— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones has published a comprehensive look at what is going on at WLVR, the public radio station owned by Lehigh University but managed by Lehigh Valley Public Media (Channel 39, etc.)
The article cites me and this blog (thank you) and interviews Lehigh Valley Public Media’s acting chief executive. The reporting shows that the station’s future is uncertain, at best, and that Lehigh Valley Public Media is searching for a way to justify its existence.
Lehigh Valley Public Media is a mess, but to its credit, the organization has recognized that it is a mess. It no longer sends ridiculously pompous press releases, that’s a start.
Meanwhile, although it’s burning through money, it still has about $74 million in investments. That is public money. It came via the sale of airwave rights and the airwaves belong to the public.
I have received several anonymous notes saying that the money is not public. Nonsense. I have a good sense of who sent these notes, and it’s a person with reason to want to hide things.
LVPM operates Channel 39, WLVR and a digital news site. It’s time for the place to straighten up.
I suggest a merger with WHYY to the south or WVIA to the north as long as that $74 million can somehow be used in the Lehigh Valley for something useful, not pet media projects that waste millions of dollars. That much money could preserve a lot of open space.
In my every-so humble opinion, LVPM has been mismanaged. The $82 million the outfit received in 2017 from an airwave auction covered up a lot of sins, but no more. People are watching now.
Meanwhile, the staff is down to 48 from 80 a couple years ago, but LVPM continues to miss financial targets. The future is what matters most, but a hard look at how a small organization ran an $8.6 million deficit in fiscal 2023 ($15.15 million spent, $6.49 million taken in) merits investigation.
Where did all that money go? Here is LVPM’s tax form for that year. How did it spend $131,537 on travel, for example? Why did it spend $605,369 on advertising and promotion?
Why do local governments still give this spendthrift organization money? Why does anybody give it money, when it has an endowment larger than that of some colleges?
Why does Channel 39 show reruns of programs that are available elsewhere?
In short, why does this place exist? LVPM owes the public an explanation, not just another pledge drive.
More to come later.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 