries zero interest and its balance is due on April 30, 2027. The lease, which was signed in 2012, expires in 2032. WAMU pays AU $2.2 million a year for its lease and often pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on its loan.
In 2018, WAMU purchased DCist, a local news website that had formerly been part of the Gothamist network. This enabled limited integration between the two outlets as DCist journalists appeared on WAMU radio programming.
In 2020, WAMU staff formed a union and signed a collective bargaining agreement in 2022. This reflected growing journalist unionization across the country.
Also in 2020, the COVID pandemic began and impacted individuals and businesses all over the world. WAMU suffered a revenue impact, especially from corporate underwriting, and received a $2.6 million federal Paycheck Protection Program loan in FY21. A year later, the loan was forgiven and the station booked it as grant revenue.
Above all, any analysis of WAMU’s finances must begin with this statement, which appears in its financial reports: “WAMU is dependent for its continued operations on the financial support of the University.” The interrelationship of WAMU’s and AU’s finances shows up over and over in WAMU’s statements and may play a role in the station’s decision-making.
We will begin our analysis in Part Two.