If Peoria's public TV station was a runaway horse in the last year, John Wieland says he’s ready to turn over the reins. The 64-year-old chairman of the station’s board of directors is confident that newly named CEO Jenn Gordon will corral the steed and convince the community that WTVP really isn’t a wild nag but a thoroughbred.
Smiling, Wieland relaxes in a casual meeting room in the back of MH Equipment off Allen Road and reflects on relinquishing the attention.
“My 15 minutes in the sun is quickly coming to an end,” says Wieland, who explains some of the mostly private actions that have taken place since September, when WTVP President Lesley Matuszak and finance director Lin McLaughlin resigned, and Matuszak committed suicide. Weeks later, previous board chair Andrew Rand said there had been “questionable, improper and unauthorized” spending, and the board cut the budget 30%, laid off nine employees and shut down its Peoria magazine (which was a big factor in an $870,000 shortfall, according to an internal audit released later).
By February — while investigations continued by the Peoria Police Dept., the Illinois Attorney General’s office, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — most of the board resigned and new board members were seated.
Learning experience
“When I came on the scene I was at the lowest level of incompetence,” he says. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
Wieland says he got involved after he and a group of friends that meets every month to share thoughts and challenge each other to be better, discussed the station’s woes.
“It came up — this disaster — that CPB was going to withhold funds and the rumor to shut it down. I wasn’t a frequent user of WTVP before, [and] I didn’t know Leslie. I did not know Andrew. I did know Helen [Barrick], who I’d worked with 40 years ago at Peat Marwick, and her husband Bill was on my board at MH Equipment.
“Anyway, my friends and I talked about if we could create something to provide a financial runway and give the community a fresh board.”
Wieland shared the thought with Dr. Andy Chiou, and he “made the introductions around Thanksgiving, I think,” Wieland recalls. “I met with Andrew and their executive committee and threw out this idea. They talked with their board [and] they thought it sounded like a decent plan. I didn’t pick the people who would stay or leave. We did have to come up with new board members.
“Throughout the whole deal, I sent out emails to the 7,000 or so people on the [station’s] list. We had a ‘litmus test’ — ‘Are you fully committed to fulfilling the mission of WTVP, which is to provide educational, scientific, entertainment and cultural content?’ ”
New life
Asked about criticism that former board members were insiders and the new board is, too, Wieland disagrees.
“I didn’t know who six of the new board members were. A lot of people on the board didn’t know each other,” he says. “I guess we’re insiders from this standpoint: We’re committed to the mission of WTVP.”
Wieland says the search for board members went beyond a handful of local power brokers.
“After the litmus test, we wanted to get people of different ethnicities, from outside Peoria, from Galesburg, Bloomington, and we’re still looking.”
Wieland says he’s read several books about Lincoln, including Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals,” and he appreciates a variety of voices. Especially for public broadcasting, that’s fitting. After all, as the public media marketing consultants Market Enginuity says, “If one were to combine the average statistics for PBS viewers on a national level, they would likely find a married, homeowning woman who is in her 30s or 40s and has at least one child under the age of 11.”
Weiland says, “Could another board have gotten on top of it sooner? Sure. Could another board get on it later? Sure.”
Right people
Asked whether the diversity of the board could improve since at least 13 of its 19 members have exclusively voted in Republican primaries, according to election records, Wieland says, “I didn’t know who’s in what party.
“It’s a good question; maybe it’s worth balancing it that way. Optics don’t have to be true to be people’s reality.
“To be honest, I don’t care if someone’s Republican, Independent or Democrat, whether they’re Christian or from the Jewish community or wherever. We would not let someone use this station for some kind of political, religious or social platform. Are such things OK? Sure. But that’s not the mission of WTVP.
“I’m so apolitical,” he adds. “Politics isn’t the answer; it’s a change of the human heart. Politics doesn’t do that.”
WTVP has been and will be even-handed, he says.
“WTVP has not strayed too far Left or Right, [and] we’re not going to the Left or the Right. We want our kids to learn their 1-2-3s and their A-B-C’s, and see good programs like Ken Burns does. [So] I’m not going to say we need a Democrat.”
Private runway
Back to the financial “runway” to return WTVP to fiscal stability, a key factor is a foundation’s pledge of $1.2 million, up to $3 million, to supplement area contributions and CPB funding (on the condition there is CPB funding). But the name of the foundation wasn’t disclosed. Wieland has a foundation, His First Foundation, which has donated to institutions such as Dream Center of Peoria, Peoria Christian School, and Unlimited Grace Media, at Grace Presbyterian Church.
Wieland says keeping the pledge private is a matter of putting the focus on WTVP, not a donor. “It’s not about a foundation,” he says, “It’s about WTVP. I want the focus not to be on the foundation. I want it to be about WTVP.
“I’ve been on TV a lot [but] it’s not about me, the board, the foundation or Jenn Gordon,” he continues. “I bought MH Equipment when it had about 50 employees; now it’s about 1,100. But, again, it’s not about me; it’s about the enterprise.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where most of this came from,” he adds. “In a couple of years, people will be able to look at the 990 (federal tax form for charities, which are public).”
As far as getting a new CEO, Wieland says the board’s search was methodical, but the process wasn’t open and the public wasn’t told. More than 70 people applied, the governance committee (Wieland and Vice Chair Andy Chiou) was joined by others including board members Barrick and Heather Acerra to conduct due diligence on 11 applicants, talk to 5 and interview 3 again.
“Could it have been done better? Of course,” Wieland says. “I did not know [Jenn] except we served on a common board at Grace Presbyterian Church. At the end of the day, we were lucky.”
Meanwhile, Wieling says he feels fortunate to be able to step back some.
“I’m comfortable being in the public; I’m comfortable not being in the public,” he says. “This probably is my last interview.”
Even if he’s out of the limelight, he says, he’ll follow how WTVP is doing.
“I do care if they’re committed to making this a family-friendly station for generations to come, committed to fulfilling the mission of WTVP.”
And a Q&A with the station’s new CEO-
WTVP-TV 47 said it received dozens of applications to its announcement that it sought a new CEO, formed a search committee, crafted criteria for assessing people’s qualifications, and narrowed the field to three finalists.
By unanimous vote by the search committee and the full board, 42-year-old Peoria native Jenn Gordon was named CEO of the region’s public television station on March 21.
Probably best known to
readers as the executive director of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois from 2015
to 2022, Gordon was executive administrator at Peoria’s Grace Presbyterian
Church until starting at WTVP on April 22.
Recently, she took time to answer a few questions before a scheduled phone call
with Paula Kerger, president of the nation’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Q: At this point, do you anticipate your approach to the public to be reassuring the community or challenging them?
A: Maybe some of both. The first piece will be to restore confidence, I guess. Anyone who donates money to any type of nonprofit organization, if there’s a breach of trust [or] mismanagement of funds, you do need reassurance moving forward that things are going to be different. I want members who’ve been supporting the station and gotten us through this critical time [to know] their donations will be going toward exactly what we say they’re going toward.
The second piece is going to be a challenging component, to challenge the community to re-engage and rediscover what we have … the critical resources offered. From Day 1 with public broadcasting, this vision of commercial-free, quality content [shows] we’re not just building consumers of media; we’re building learners from media.
Q: Do you have a sense of what WTVP and the public should expect from the investigation and audit by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting?
A: I’m hoping — everyone is hoping — that it will be totally transparent, just to be able to structure a clean slate to move forward and still be eligible for (CPB) funding. There’s still a criminal investigation going on. It’s in the best interest of WTVP to have (outside observers).
Q: In March, WTVP sought feedback online and the board felt there were positives as far as general satisfaction. But wasn’t it rather unscientific, sort of reaching out to viewers Channel 47 already has instead of the public throughout the 20 or so counties the station serves — those who may not watch or donate?
A: That survey was a first step. We have to get a better pulse of viewers and supporters, and then we need to go way beyond that because (the station) is designed to be a community resource. I want to get a snapshot of what our engagement is like with (the public). Where are there gaps?
Q: As CEO, will you have to deal with some perceptions that the former board was made up of insiders who’ve been replaced by a different group of insiders?
A: First, a CEO has very limited influence on that; you inherit it. Nothing about this last year for WTVP has been normal. But before I ever thought about this opportunity, I was relieved to see the emergence of a new board; it was a fresh start.
I was glad to see a diverse group — women and different neighborhoods and facets [on the board]. You want to aim to be a board representative of the community you serve. Hopefully we can all move forward with a lot of positivity.
