Brian De los Santos and Victoria Alejandro are among a group of journalists laid off at Southern California public radio station KPCC, branded as LAist 89.3 FM, amid financial challenges, including President Trump’s executive order cutting federal funding for public media.
This is the first layoff in De los Santos’s 13-year career. He joined LAist in 2021 as an editor, later becoming podcast producer and host of “How to LA.” After the podcast ended in December 2024, he shifted to an on-camera digital host role, producing social media video and collaborating with the newsroom to amplify LAist’s reporting. Previously, he worked as a digital strategist at the Desert Sun and as a producer and editor for the Los Angeles Times homepage.
De los Santos shared on social media that he’s staying positive and looking ahead as he navigates the next phase of his career.
Alejandro, a “How to LA” and LAist Studios podcast producer, had been with KPCC for over four years.
According to LAist, the SoCal public newsroom gets “$1.7 million — or about 4% — of its $40 million budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
Most of this year’s CBP funds have already been distributed, so the impact of the executive order cuts would likely be felt in 2026.
Leave a Reply