PBS's chief executive told public television officials Thursday that it was cutting about 15 percent of its jobs due to the move by Republicans in Congress to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting starting on Oct. 1.

Thirty-four PBS staffers were notified Thursday that their positions were being cut. Taken with the loss of a longstanding federal grant for an educational initiative earlier this summer, and the elimination of about three dozen other vacant positions, PBS will have lost more than 100 jobs in all.

PBS Chief Executive Paula Kerger said the system is taking a 21 percent hit in revenues.

"Over the last weeks, we have been working through how best to manage the impact of loss of federal funding," Kerger wrote in a memo to station managers shared with NPR News. "

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