“News organizations don’t like to become news items, but that’s what has happened repeatedly in the past month at Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company, American Public Media,” writes Tom Meersman in Sunday’s (8/9) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). On July 14, John McTaggart, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, “announced that APM had sold its three-station classical network in Florida.… APM is one of the largest producers of public radio programming, with a portfolio that includes A Prairie Home Companion, Marketplace, and classical music programming. The shows run across the nation. APM also has units that include MPR [Minnesota Public Radio] and Southern California Public Radio…. The organization and its subsidiaries reported $123.7 million in total support and earned revenue, and $124.8 million in expenses [for] the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. Both MPR and Southern California Public Radio reported balanced budgets…. Classical South Florida posted a $1.5 million loss…. Revenue was certainly an issue with the three-station Classical South Florida system, in which APM reportedly invested about $30 million since 2007.”
Posted August 13, 2015
