MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Educational Television Foundation Authority voted on Wednesday to move ahead with a controversial survey of Alabama Public Television viewers.
Board members approved a $39,500 contract with political pollster Cygnal for a survey of 600 Alabamians. The survey will begin as soon as possible and will include a minimum of 35 questions, board member Ferris Stephens said at the Foundation’s meeting in Montgomery.
The AETFA will draw the money for the survey from its rainy day fund. Stephens said the Foundation is exempt from the state’s law against no-bid contracts because of its nonprofit status.
“I know it comes out of the rainy day fund, but you know our rainy day fund is $2.5 million, and this is $39,500,” Stephens said. “That’s a drop in the rainy day bucket, and so it’ll help us do our work. It’ll make better programming for adults and children.”
The resolution also includes a second survey in 2027 and mandates that the Foundation’s regular budget for next year earmarks at least the same amount.
This was the Foundation’s second attempt at approving a contract for the survey. Stephens previously put before the board a $47,500 contract with GOP polling firm McLaughlin and Associates, which he said “just didn’t work out.”
Some board members, including Pete Conroy, had decried the way Stephens and Foundation Chairman William Green have gone about the survey process, selecting political polling firms instead of in-state universities or media research specialists.
Conroy called the survey development and voting process “abnormal at best” during Wednesday’s meeting. He said that the pollster’s “political bias” and the rushed timeline of the contract have led to a loss of public trust.
Reiterating points he made in a letter to board members sent earlier this week, Conroy said he wishes the survey were a staff-led process similar to the survey work APT did with the University of Alabama, Samford University and Troy University in 2023 and 2024.
“That was a fantastic foundation, and we should be building on that, not starting fresh…” Conroy told board members. “What you’re doing here with this survey, that is rushed, is a snapshot. It’s not the deliberative process that the governor asked for, and I just wish that this committee would consider the alternate, which would be using our brilliant staff to conduct the survey as we have been doing all along. I want to regain the trust of the public.”
When the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT’s operations and programming, was considering disaffiliating from PBS more than a year ago, Gov. Kay Ivey sent a letter to commissioners urging them not to move forward without first surveying Alabamians on how they felt about disaffiliation. The survey approved Wednesday grew from that request, but commissioners have shared mixed messages about whether it will touch on disaffiliation.
A draft copy of the survey script obtained by Alabama Daily News earlier this week did ask the question directly.
“Alabama Public Television pays annual fees to PBS for national programming, which makes up roughly 80 to 90 percent of what it broadcasts,” the question reads. “Ending that relationship would free up those fees, but it would also mean replacing most of the current lineup, including children’s programming, from other sources. Should Alabama Public Television continue its relationship with PBS, or end it?”
The board did not make copies of the approved survey available to the public at Wednesday’s meeting. Stephens told State Sen. Linda Coleman Madison, D-Birmingham, who attended the meeting and asked for a copy of the questions, that publishing the script would taint the survey’s results.
Both PBS disaffiliation and APT’s reputation were brought up in comments by members of the public. Speakers also objected to the board not hearing public comments until after it voted, arguing the board had set up the meeting as a public hearing.
Eric Land of Birmingham, a former television executive at ABC 33/40, called the Foundation’s behavior a “disservice to Alabama” and an “ethical breach.”
“Using rainy day funds is not what that money was donated for, to use for research,” Land said. “To use research that’s been handpicked by your chairperson, to use that firm rather than a bona fide television research group or the same group that did research for your organization in 2024, is an abomination. It’s a waste of money. It’s politically motivated, and the level of arrogance that’s shown by what you’ve done is incalculably dangerous to the future of APT.”
Greg Flanders of Fruithurst questioned why the board seemed in a rush to approve and conduct the survey.
“Folks, don’t destroy Alabama Public Television. Your actions have convinced me that that seems to be your intent, and if that’s your intent, you need to go somewhere else,” Flanders said. “Resign. Don’t ruin a wonderful, the first and best of public education television in the United States, for God’s sakes. Look at the statistics: viewership is up, donations are up. Get a survey from a cheap person, but don’t do these sneaky things that destroys my, I thought, unbiased faith in this organization, please.”
But Green pushed back on those criticisms and pointed the finger back at Conroy, saying he was “pushing a false narrative” that the survey could impact APT’s relationship with PBS.
“I even said to Pete Conroy that (he’s) the one doing the damage,” Green said. “You’re the one that keeps saying that we’re trying to do something (but you have) no basis, no proof of anything. Quite frankly, it’s upsetting. If we didn’t do something procedurally that you all didn’t like, that’s understandable, nobody’s going to please everybody, but I disagree with this idea that we want to destroy PBS.”
The board approved the Cygnal contract by a vote of 5-2, with Conroy and Tijuanna Adetunji voting no. Conroy said board members Logan Glass and Jonny Curry did not attend the meeting out of protest.
The Foundation’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 29 in Huntsville.