Lehigh Valley Public Media Has Its `Casablanca’ Moment; Federal Funding Will Go Away, `Maybe Not Today, Maybe Not Tomorrow, But … ‘

May 22, 2025

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Lehigh Valley Public Media, also known as PBS 39, had its Casablanca moment on Monday.

Board of Directors Chairman Michael Keim played the role of Humphrey Bogart, saying that the federal funding that makes up 20% of the organization’s revenue is going to disappear.

“Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of your life.”

That was Bogart’s line.

Keim said “If the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) funding doesn’t go away this time around, it will go away at some point in the near-term future.”

Public funding for PBS has been under attack for years.

Things look pretty bleak over at the south Bethlehem headquarters of Lehigh Valley Public Media, but after decades of happy chatter it was refreshing to hear some straight talk.

“We do have a deficit problem as a country and a spending problem,” Keim said. “There will be pain” as a result.

He noted that Moody’s cut the U.S. credit rating on Friday. Since then, the price the U.S. pays to borrow has gone up, while the tax-and-spend bill under consideration adds more giveaways and would increase the federal deficit.

When the U.S.’s ability to pay bills is questioned, the whole world is at risk. To expand on that, the return on U.S. Treasury debt is deemed to be the “risk-free rate,” the benchmark used to value some other assets. That means ripples through many markets, but I digress.

LVPM’s solutions:

— more fundraising.

— seek help from the State of Pennsylvania. Good luck with that, as the federal government shifts costs to the states.

The government’s spending choices used to be described as “guns versus butter,” military versus quality of life. Now, a third option: Guns or butter or Barney?

— avoid tapping the $73.2 million endowment more than they have to. That money came from the auction of airwave rights in 2017. The airwaves are owned by the public, so that is public money.

— Keep costs down. Vacant jobs have not been filled. The staff is 45 as of today (May 22), based on WLVT’s website.

Revenue is $869,000 short so far for the 2025 fiscal year. Expenses are down too, $669,000 below budget, mainly because salaries and benefits are lower, thanks to job cuts.

A few other items from the board meeting:

— There were no updates on WLVR 91.3 FM, the radio station Lehigh Valley Public Media operates. For some reason, LVPM took over management of the station in 2019, back when the organization was making a lot of odd decisions. Lehigh University owns the station, and the two sides are talking about what is next.

My impression is, nobody really wants it. That’s just my impression.

— There may be a new chief executive officer soon. LVPM has an interim CEO now, Laks Srinivasan, but has not had a full-time leader for more than a year.

There was also talk of announcing a new direction of some sort soon. Perhaps there will be a 24-hour Father Brown marathon?

Perhaps there will be awards bestowed and received? The television industry spends a good chunk of its time giving itself awards.

Or perhaps the announcement will be meaningful. I’ll take them at their word, perhaps after years of feel-good chatter, LVPM will do something that matters to average people.