CHARLESTON, W.Va. — 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. 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.
