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

SDSU’s big birdies’ tab

High-dollar public employees at KPBS

Some might say Tom Karlo earns his $309,883 salary — after all, he went to Washington on a lobbying mission. But local House rep Duncan Hunter’s office was closed...
Some might say Tom Karlo earns his $309,883 salary — after all, he went to Washington on a lobbying mission. But local House rep Duncan Hunter’s office was closed...

San Diego State University, its future clouded by a brewing fight for control of Mission Valley’s Qualcomm Stadium site, along with the imminent departure of president Elliot Hirshman for greener financial pastures at Maryland’s Stevenson University, is also worried about funding its public broadcasting empire in the era of president Donald Trump.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We are a critical part of our community here in San Diego, and any cut in federal funding would damage that,” KPBS general manager Tom Karlo was quoted as saying in a March 18 Union-Tribune account, which added that Karlo had gone all the way to Washington to lobby Congress against the president’s proposal to zero out funding for the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of his attempt to hit up Republican House member Duncan Hunter, Karlo complained, “It was 1:30 in the afternoon on a Wednesday and the door was locked.”

The paper said that in fiscal year 2016 KPBS got about $3.2 million in federal funds, with additional cash being had from “contributions by about 55,000 families, annually bringing in $8 million to $9 million, and corporate donors who supply about another $5 million a year.”

But the U-T failed to mention the KPBS tab picked up each year by California taxpayers in the form of the SDSU operation’s six-figure salary and benefit packages, including Karlo’s cool $309,883. That was way up from the $215,262 in total compensation that the KPBS honcho received back in 2011.

Other SDSU costs for the stations have been rising as well. “Direct financial support received from the University for the years ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 was approximately $2,211,000 and $2,170,000, respectively, and consisted primarily of salaries for management, space rental and utilities,” says the latest KPBS annual financial report, dated last November 22. An additional $5,823,856 was spent by SDSU for KPBS in so-called indirect funding, which the audit says “relates to a portion of the University’s general overhead costs that directly benefit the programs of the Stations. Such items are allocated based upon square footage percentage or prorated costs including administration, maintenance and repairs.”

Besides Karlo, other high-dollar public employees at KPBS, per 2015 State of California pay data posted online by nonprofit Transparent California, include station manager Deanna M Mackey, $199,553, and associate general manager Trina Hester, $182,290.

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Some might say Tom Karlo earns his $309,883 salary — after all, he went to Washington on a lobbying mission. But local House rep Duncan Hunter’s office was closed...
Some might say Tom Karlo earns his $309,883 salary — after all, he went to Washington on a lobbying mission. But local House rep Duncan Hunter’s office was closed...

San Diego State University, its future clouded by a brewing fight for control of Mission Valley’s Qualcomm Stadium site, along with the imminent departure of president Elliot Hirshman for greener financial pastures at Maryland’s Stevenson University, is also worried about funding its public broadcasting empire in the era of president Donald Trump.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We are a critical part of our community here in San Diego, and any cut in federal funding would damage that,” KPBS general manager Tom Karlo was quoted as saying in a March 18 Union-Tribune account, which added that Karlo had gone all the way to Washington to lobby Congress against the president’s proposal to zero out funding for the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of his attempt to hit up Republican House member Duncan Hunter, Karlo complained, “It was 1:30 in the afternoon on a Wednesday and the door was locked.”

The paper said that in fiscal year 2016 KPBS got about $3.2 million in federal funds, with additional cash being had from “contributions by about 55,000 families, annually bringing in $8 million to $9 million, and corporate donors who supply about another $5 million a year.”

But the U-T failed to mention the KPBS tab picked up each year by California taxpayers in the form of the SDSU operation’s six-figure salary and benefit packages, including Karlo’s cool $309,883. That was way up from the $215,262 in total compensation that the KPBS honcho received back in 2011.

Other SDSU costs for the stations have been rising as well. “Direct financial support received from the University for the years ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 was approximately $2,211,000 and $2,170,000, respectively, and consisted primarily of salaries for management, space rental and utilities,” says the latest KPBS annual financial report, dated last November 22. An additional $5,823,856 was spent by SDSU for KPBS in so-called indirect funding, which the audit says “relates to a portion of the University’s general overhead costs that directly benefit the programs of the Stations. Such items are allocated based upon square footage percentage or prorated costs including administration, maintenance and repairs.”

Besides Karlo, other high-dollar public employees at KPBS, per 2015 State of California pay data posted online by nonprofit Transparent California, include station manager Deanna M Mackey, $199,553, and associate general manager Trina Hester, $182,290.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Aaron Stewart trades Christmas wonders for his first new music in 15 years

“Just because the job part was done, didn’t mean the passion had to die”
Next Article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

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