July 27, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Lehigh Valley Public Media’s board of directors will meet Monday, and they have a lot to talk about.
Cuts in federal funding, introducing a new chief executive, maybe discussing the fate of WLVR FM and whatever else the public news / television / radio outlet has on its mind.
Also the board receives financial reports at each meeting, and an update on its approximately $75 million endowment. That is public money from a 2017 sale of airwaves to telecommunications companies. The airwaves are public, so the money is public.
Please detractors, do not bother sending me any more objections to saying the money is public. It is. Here are some hints: public media, public tax returns, public meetings, public airwaves, ergo public money.
Since the board’s last meeting, the U.S. Congress has voted to rescind funding to public media, costing LVPM about 20% of its revenue.
LVPM has also announced Hasanna Birdsong as its new chief executive, and then there’s the WLVR FM 91.3 saga.
Back in January, we were told to expect a quick decision on the fate of the radio outlet, which is owned by Lehigh University but run by LVPM. Neither of those institutions is known for being nimble, so perhaps six months later is deemed quick. That, or perhaps nobody wants the FM station?
Anyway, we may find out tomorrow. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. Monday and is available to the public via a weblink in this board of directors tab on the LVPM website. Members of the public may ask questions at the end of the meeting.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
keep the radio station; it’s an important contributor to the Lehigh Valleys knowledge base and is really valuable to it’s listeners.
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With all due respect to the point of view of WLVT, I have this to say.
As long as WLVT, WDIY, and CPB maintain their political stance, they do not deserve to be funded with taxpayer money. I respect the Democrat point of view, and your right to have that point of view. I also respect the Republican point of view and their right to have that point of view.
However, as a PUBLIC broadcasting media, being funded by PUBLIC money in part, there is also the obligation to remain politically neutral. This is not the case.
I do occasionally tune in to the public media, and I hear continual berating of the conservative point of view. The bias is painfully obvious. Unless and until this moves more to neutrality, I personally will do all I can to see that taxpayer money is not used to further a political agenda.
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