How to cut the budget without cutting people

Many News Directors are faced with some very tough decisions these days, and they have nothing to do with news.

We read of layoffs every day. Last night I found that some very good people at one of my old stations had gotten pink slipped. It made me wonder... do stations cut the obvious before cutting people?

So here are some suggestions for News Directors who find themselves with a mandate to cut the budget. If this even saves one person's job, it's worth it.

-Consultants. The number one biggest waste of money in the industry. Need advice? Send your newscast to other ND friends and get feedback. Need research? Write the questions yourself and get a bunch of interns to make the calls.

-Travel. That trip to RTNDA? Outta here. Sending your sports guy to the bowl game, World Series or Super Bowl? Fuhgeddaboudit. Local news becomes local again. If you can pick something up off the feed, do it. If you don't have good relationships with other stations in the state, set them up now so that you can share resources.

-Overtime. It is high time for someone in Congress to write legislation regarding comp time. Many people would rather have comp time than overtime, yet there is always that undercurrent that it is "illegal" in some way. If neither side complains, who cares? It is one of those victimless crimes. The system worked well years ago and can work again.

-Perks. If it is not a trade out, it goes. No more free lunches for anyone. On the other side of the coin, if you have to keep salaries down, get your sales people to trade out for more perks.

-Custom tag and satellite expenses. Paying the network a few hundred bucks for a custom tag is a real waste. It's another one of those things that doesn't fool anyone. Viewers in Podunk know that their local station doesn't have a reporter in Washington, DC. And satellite time isn't cheap. Use it wisely, and only for stories with real merit.

-Single anchors. If one of your co-anchors leaves, don't fill the position. That salary can be used to save the jobs of probably two or three other people. I'm not telling you to fire anyone, but if the opportunity presents itself, go the old fashioned single anchor route.

-Friday night football. This extravaganza has blown out more overtime budgets than I can count. The people who care are at the games... and guess what... they aren't home by the time the newscast airs anyway.

-Salary cuts. In every station there are a few people who are overpaid and under-talented. Or overpaid and lazy. Ask them politely to take a modest pay cut. If they realize they can't go anywhere else, they'll agree. Ninety percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothing.

Meanwhile, call a staff meeting and be honest with your people. Tell them they can save a job or two if they all pitch in to cut corners. Don't abuse the telephone. Don't call information when you can look up a number on the internet. (I can't tell you how many times I've seen that one, and it calls a couple of bucks a pop.) Turn off lights in the edit booths at the end of the day. Save gas where you can, because rest assured the price will go up again. Take better care of the equipment so it will last longer. Don't print out anything you don't absolutely need. (Although you can print this out and slide it under your ND's door. But I'd rather you just send him the link.) Shake the toner in the printer when you get a "low toner" reading; you'll get another week out of the thing. Refill your own inkjet cartridges... one dollar versus twenty.

Many NDs feel it has always been a matter of "us versus them" when it comes to management and employees. Many employees waste company money because it isn't theirs. Time for everyone to be a team again. Get on the same page and save money.

You might just save a job.

And it might be yours.