When central Illinois’ public television station received last year’s funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on April 8, it relieved a few colossal burdens felt at WTVP-TV 47.
First, the pressure of tight finances was eased. Next, after hundreds of thousands of “questionable, improper and unauthorized” spending was exposed starting in 2023, a donation of at least $1.2 million to help WTVP stabilize was made on the condition there is CPB funding, and that requirement’s been met. Finally, reforms in fiscal policies and procedures were found acceptable by the CPB.
“We received the bulk of our CPB grant funding,” Illinois Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation President and CEO Jenn Gordon told The Community Word the day the funding arrived. “Fiscal Year 2024 grant funding [received] was $930,851.”
In addition, the station received 70% of its CPB grant funding for this year: $685,780, Gordon said.
“The remaining 30% for FY25 is pending some final financial reporting on our part,” she said. “We anticipate receiving that amount within the next 90 days.”
That means another $20,000 or so is also expected. “To say the least, we are very pleased to have both our good standing and our funding restored from the CPB,” Gordon added.
About one-third of WTVP’s budget comes from CPB to help buy programming such as “Nature” and “PBS NewsHour.”
The CPB was created as a publicly funded, private corporation in 1967 because public media “creates and distributes content that is for, by and about Americans of a wide range of backgrounds; and provides services that foster dialogue among the stations and the communities they serve,” according to CPB.
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