Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Charity starts at home

KPBS and the state’s pension fund

Stephanie Bergsma and Doug Myrland
Stephanie Bergsma and Doug Myrland

How much do retired executives of KPBS, the San Diego State University–run, tax-funded public broadcasting operation that spins local news in ways seen by critics as benefiting the university’s donors — including the ultimately failed Lilac Hills Ranch project on November’s ballot — get from the state’s pension fund?

Per the Transparent California website, retired KPBS general manager Doug Myrland, who in August 2007 ran afoul of viewers for firing 12 staffers and shutting down popular local programs, is now in lucrative repose, pulling down a tidy $86,217 pension each year. “This process doesn’t need to be ‘transparent.’ We aren’t elected officials — every budget line item and every personnel decision and every bit of information we collect is not everybody else’s business,” said Myrland during the local programming dust-up. “Just because you give a contribution or pay taxes doesn’t give you the right to decide — or even influence — what goes on the air and what doesn’t.” Less than a year later, after continued battering by detractors, Myrland announced his surprise retirement from the university at age 55. At the time was making $218,004 in annual salary and benefits.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Ex-KPBS fundraiser Stephanie Bergsma, who hit up many of the city’s richest individuals and special interests when she worked for SDSU, is also doing well, thanks in part to the state pension fund. “Last week, I went to a charity event in Los Angeles where there were young, supposedly very affluent Hollywood people,” wrote Bergsma on a blog for professional fundraisers. “It was a great party but when it came time for them to raise the paddle or bid on auction items, they didn’t respond. Why? The auctioneer was a local news personality who had no experience, the video featured a mentally ill homeless youth that no one could identify with, and there was no compelling story.”

Bergsma’s annual pension is listed at $41,915. She is reported to live in a posh Del Mar track-view estate in Solana Beach with husband Dwight Hare, a software executive, per an account in Ranch and Coast Magazine. “A curved wood staircase leads from the foyer to the bright living room where sleek, modern furniture forms a neutral backdrop for bursts of color, from plump Marimekko pillows to treasures from the couple’s travels including a century-old silk wall-hanging from India, a Balinese painting, pottery from Santa Fe, and a whimsical wood carving from a Oaxacan artisan.... When not on the road, Bergsma and Hare often entertain in the expansive backyard with its pool and outdoor kitchen. He likes to cook one-pot meals such as gumbo and cassoulet. She swears by Blue Apron, a service that delivers fresh ingredients and inventive recipes right to the front door. When they feel like dining out, Market Restaurant + Bar, Sea & Smoke, and Cucina Enoteca are close at hand.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Stephanie Bergsma and Doug Myrland
Stephanie Bergsma and Doug Myrland

How much do retired executives of KPBS, the San Diego State University–run, tax-funded public broadcasting operation that spins local news in ways seen by critics as benefiting the university’s donors — including the ultimately failed Lilac Hills Ranch project on November’s ballot — get from the state’s pension fund?

Per the Transparent California website, retired KPBS general manager Doug Myrland, who in August 2007 ran afoul of viewers for firing 12 staffers and shutting down popular local programs, is now in lucrative repose, pulling down a tidy $86,217 pension each year. “This process doesn’t need to be ‘transparent.’ We aren’t elected officials — every budget line item and every personnel decision and every bit of information we collect is not everybody else’s business,” said Myrland during the local programming dust-up. “Just because you give a contribution or pay taxes doesn’t give you the right to decide — or even influence — what goes on the air and what doesn’t.” Less than a year later, after continued battering by detractors, Myrland announced his surprise retirement from the university at age 55. At the time was making $218,004 in annual salary and benefits.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Ex-KPBS fundraiser Stephanie Bergsma, who hit up many of the city’s richest individuals and special interests when she worked for SDSU, is also doing well, thanks in part to the state pension fund. “Last week, I went to a charity event in Los Angeles where there were young, supposedly very affluent Hollywood people,” wrote Bergsma on a blog for professional fundraisers. “It was a great party but when it came time for them to raise the paddle or bid on auction items, they didn’t respond. Why? The auctioneer was a local news personality who had no experience, the video featured a mentally ill homeless youth that no one could identify with, and there was no compelling story.”

Bergsma’s annual pension is listed at $41,915. She is reported to live in a posh Del Mar track-view estate in Solana Beach with husband Dwight Hare, a software executive, per an account in Ranch and Coast Magazine. “A curved wood staircase leads from the foyer to the bright living room where sleek, modern furniture forms a neutral backdrop for bursts of color, from plump Marimekko pillows to treasures from the couple’s travels including a century-old silk wall-hanging from India, a Balinese painting, pottery from Santa Fe, and a whimsical wood carving from a Oaxacan artisan.... When not on the road, Bergsma and Hare often entertain in the expansive backyard with its pool and outdoor kitchen. He likes to cook one-pot meals such as gumbo and cassoulet. She swears by Blue Apron, a service that delivers fresh ingredients and inventive recipes right to the front door. When they feel like dining out, Market Restaurant + Bar, Sea & Smoke, and Cucina Enoteca are close at hand.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Could Supplemental Security Income house the homeless?

A board and care resident proposes a possible solution
Next Article

Bait and Switch at San Diego Symphony

Concentric contemporary dims Dvorak
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader