RIPBS Is Sitting on $100M While Asking for Donations & Fighting Federal Cuts

RIPBS Is Sitting on $100M While Asking for Donations & Fighting Federal Cuts

Rhode Island PBS, the media corporation with little viewership and more than $100 million in assets, is seeking more donations and trying to fight off cuts by the incoming Republican Congress.

In a January 2, 2025, email to donors, RIPBS asked for financial support and issued a warning of federal cuts.

“Rhode Island PBS seeks to embrace new opportunities to serve you in 2025. Yet the entire public media system faces a big question: Will circumstances diminish or even end our federal funding? In this uncertain period, your additional support matters. Give what feels right for you now," wrote Jodi M. Mesolella, the Director of Membership & Special Projects at RIPBS.

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When asked about RIPBS’s funding, CEO Pam Johnston said that most of the station's funds come from donors and sponsors.

“While all funding is needed and essential, the lion’s share of our operational funding comes from generous members and donors, as well as local sponsors and foundations. We expect that to continue going forward,” said Johnston in an email to GoLocal.

GoLocal had requested an interview with Johnston, which she accepted and subsequently canceled. GoLocal had sought to understand why RIPBS needs additional federal funding when the station is sitting on more than $100 million in assets,

Johnston's compensation is $300,000 a year — more than 66% higher than her predecessor, David Piccerelli.

In addition, she said she receives "healthcare benefits, and after one year of service, there is a 403 B matching percentage, which is standard for all employees. There is also the potential for additional compensation tied to performance, which has yet to be finalized."

However, sponsorships and donations only make up a tiny fraction of RIPBS’s assets. 

 

 

 

 

In 2017, RIPBS Saw a Windfall From the FCC Frequency Auction

RIPBS sits on a massive fortune. In. 2017, the station won the proverbial frequency lottery.

The then-often financially struggling station received $94.4 million to move its signal from its current position on the television spectrum to a lower level. It was part of an incentive auction facilitated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as it tried to move all television signals lower on the spectrum to free up space for wireless networks.

Prior to the windfall from the auction monies, RIPBS reported assets of just $1.4 million, according to its 990 form tax filing.

In its most recently filed 990 for fiscal year 2023, RIPBS reported net assets of more than $104.5 million. 

Those funds are derived from the auction and the resulting investment gains. RIPBS has about $20 million invested in private equity and more than $12 million invested in "Central American and the Caribbean," according to its tax filing.

The annual budget, which in 2017 was reported at about $4.2 million, has exploded to more than $10 million a year — a 138% increase in spending in six years.

But while the financial situation has improved, there is little indication that the audience has increased.

RIPBS is rarely detected in TV ratings for the Providence metro market, according to two media executives who have knowledge and requested anonymity.

 

GOP and DOGE Targeting Slashing Subsidies to Public Broadcasting

For decades, Republicans have called for cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Some claimed it was a biased media organization, and other critics have said that it is not a business the government should be in.

Back in the 1990s, one of Newt Gingrich's first acts as speaker of the House was to call for the elimination of federal funding for CPB and for the privatization of public broadcasting. Neither attempt was successful, though it did keep the hot-button issue in the limelight for years.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are looking to cut the spending for public broadcasting.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chairs of DOGE, wrote in a November op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that the “$535 million a year” spent on the nonprofit overseeing broadcasting networks PBS and NPR was an example of “unauthorized” spending and money used in ways “that Congress never intended.”

The CPB was created and authorized by Congress.

 

Consolidation of Public Broadcasting in RI

In 2023, RIPBS and the Public’s Radio “merged.” The reality was that the radio station was functionally consumed by the TV station.

Johnston came to RIPBS in 2024 after four years at GBH in Boston. The end of her tenure in Boston was bumpy as that media company implemented significant layoffs.

"GBH laid off 31 employees on Wednesday and said it would stop production on three television programs immediately, a move that staffers say caught them by surprise," reported Boston.com. "The cuts at GBH are occurring a month after Boston’s other public radio station, WBUR, saw two dozen employees opt for buyouts and two staffers get laid off as the public media organization also works to mitigate revenue declines."