Members of the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority met Wednesday morning at the headquarters of West Virginia Public Broadcasting in Charleston. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — Michael Farrell, the chairman of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation, stands by the purchase he approved of a new concert grand piano for the Department of Arts, Culture, and History after the department tried to avoid state bidding requirements.

During quarterly public meetings Wednesday of the foundation and the Educational Broadcasting Authority (EBA) in Charleston, Farrell also blamed ignorance of grant requirements and negative publicity for the loss of a $600,000 grant for one of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s award-winning news reporting projects.

During the Wednesday morning meeting of the EBA, Farrell provided a report to the authority about the foundation – one of two nonprofits that raise donations and seek grants for the partially state-funded West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB).

“Well, this has been an unusual quarter for the foundation,” Farrell said during the EBA meeting. “We’ve gotten some publicity, none of which was really good.”

Farrell referred to reporting about a nearly $200,000 Steinway and Sons concert grand piano purchased by the foundation in April 2023 and paid for in October 2023 on behalf of Department of Arts, Culture, and History (WVDACH) Cabinet Secretary Randall Reid-Smith.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s headquarters in downtown Charleston. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

Farrell and Reid-Smith signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2023 for WVDACH to repay the foundation in four monthly installments of $50,000 through January of this year.

Between April 2023 and October 2023, Reid-Smith had been going through a competitive bid process for a new concert grand piano required by the state Purchasing Division, with two $198,770 bids submitted by Steinway and one $149,295 bid from Kawai. Officials with WVDACH questioned Kawai’s lower bid, and Reid-Smith even tried to get the Purchasing Division to agree to an exemption used for the purchase of fine art and historical items in order to purchase a Steinway without competitive bidding. The Purchasing Division denied his request.

During Wednesday afternoon’s meeting of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting foundation, only Farrell addressed the purchase of the Steinway piano directly, though some board members asked for copies of the foundation’s bylaws and one unnamed foundation member submitted a request for a legal opinion regarding whether the purchase was allowed under state law.

According to a review of previous foundation meetings posted on YouTube during 2023, the possible purchase of the Steinway was not addressed in past meetings, and the expense was never mentioned during finance reports to the foundation during those meetings.

According to Farrell, a purchase of a new concert grand piano was part of the Legislature’s $2.2 million appropriation from available surplus tax collections at the end of fiscal year 2023 in July of that year for capital improvements. Farrell, who declined to comment on the previous story about the purchase, said Wednesday that he stands by the purchase.

“There was a request by (Reid-Smith) for the foundation to advance monies that the Legislature had already appropriated but was going to pay out in installments and expense to the foundation,” Farrell said. “There was no loss of use of our money for the short period of time it was out. I made that decision. I stand by it.

“(Reid-Smith) was able to purchase a Steinway piano with those monies and that piano will be available for EBA projects and foundation-sponsored projects, as well as helping the Secretary accomplish the agenda of the Culture and History department that he now has,” Farrell continued.

The West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation is one of two 501(c)3 foundations that provide private funding for public broadcasting in the state. It handles major grants, gifts, awards and bequests. The other nonprofit that funds WVPB, the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation, handles annual membership donations.

According to WVPB’s 2023 annual report, 46.2% of funding for public broadcasting — nearly $5 million — comes from private funds. Another 35.5% ($3.9 million) comes from the state general revenue budget and 18.3% (nearly $2 million) comes from federal funding sources.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has come under greater scrutiny following the passage in March of Senate Bill 844, which reduces the number of EBA members and takes authority away from EBA to hire the executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, putting that authority directly in the hands of WVDACH and Reid-Smith.

During an April meeting of the EBA, Farrell had notified EBA members of concerns the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies — a major national donor — had about the new structure of the EBA created by SB 844. The Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, which accepts grant applications by invitation only, funds Public Broadcasting’s Folkways Reporting Project, a group of 20 reporters who file stories for Inside Appalachia, a popular radio and podcast program.

The foundation applied for a new $600,000 grant with the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to fund the Folkways Reporting Project for an additional three years. But according to Farrell, a requirement of those grants is to not mention the organization by name. Even though Public Broadcasting has credited Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies in the past, it decided to not fund a new grant due to Farrell mentioning them by name in April and the accompanying publicity.

Farrell, taking great care to not mention the organization by name Wednesday, partially blamed news coverage of the April meeting, but also admitted he was ignorant of the requirements of the grant. Farrell said it was important for foundation members to be made aware of all grant requirements and prohibitions.

“I can tell you I spent hours, literally hours, on the telephone with these people over the last two and a half months. And the principal, if not sole subject, was the newspaper articles,” Farrell said. “We all have to know the rules. But … nobody handed me a packet that said, ‘here are the rules of the grants that we have.’ Nobody told me there were words and identities that I couldn’t disclose. So, this is all an educational process that we are not going to fall into this briar patch again, because we’re all going to be better educated than we were four months ago.”

According to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, there is $270,000 in funding remaining for the Folkways Reporting Project to carry it through until July 2025. Public Broadcasting officials also plan to meet with the grantor to repair any damage to the relationship and ensure use of the remaining funds. The foundation will also work on new grants through other philanthropic organizations for the Folkways project.

It was announced Wednesday that Eddie Isom, the interim executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting since last August, will be the new permanent executive director. The EBA recommended Isom for the permanent position in April, though the final decision was up to Reid-Smith.

Isom was appointed interim executive director by the EBA nearly one year ago following the abrupt resignation of embattled WVPB Executive Director Butch Antolini. He was the chief operating officer and director of programming. He has worked at WVPB since 1996 in various roles, including TV traffic, broadcast operations, television programming and underwriting.

During Wednesday morning’s EBA meeting, Isom read off the numerous awards West Virginia Public Broadcasting has received this year for its documentaries and news reporting, including awards for the Folkways project.

“The people here believe in who we are and what we do,” Isom said. “I believe in who we are and what we do. And we will continue to do great work here at West Virginia Public Broadcasting.”

“It’s really like a bright sunrise to see somebody who has a passion for public broadcasting to come and do a report like this,” said Elliot Hick, chairman of the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting Board. “This has been a beautiful thing. It’s really nice to see the spirit of this building kind of come alive in that.”

“I second that,” said EBA Chairman William File III. “We thank (Reid-Smith) and the Governor’s Office for working with us and getting Eddie appointed the executive director. It was something that was past due, and congratulations Eddie.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com