Valley PBS has been a hot mess. New CEO, board members must get public TV on better track

To say that Valley PBS has been a hot mess is probably understating it.

Charges by employees of a toxic work environment. Continual turnover of the chief executive. A shell of a board overseeing things. And weird demands of staff, such as the requirement the workers sign a contract pledging loyalty to the station and that “duty to God and country are demonstrated in our actions every day.”

It’s almost as if the central San Joaquin Valley’s only public television station has been its own made-for-TV drama.

There’s nothing funny or mysterious, however, about the plight the station finds itself in. There are too few board members overseeing a diminished staff, and there has not been enough public input to keep things on track. Its finances are propped up by one-time sources, and some question whether it is meeting its obligations to produce local programming.

The blame for the sorry state lies with the board. Whether it can get things on stronger footing is the key question.

Weakness of the board

Bee staff writer Brianna Calix did a months-long investigation into Valley PBS, talking to nearly 20 former employees and executives and going over public records to get a handle on what was happening at the Fresno-based station.

Among the highlights:

▪ Valley PBS had been operating with only six members on its board of directors. It is supposed to have 16. The interim CEO, Jeff Aiello, told Calix he has just recruited six new members to bring the board up to 12.

Among its duties, the board is entrusted with making sure the station follows the Public Broadcasting Act and Corporation for Public Broadcasting policies. It also hires and fires the CEO and sets the direction for the organization.

▪ The chief executive post has been in constant flux. Since 2014, Valley PBS has had five CEOs. The CEO carries out the direction of the board. Having so many different leaders forces the staff to keep adjusting and adapting to new expectations.

▪ Special government funding has helped carry the station since the COVID pandemic began, but it is not sustainable, and other monies must be raised to meet ongoing expenses.

▪ Questions of conflicts of interest have arisen regarding two Valley PBS leaders and programming.

Before taking over as interim CEO, Aiello’s involvement at Valley PBS was as the producer of various programs, such as “Tapped Out,” which examines water use in the state, and “American Grown: My Job Depends on Ag.” “American Grown” and another Aiello show, “Outside: Beyond the Lens” continue to air, even though he is now CEO. Aiello raises the money needed to produce both shows. Former employees have questioned whether his production of the shows that get broadcast on the station he oversees poses a conflict.

The sponsor of “American Grown” is GAR Bennett, a Reedley-based crop-services firm that is run by Karen Musson, who has also been chair of the Valley PBS board.

Both Aiello and Musson said they have acted properly and without self-interest in programming decisions.

But former employees contend agriculture interests are shaping the programming decisions at the expense of other key PBS audiences, such as parents and children.

Strange tenure

Staff morale took a significant dive under CEO Lorenzo Rios. He had been a board member, and then became CEO in 2020. An Army veteran, he ran the television station like a military operation, according to former employees.

It was Rios who instituted the loyalty clause in the contract. He also added to the contracts the principles of Rotary; Rios headed the Clovis Rotary club in 2020-21. And Rios began staff meetings with prayer.

Most importantly, Rios took over Valley PBS while he continued working as the CEO of the Clovis Veterans Memorial District. Musson said she worked out that rather unusual arrangement with the veterans district board.

Stringent leadership is one thing. But divided leadership, no matter how qualified the manager, is certainly not a best practice. Insisting staff sign contracts with loyalty clauses only adds to the strangeness of Rios’ tenure.

Serving the community

Despite the travails inside Valley PBS, community membership grew by 4% last year. So the interest remains strong in what a public broadcasting station can provide.

Unique programming is what gives Valley PBS an edge in the competition for viewers. To ensure that the station returns to stability and more local programming, several things must happen:

▪ The board must be filled out to its maximum number. The group badly needs new perspectives and vitality. Once the board is full, its members should undergo basic training on best practices for effective leadership.

▪ The CEO hire must be a home run — ideally someone with experience in public television and its demands, like fund raising. Hopefully the job is appealing enough that the CEO will remain in the job for a good while.

It is also critical that once the CEO is hired and in sync with the board, those directors step away from daily operations and let the staff do the work.

Kermit the Frog, of PBS’s Sesame Street fame, once said “Life’s like a movie. Write your own ending.” That’s good advice for children and adults alike. It is time for Valley PBS to forge a better story.