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WOUB lays off some staff and is contemplating other cuts after losing federal funding

By: David Forster
Posted on: Friday, January 9, 2026

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — WOUB Public Media has laid off three employees and will not be replacing three others who left for other reasons, a consequence of a loss of federal funding.

At the request of the Trump administration, Congress voted last July to rescind $1.1 billion in already approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributed these funds to local stations.

WOUB received about $1.5 million, or 30 percent of its budget, through CPB. About 45 percent comes through Ohio University, which holds WOUB’s broadcast licenses and where the station’s operations are based. The rest comes through donations and underwriting.

WOUB also anticipates receiving less funding from the university for the coming fiscal year. The university’s president announced in October plans to cut expenses by 2 percent across the board.

WOUB has spent the past several months trimming its own expenses.

“We wanted to extinguish every possible source before we turned to people,” said Stephen Skidmore, WOUB’s interim general manager.

(WOUB’s longtime general manager, Mark Brewer, was put on paid administrative leave in mid-October pending the outcome of an internal university investigation. These investigations are kept confidential, and with the exception of WOUB staff who have been called as witnesses and cannot discuss it, the reason for the investigation is unknown to others, including the author of this story. We do know it does not involve criminal allegations.)

The expense reductions so far along with the layoffs and unfilled positions have offset some of the lost funding, but there are more cuts to be made.

“We haven’t closed the gap of all the funding we lost,” Skidmore said. “Everything is on the table: programming, services.”

More layoffs are also possible.

WOUB’s NPR and PBS programming is paid up through the end of this fiscal year, which ends June 30. NPR and PBS have not yet let local stations know what the costs will be for the various programs they offer in the coming fiscal year. The two are dealing with their own budget issues in response to the loss of federal funding, and it’s possible some programs may no longer be continued. And it’s possible WOUB may no longer be able to afford to purchase some programs it currently airs.

Skidmore said one thing for certain is WOUB will remain a PBS/NPR affiliate. This is one of the principal reasons people donate to the station. And the network affiliation is also important for the many students who cycle through the newsroom, contributing countless volunteer hours and building portfolios that consistently land them jobs after graduation in coveted markets because of the experience.

Disclosure: Under WOUB’s protocol for reporting on itself, no executives reviewed this story before it was posted.