Oct. 3, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Just when Lehigh Valley Public Media can’t be any more ridiculous, it finds a way.
The Board of Directors of the (sort of) organization that does very little but in theory runs Channel 39, a digital-news outlet and WLVR FM, has switched its meeting Monday from public to a “private executive session.”
Lehigh Valley Public Media is again giving the middle finger to the public, a little more than two weeks after Hasanna Birdsong left as chief executive. She was there a little more than 14 months.
Over most of the past decade, LVPM has been a mess. In the past year, it’s done almost nothing at its nice shiny south Bethlehem headquarters.
Maybe they’ll invite me to the next team Happy Hour? Not likely.
Here’s a short list of earlier disasters.
LVPM:
— Spent more than $40 million from its endowment over five years for zero results. LVPM shrank during that time.
— Ran an $8.66 million deficit (about $1,000 per hour) in fiscal 2023 while paying its top four employees a total of $1 million ($250,000 average) for that result.
— Hired a production company for a television show this year. Lehigh Valley Public Media has a staff and a studio and produces very little, but brought in a contractor for a show about the local heroes who “inspire us all.” Puke!
— Ran a ridiculous help-wanted advertisement before hiring Birdsong. LVPM’s national search led to, of course, a local resident.
— Cut back on public board meetings from six annually to two.
That’s just a sample. What keeps the place going is the $82 million it received from a 2017 auction of airwaves. That’s $82 million of public money from the public sale of public airwaves. It should be used for something else.
The outrages continue. If the board can’t find a way to make this outfit relevant, either shut it down or find somebody who can.
Public interest? No.
Public be damned.
“There’s nothing to see here, folks!”
Here’s a list of board members who will attend this private meeting of the local Illuminati.
