Lehigh Valley Public Media, aka Channel 39, Seeks More Donations

July 22, 2025

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Lehigh Valley Public Media — aka Channel 39, aka LVPM — wants your money. More of it.

In an email today, new LVPM Chief Executive Officer Hasanna Birdsong notes how the federal government has pulled $1.1 billion in funding to public media.

“Without federal support, we become truly public media: made possible by your support, guided by what matters most to our community and committed to providing open access to trustworthy news to all,” she writes.

Federal money made up about 20% of LVPM’s budget, so it’s a big loss.

Before writing those checks, though, consider:

— Lehigh Valley Public Media has about $75 million invested. That money came from the auction of public airwaves, so it’s public money. When what is now LVPM received that money in 2018, it had an opportunity to set up an endowment that would generate perhaps $5 million annually.

Instead, it went on spending sprees and wound up fiscal 2023 with a whopping $8.66 million loss, a loss that exceeded total revenue for the year.

Remarkable. Spent $15.15 million, took in $6.49 million.

— Lehigh Valley Public Media has by its own admission been seeking to figure out what its mission is.

It has new management, it operates a television station with declining ratings, a radio station that is owned by Lehigh University, and neither LVPM or the university appear to want WLVR FM.

— Lehigh Valley Public Media does put out news stories every day. I’m a huge fan of news but I have doubts about public media. Still, they have some good people, but how a news organization can cover the same governments it seeks money from is just one of the questions.

Once I went over LVPM’s financial statements, I wrote various items and contacted people in government, asking them not to throw more taxpayer money into the bonfire. I got some positive responses.

Perhaps its television station can do more than show stuff that is available at other public stations in Eastern Pennsylvania. Perhaps LVPM can learn to live within its means. Perhaps it can dump WLVR back on Lehigh University.

Perhaps the organization can stop communicating in some kind of parody of business jargon. Credit where it’s due, Birdsong’s statement today is not obfuscatory and ridiculous, as many earlier statements from LVPM have been (sorry, I like to use words like obfuscatory sometimes).

Perhaps LVPM can get on the right track.

Perhaps not.

I’d ask for some proof before anybody writes a check, and don’t forget that $75 million the organization has backing it up.

Here’s a cut-and-paste version of the LVPM statement today:

Last week Congress rescinded $1.1 billion in public media funding. What now? We choose action.
 
At Lehigh Valley Public Media, this moment marks more than a funding loss, it marks a turning point.
 
Without federal support, we become truly public media: made possible by your support, guided by what matters most to our community, and committed to providing open access to trustworthy news to all.
 
This challenge brings opportunity.

Opportunity to innovate. To connect even more deeply. To become the trusted community hub our community needs; one that delivers original, local, and community-generated content online, on-air, and in person.
 
If you’re already a member, thank you. If you’re not, now is the time to join – and to share what matters most to you.

Opportunity awaits. And we’re just getting started.

Let’s shape the future of local media – together.

Hasanna Birdsong

President & CEO
Lehigh Valley Public Media