Salary decision for PBS chief on hold

LITTLE ROCK — Lawmakers on Wednesday delayed a decision on increasing the Arkansas PBS director’s salary until receiving more information about the broadcasting service’s funding.

The Arkansas PBS Commission requested to be allowed to pay Chief Executive Officer Courtney Pledger up to $180,000. Fletcher is currently paid $148,138, and the maximum salary for the position is $157,100.

In a letter to state personnel director Kay Barnhill, the commissioners said Pledger’s salary is one of the lowest in the nation for the role and that she is being pursued by other public broadcasting networks.

“While we know we cannot match those offers dollar for dollar, we hope to be able to make the salary more attractive with the goal of keeping Ms. Pledger in Arkansas. Under Director Pledger’s leadership, Arkansas PBS has transformed from a legacy public media station to a multi-platform media organization that provides Arkansans with highly relevant local content and services,” the letter reads.

But lawmakers on the Legislative Council’s personnel subcommittee had questions about the programs’ viewership numbers.

“We can talk a lot about how good they are. I’ll agree that they’re quality programs; they’re doing a quality job. How many people are watching?” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, asked.

Sullivan previously raised questions about an Arkansas PBS contractor’s expression of left-leaning views on Twitter, delaying approval of the contract. After Wednesday’s meeting, Sullivan said his questions were strictly business-related, though he acknowledged that his questions about the content had opened a door to wanting to look more closely into how Arkansas PBS is funded and spends its money.

He added that an interim study proposal will go before the Joint Performance Review Committee in June. Sullivan submitted the proposal along with Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana.

The proposal aims to study the operational requirements, content-selection criteria and funding restrictions of the public broadcasting service.

Marty Ryall, director of external relations for Arkansas PBS, said the service does not use Nielsen ratings. He said local communities are appreciative of the network’s broadcasting of high school sports games.

“We’re a public service. It’s part of what we do. The feedback we get, they’re appreciative of what we do,” he said. “Courtney saw an opportunity in high school sports that nobody else was doing.”

Sullivan said that was anecdotal evidence.

Arkansas PBS Commission Chairman John Brown said the Arkansas PBS website, where users can view programs on demand, has more than 800,000 unique users and almost 300,000 digital streams from people who search for programs online.

PBS Kids had more than 2 million unique users and nearly 45 million digital streams, Brown said.

Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, asked if it would make more sense to wait until the interim study proposal is completed. Ryall said there was a timing issue with regard to losing Pledger to another state.

Brown said while there was no ultimatum, they were asked to make a decision sooner rather than later and wanted to show Pledger they were moving in the direction of making the salary commensurate with other states.

The committee ultimately approved a motion from Rep. Fran Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, to delay considering the request until after the June meeting of the Joint Performance Review Committee.

Separately, the committee on Wednesday gave the green light to an annual salary of up to $200,000 for a newly created broadband director position within the state Department of Commerce without discussion.

The Legislative Council will consider the request Friday.