BIG LOSSES, BIG PAYDAYS
Salary hikes, bonuses abound at taxpayer-funded WGBH
Boston public broadcasting behemoth WGBH, facing potentially severe budget cuts by the Trump administration, awarded big pay hikes and bonuses to executives and staffers last year while reporting a $38 million loss, new reports show.
The taxpayer-funded nonprofit’s CEO, Jonathan Abbott, got an $85,000 bonus in the 2016 fiscal year, boosting his annual compensation to $624,930, according to tax reports filed with the state attorney general’s office. WGBH gave out a total of nearly $300,000 in bonuses to 10 employees, including Abbott, according to their financial reports.
New on-air host Jim Braude earned nearly $364,000 in the 2016 fiscal year, reports show, while seven other high-ranking staffers and executives also topped the $300,000-a-year mark.
The soaring salaries at WGBH come as the organization and other PBS stations are being threatened with potentially devastating funding cuts by the Trump administration, which has proposed eventually eliminating all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The CPB funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to WGBH and other public media outlets.
WGBH’s recently filed audit with the attorney general’s public charities division show the organization spent a total of $217 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, while getting a total of $179 million in operating revenue and other support. That left WGBH with a nearly $38 million deficit for the fiscal year.
A spokeswoman for WGBH attributed the deficit to the timing of several grant renewals, which weren’t signed until after the end of the fiscal year.
“This fluctuation is common with organizations managing many large grants,” spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins said. “For example, three weeks after the end of FY16 we signed more than $60 million in multi-year grants for such productions as ‘Masterpiece,’ ‘NOVA,’ ‘Frontline,’ ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ ‘Arthur,’ ‘ American Experience’ and many others.”
Hopkins added that WGBH’s board-approved operating budget actually showed a $1.9 million surplus, not a deficit, because of the timing of grants and income generated from a subsidiary that is not counted as operating revenue.
The organization’s federal tax report also included for the first time the compensation for Braude, who replaced longtime on-air host Emily Rooney in March 2015, and co-hosts a radio show and anchors a halfhour daily news show on WGBH.
Braude’s total of $363,958 in compensation appears to be well over what Rooney earned. The last reports to include her salary show she earned about $230,000 a year.
A WGBH spokeswoman said Braude’s higher salary is because of his three-hour-aday radio gig, which Rooney did not have. Rooney hosted a one-hour radio show and anchored a daily news show as well as another weekly TV show, which she still hosts.
Braude is just one of nearly a dozen staffers and executives who earned well over six figures in 2016. The others include:
• Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Godley, who was the second-highest paid executive and topped out at $471,970 in total compensation. Godley’s total includes $50,000 in bonus and incentive pay.
• Vice President of National Programming John Bredar, who earned $385,383 in salary and benefits, including a $45,000 bonus.
• Executive producer David Fanning, who made $359,676 in fiscal 2016.
• Executive producer Raney Aronson, whose annual take was $359,044.
The total amount the stations spent for salaries grew to more than $81 million in fiscal 2016, a $3.6 million increase from the previous year, reports show.
Abbott’s bonus was “based on performance” and determined by a compensation committee, Hopkins said.
“The compensation committee utilizes third-party data and consultants to benchmark comparable compensation packages for the CEO and other key executive roles in functionally comparable positions and similarly sized organizations,” she said.
According to WGBH’s internal audit, the organization’s expenses increased by $14 million last year, from $203 million to $217 million, but operating revenue decreased from the previous year. That decrease included a $33 million drop in contributions and grants.
Hopkins said the total increase in salaries was a “small portion” of the total payroll.
“It mainly reflects the growth in our local newsroom, and our continued investment in local content across radio, television and digital,” she said.
WGBH got $9 million in grants from the federallyfunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting last year, as well as $6 million in funding from other government agencies, accounting for about eight percent of the operating budget, according to Hopkins. The CPB also contributed another 4.5 percent of WGBH’s budget with community service grants.
The station received a total of $36.5 million in viewer and listener contributions in FY16, and another $28 million in corporate contributions, accounting for 35 percent of the operating budget, Hopkins said.
WGBH also spent a total of $206,500 in lobbying in fiscal 2016, according to its financial reports.