In these extraordinary times, trusted information, thoughtful analysis, and public conversation are essential. As the pandemic took hold in our city, across the country, and all over the world, Congress agreed—deeming news media an essential service.
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was created in part to help essential organizations such as ours continue operations in the face of revenue shortfalls due to COVID-19.
Today I am announcing that New York Public Radio applied for and received an $8.9 million loan through the PPP. These funds will support our dedicated staff as they continue the incredible work they do every day in service of New York City.
This funding will not change our fierce independence in any way. Indeed, these resources will be used to continue our rigorous public service journalism, including accountability reporting on government responses to this crisis.
The economic downturn caused by the pandemic has created one of the most challenging environments in recent memory. The news media has been particularly hard hit by the pullback in advertising and sponsorship revenues, and many organizations have had to make difficult staffing and operational decisions. For our part, since the start of the pandemic, New York Public Radio has lost millions in expected sponsorship funding, creating a significant deficit for this year and beyond.
Through all of this, our extraordinary staff have continued to deliver a critical public service—without missing a beat. Our engineers have moved a newsroom and two broadcast operations almost entirely offsite, while keeping us on-air and on-line without interruption. WNYC and Gothamist reporters and hosts are working around the clock to provide our community essential information, deep context and analysis, and a space for civic conversation about the seismic shifts in our political, social and personal lives. And our classical music service WQXR continues to provide a much-needed oasis of calm and inspiration through the storm. The PPP loan will help us keep all of this work going in the immediate term.
In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to face tremendous financial pressure, in ways that are today still hard to predict. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were projecting to run a deficit in our current fiscal year; the crisis has now made that deficit more significant. While the PPP loan will provide relief, it does not negate the ongoing impact of this crisis. We will rely more than ever on our incredible community of listeners—our biggest single source of support—even as we know that they have been hit hard as well.
What is clear is that our shared mission of community-powered journalism has never been more urgent. Our audience is more engaged than ever, and it is a privilege to serve our city during this historic time. We are all living a story that will have many chapters, and we are grateful for the opportunity to move through them together.