Oct. 7, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Lehigh Valley Public Media’s disastrous history gives little reason for optimism, but perhaps there is hope.
The south Bethlehem-based operator of Channel 39, WLVR FM and a media outlet has wasted tens of millions of dollars, fired lots of people and above all failed to make any difference in the Lehigh Valley despite pompous statements and nauseating promotions.
Here’s a link to a list of just a few of its big screwups.
The Board of Directors of LVPM has distinguished names on it but governance has been terrible and the board has a long history of not acting as the ship was sinking.
For example, when the operation ran a deficit of $8.66 million ($1,000 per hour) in fiscal 2023 with no apparent results, a previous incarnation of the board didn’t demand change, so there was another huge deficit the next year, and the next.
The main response to date has been cutting back on the number of public meetings. That’s one way to stop bad news from getting out but it doesn’t do much for LVPM or the Lehigh Valley.
Who’s running the place is unknown, with Hasanna Birdsong leaving as chief executive three weeks ago today.
Some donors are wondering what their money goes to. I’ll tell them: it’s going into a black hole, not programming or news.
Maybe the contributions pay for more Happy Hours? Why am I never invited?
Don’t give another penny until leadership — whoever that may be — comes out with some straight talk and a real plan, not pompous posturing.
Some of the problems are national, with ratings for public television down but showing Father Brown reruns doesn’t help. They are available elsewhere.
So here are a few ideas about reviving the three branches of this dead tree, from somebody with decades of media experience.
— Digital media: LVPM employs some good journalists but the outlet shows no discipline or urgency. It doesn’t cover real beats.
There are 62 municipalities in the Lehigh Valley and many of them get zero news coverage. Checking municipal websites and legal ads would lead to short stories telling people what is going on in their town. Imagine that, Lehigh Valley Public Media covering the Lehigh Valley.
That would mean drudgery, reading tax maps and zoning regulations and income statements, not interviewing musicians and promoting various self-serving non-profit boondoggles.
— Channel 39: The station recently came out with a series, “Good Neighbors Live Here,” about the “hometown heroes who inspire us all.” Does anybody really think these people inspire us? I’ve met some of them and they’re nice, but no, none of them have inspired me. Channel 39 is talking down to you when it spouts off such nonsense. I wouldn’t have taken that seriously in second grade.
Worse yet, LVPM has a studio and staff yet it hired a television production contractor to work on the series. What does anybody do at LVPM? Are there cornhole games in the hallways? Can somebody get there 10,000 daily steps in by pacing in the hallways?
Here’s something to consider. There are people in the Lehigh Valley who have produced successful television, private and public, national and international. Has LVPM’s board ever contacted these people for advice or to employ them?
— WLVR FM 91.3: In 2019, LVPM took over Lehigh University’s radio station and proceeded to do nothing with it, just one more inscrutable move. WLVR has a network of alumni who cherish their time at the station. Some made radio into a career.
Perhaps talking with those people might yield some ideas? That would be real community engagement, not the patronizing approach LVPM has employed with zero results.
— New board members: The board made a good move by cutting back on its size but it also needs a couple people with experience in real world television, the kind of people who will call out bull and bluster when they hear it.
So those are my suggestions. They might not accomplish anything but it’s time to stop pretending that Lehigh Valley Public Media matters, that it makes a difference and that even many people are aware of it.
Tens of millions of dollars of public money has been wasted. It’s time to face reality.
Become relevant or close the shop.
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