FIRST OFF . . .

Mirroring what is becoming a national trend, Boston public-TV station WGBH is lagging behind in this year’s fund-raising efforts, the New York Times reported Tuesday. With just six weeks left in its fiscal year, WGBH, the second-largest public broadcasting station in the country, reported that it needs $2.5 million to reach its goal of $10 million. That’s $500,000 less than the station had raised last year at this time. Roberta MacCarthy, WGBH director of development, said the station hopes to raise $1.7 million of that money by August. According to the Public Broadcasting Service in Washington, 77 stations raised less money from March fund drives this year than last, while 59 stations raised more. Viewer contributions collected by PBS stations in March were down 4.3% from last March; the drop at WGBH for the same period was about 17%.