WHYY, Philadelphia’s public-broadcasting station, is drawing fire for what it pays its chief executive, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

William J. Marrazzo, WHYY’s chief executive officer, received a compensation package totaling $740,090 in the year ending June 30, 2007. His pay exceeds that of chief executives at WNET and WGBH, in New York and Boston respectively, the newspaper reported. It included $280,000 in deferred compensation that Mr. Marrazzo will receive next July if he meets performance goals, the newspaper said.

Leland Ware, vice chairman of the WHYY board and a professor of law and public policy at the University of Delaware, defends Mr. Marrazzo’s compensation. He says, “We also know how this looks to the public. But this is a deliberate strategy we adopted to maintain and grow.”