Oct. 19, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
The Lehigh Valley Public Media disaster continues.
The huge losses, the staff cuts and the general lack of doing anything are already documented. Now, some minutes of meetings that were not posted on the Board of Directors section of the website are available at WLVT.org.
Here are notes from a May 4 meeting. I added job titles for the two people quoted. Below is some of the discussion of the sale of WLVR FM 91.3, Lehigh University’s former radio station. Lehigh Valley Public Media (LVPM) took over the station in 2019, has done nothing with it, and has since bought it.
Minutes show the options considered in May were to let it “go dark,” (stop transmitting) keep doing whatever it is they’re doing with it or do something different with the programming.
From the WLVT.org website:
“Ms. Birdsong (Hasanna Birdsong, former chief executive) presented a three-option framework for WLVR: preserve and maintain programming, exit the asset (go dark), or maintain programming under a different model. She confirmed no financially neutral path exists to continue operations — radio staff were eliminated in January, infrastructure support contracts have not been renewed (any failure would require ~$100,000 to restore), and radio is held in the legacy bucket of the budget as it is not strategically critical to LVPM’s go-forward model. Mr. Patel (Imtiaz Patel, board adviser) concurred, noting radio listeners do not convert efficiently to newsletter readers and that meaningful incremental value would require management attention the organization does not have available.”
Then from a board meeting in July:
“… the Board discussed disposition options following NPR cancellation: sell the license or go dark.”
Sell it or let it die. The decision from that meeting was to sell, and LVPM has a broker under a non-disclosure agreement.
“The Board directed that the broker already under NDA be asked to address the outstanding monetization questions — maximum achievable value, spectrum severability, operational impact, and buyer considerations — with a recommended path to return to the Board. The process is to remain confidential, with any formal sale process to follow FCC approval, and proceeds-sharing obligations to Lehigh University were noted. Mr. Srinivasan (Laks Srinivasan, board chairman) will inform Lehigh University that LVPTC’s strategy for the license has shifted to monetization.”
Monetization is jargon for “sell.” LVPTC stands for Lehigh Valley Public Telecommunications Corp., which “does business” as Lehigh Valley Public Media, though what business it does remains a mystery.
So that leaves some questions. Why weren’t these meetings posted on the Board of Directors’ section of the website? Only two public meetings have been posted for this year, and a third was switched to private after this blogger and a reporter from traditional media asked about it.
Why did LVPM ever take over the operation, do nothing with it, and then decide to buy the license? Why hasn’t Lehigh University been more open about what’s going on? The money involved is a flyspeck to Lehigh.
There’s more to come.
