As previously announced on May 26, 2011, Governor Rick Scott line item vetoed the Florida Legislature's approved appropriation of $4.8 million for Florida public broadcasting stations, of which WSRE was to receive approximately $307,000. This record loss will indeed have a deep impact on personnel, programming and services the station is able to deliver. Staff reductions will be made in the production area, donor services, SightLine reading service and broadcast engineering as of June 30 when the current fiscal year funding ends. A total of five positions have been eliminated against WSRE’s current full-time staff of 27. Other expense reductions will result in some local productions going on hiatus pending future funding for those projects, as well as longtime favorite “The Lawrence Welk Show” which will be removed from the schedule to reduce programming costs. Viewers can still expect to see core PBS programming such as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow and NOVA. In addition, the station’s educational services/events for the community will continue.
Prudent and public-service-minded business management practices necessitate these changes in light of the sudden and immediate defunding of all public broadcasting stations in Florida. “The difficult decision to cancel programs and eliminate the jobs of valued WSRE employees was made after an exhaustive review of our entire organization, and with the greatest reluctance,” said Sandy Cesaretti Ray, WSRE’s General Manager. “With all of our remaining revenue sources under pressure, these actions were necessary to responsibly ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization and put WSRE on a realistic financial path for the future. We are counting on the increased support of our viewers, corporate support partners, and private foundations to help WSRE rebound from this loss while continuing to retain our award-winning prominence in public media."
