A mountain of snow will be the featured attraction at a December event coming to Storyland in Fresno's Roeding Park. Over 10 tons of the wintery white stuff will give kids the opportunity for sledding and snow play at the inaugural Winter Wonderland at Storyland on Dec. 18 and 19....
‘Hijacked’ or On Course? Future of Fresno’s Troubled Public TV Outlet Questioned
Is ValleyPBS in trouble? Fears over the management of Fresno's donor-supported educational TV station were raised in multiple media posts earlier this year by former station leaders and a longtime community adviser about a revolving door of CEOs, massive staff cuts, a lack of transparency, and an apparent skewing...
Retired Station Exec Responds to ValleyPBS Chief’s Challenge of Critics
Phyllis Brotherton, longtime executive vice president and chief financial officer of ValleyPBS who retired from the station in February 2019, on Friday provided to GV Wire the following response to comments made by interim CEO Jeff Aiello at Wednesday's board meeting about criticisms leveled recently against the board and station....
Fresno Public TV CEO Challenges Critics ‘Sneering from the Sidelines’
The ValleyPBS board of directors voted Wednesday to hire a local search firm to find a permanent CEO for the non-profit public TV station that has recently come under criticism from former top executives and others. Interim CEO Jeff Aiello, who attended the meeting remotely, has made it clear that...
Weeks After Former Execs Raise Alarm, Local Public TV Station’s Board Will Meet
The Channel 18/ValleyPBS board of directors is scheduled to meet Wednesday for the first time since the station's top job changed hands again, prompting two former top executives to express concerns in published opinion pieces about the board's governance. Colin Dougherty, the station's founding general manager and first president/CEO, and...
Former Exec Sounds Alarm Over Turmoil at Troubled Fresno TV Station
A former top leader with Channel 18/ValleyPBS is urging community action to save the troubled Fresno-based public television station. In a commentary published Wednesday in the Visalia Times Delta, longtime station executive Phyllis Brotherton expressed her "grave concern" over turmoil within the nonprofit that runs the station. "I have observed...
Fresno TV CEO is Out in Latest Shake-up at Beleaguered Station
Lorenzo Rios is no longer president and CEO of Fresno's public television station, Channel 18/ValleyPBS, after 16 months in the job, the station confirmed Friday morning. Rios was a longtime board member and head of the Clovis Veterans Memorial District when he became interim president and CEO in November 2019...
ValleyPBS Lays Off Staffers, CEO Says COVID-19 Cut Into Revenues
Several ValleyPBS staffers were laid off Friday in a cost-cutting move that station president/CEO Lorenzo Rios said was due to revenue losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Rios said the staffers were administrative and not the operational employees responsible for keeping the station on the air. He would not confirm...
Valley PBS Readies Lesson Plans For Kids Kept From Classrooms
School districts aren't the only ones creating lesson plans for students barred from their classrooms because of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Valley PBS is partnering with public television stations in Los Angeles and the Bay Area to provide curriculum that teachers and parents can use for students, and is also...
Clovis Veterans Leader Will Also Run Fresno TV Station
The current CEO of the Clovis Veterans Memorial District has been named as interim President and CEO for Valley Public Television (Ch. 18). Lorenzo Rios, who has led CVMD since 2015 , becomes the third CEO for ValleyPBS in the past five years. He fills the role last held by...