CPB Inspector General’s office issues report on KMBH violations

The CPB Inspector General’s office has issued findings from its audit of KMBH (PDF) in Harlingen, Texas, that looked into the station’s compliance with grant rules and examined its financial documents related to CPB (Current, March 16, 2009). KMBH is linking to the report on its home page. The 30-page investigation of RGV Educational Broadcasting Inc., controlled by the Brownsville Catholic archdiocese, was for fiscal years 2007 and ’08. The report found that KMBH didn’t fully comply with requirements to: establish a community advisory board, maintain certain documents for public inspection, describe and document station policy for complying with donor list and political activities rules, establish separate accounting records for CPB grants, and exclude from nonfederal financial support reports transactions that do not qualify as contributions. In his response included in the report, Msgr. Pedro Briseño, station president and g.m., generally disputed the findings but agreed to undertake most of the recommendations. KMBH has been weathering controversies for several years. It has had financial difficulties, including a pledge drive with only six callers (Current, April 21, 2008), and raised eyebrows in November 2007 when three board members were dismissed without explanation. An independent group, Voices from the Valley, is attempting to launch another pubradio station in the Rio Grande Valley.