PBS 39 Financial Follies: Don’t Let This Organization Get Another Cent of Public Money; Its Mission Is Unclear, Its Recent History Is Troubling

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

I keep sounding the same alarm. I have to. Nobody else is.

PBS 39 needs an operations audit now before it burns more money on ill-conceived pet projects. The federal Inspector General for public broadcasting provides oversight, and I have asked the IG multiple times to conduct an audit. So far, just formulaic responses.

The public outlet faces declining interest in television and radio, so it moved into journalism. First, with a television show that the station heralded as a great success, before it quietly disappeared. Then PBS 39 went into online news.

News is important, but spending millions on it is about as smart as investing in a company that makes buggy whips. Government-funded news raises a lot of issues, and the use of what was an endowment for television for other purposes stirs the pot further.

PBS 39 sits on an $80 million endowment, and that covers up a lot of sins, but that $80 million is public money and needs to be safeguarded. The money came from an airwave auction. PBS 39 appears to have tapped it for operating expenses.

It can do that, but should it? Good money after bad.

Fiscal 2023 was a disaster. Even members of the board of directors have conceded that the results were “unacceptable” and still this year, the organization keeps falling short of revenue forecasts. Money has been moved around to make payroll.

Jobs were cut. Perhaps more will be. PBS 39 employs 58 people now, down from about 80. I am keeping track of the staff count on the WLVT.org website.

Perhaps PBS 39 — aka Lehigh Valley Public Media (LVPM) — has asked for an audit. I have asked our local public television station/radio station/news outlet about that. No response.

Perhaps one of the new board members has taken a look at the numbers and the lack of direction. I did, and it is mind-boggling.

I will ask the Inspector General and PBS 39 again today (Wednesday, Sept. 6) for an audit. I will ask again tomorrow and the next day … “Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow.”

The numbers: In fiscal 2023, LVPM spent $15.15 million, took in $6.49 million, running a deficit of $8.66 million, almost $1,000 per hour.

Compensation for Tim Fallon, who was chief executive and president, was $308,084. Yes, the $300,000 Man. His compensation accounted for almost 5% of revenue. So about 1 in 20 dollars that went to PBS 39 went to the CEO.

He is now CEO Emeritus. With other top officials “no longer with the company,” as we used to say, some members of the board of directors are managing the Bethlehem outfit.

So a huge deficit, combined with what I contend was a failure of board oversight, and now members of that same board are running the show.

Meanwhile, Fallon is the point man to get more state and federal dollars.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Minutes from PBS 39’s board meetings indicate that television and radio are fading out. That may be so, it may be beyond their control.

Or it could be that they’re not trying very hard. The Channel 39 (WLVT) schedule lineup is a joke.

Engelbert Humperdinck, Live in Hawaii? Hey, I like the Dincker as much as the next guy (not much).

There is no compelling local program, so there is no reason to watch. The children’s programming is available elsewhere.

Here’s the big issue: if WLVT can’t make it in television and radio, should it continue to exist?

It has a digital news outlet that provides local coverage, and that’s important. The area needs coverage, but is a government-funded outlet the way to go?

Government-funded media raises a lot of concerns. It competes with private companies, and it creates conflicts. PBS 39 has its hands out at the federal, state, county and municipal levels, while covering those same governments.

Not long ago, the City of Easton gave PBS 39 a grant of $8,000. Did anybody there check on the 2023 fiscal debacle before voting on that?

My suggestions, as a taxpayer and resident: a clean sweep of the board; ask the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for an interim manager and full disclose of where $15.15 million went last year.

There are a couple local residents who know television who would be good board members. Why isn’t PBS 39 asking them to join?

Below is my request today to WLVT.org, please click on that link and add your voice. I’m not going to call. The people who answer the phones aren’t the problem. The people who make decisions are.

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Good morning again,

Who is running the operation?
Has the board requested an operations audit?
Has a “transformation officer” been chosen?

If no answers are going to be provided, could somebody at least respond to tell me that? I will continue to ask.

Thank you

Jeff Ward