Pubcasting in the News

Happy anniversary, pubcasting

2009-11-07T10:12:00.010-05:00

Pubcasting's anniversary week continues. First PBS and Sesame Street, celebrating 40 years. And on Nov. 7, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It was enacted just 10 months after the Carnegie Commisson on Educational Television. Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, its report, "Public Television: A Program for Action," introduced the phrase "public television." (Photo: Johnson signing the act.)

More power means a classical option for listeners around St. Louis

2009-11-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

Classical radio in the St. Louis area won�t go away if KRCU-FM gets the power increase and antenna upgrade it wants. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been in talks since last spring to sell its Classical 99, KFUO-FM in St. Louis, to Gateway Creative Broadcasting, which has two contemporary Christian stations in the state. Music and news KRCU at Southeast State University, 100 miles south in Cape Girardeau, hopes to reach the southern St. Louis market with an improved repeater at KSEF in Farmington. The station applied Sept. 30 to the FCC to go from 9,500 watts to 20,000 watts, the university said in a statement this week.

Emmys honor Biz Report anchor, founder; give pubcasters nine nominations

2009-11-06T11:11:00.005-05:00

Lifetime Achievement Awards for Business and Financial Reporting will go to Paul Kangas of Nightly Business Report, and Linda O�Bryon, founder of that broadcast in 1979 and now chief content officer of Northern California Public Broadcasting, according to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In nominations announced this week, pubcasters pulled in nods for NewsHour, NOW, Frontline (four), Wide Angle, Nova scienceNOW and the PBS Vote 2008 project. A full list of the Emmy nominees here. Awards will be presented Dec. 7 in New York City.

Experts at Harvard ponder potential "terrible vacuum" of news

2009-11-06T10:52:00.005-05:00

A panel of media experts gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School this week for a discussion that �acknowledged both the despair and the hope that journalists feel over the present state of the American news business, rocked by economic turmoil and the rise of the Internet,� according to the Harvard Gazette. One participant was Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Jones, former host of Media Matters on PBS and director of Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy and author of the new book, Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy. He said that newspapers create most of the �cumulative reporting� that underlies American journalism, and if they disappear it will create �a terrible vacuum� of information that drives the national conversation, according to the paper. Read more about pubcasting's involvement in the future of news coverage in the Nov. 9 issue of Current.

Sesame gets actual street

2009-11-06T08:07:00.002-05:00

The street running through Kiwanis Park in Charleston, Ill., will be permanently renamed Sesame Street on Sunday, according to the Daily Eastern News of Eastern Illinois University in the central-Illinois city. Mayor John Inyart will read a proclamation to kick off a day of activities hosted by pubstation WEIU and a local commercial radio station. Participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite Sesame Street characters, and have a chance to record their favorite moments from the show.

NPR and iBiquity agree to support lesser power boost for HD Radio

2009-11-05T20:27:00.003-05:00

NPR joined with the proprietor of HD Radio technology, iBiquity Digital Corp., to propose that the FCC quadruple the permitted digital FM power level. In a statement released today they agreed the plan would protect analog FM broadcasts from interference while significantly improving reception of the digital HD Radio signal � especially by receivers indoors, where the digital signal sometimes can�t penetrate.

Last fall, after other broadcasters suggested a ten-fold power boost for the digital signal, NPR field tests found the larger increase would interfere with regular FM broadcasts.

If the FCC takes NPR's and iBiquity's advice, it would authorize a blanket 6 dB increase, from 20 dBc to -14 dBc. Most stations could boost their digital signals by more than 6 dB, they calculated, laying out the option of greater increases where spacing between stations and other criteria would limit interference.

Mister Rogers gets a bronze tribute

2009-11-05T13:29:00.003-05:00

A sculpture Fred Rogers was unveiled today in Pittsburgh as a tribute to the children's television icon. He's seated and tying his shoe, facing the city skyline, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It's titled, "Tribute to Children." The bronze piece created by sculptor Robert Berks is nearly 11 feet high and weighs more than 7,000 pounds. Berks may be best known for his bust of President Kennedy in Washington's Kennedy Center. Also, don't miss the nice audio tribute on WDUQ's news blog, from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. (Photo: Family Communications Inc.)

Blogger examines MPR/APM executive salaries; $600,000 for president

2009-11-05T13:02:00.003-05:00

The member-supported local news site MinnPost is dissecting salary numbers of Minnesota Public Radio execs. Blogger David Brauer did "a little spreadsheet crunching" of MPR's IRS 990 forms for the year ending June 2008. Bill Kling, president and CEO of Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, made $373,254 in compensation and benefits from MPR/APM, $180,000 from American Public Media Group (APMG) and $48,000 from Greenspring, MPR's for-profit arm.

Holiday furloughs hit WNET

2009-11-04T20:38:00.003-05:00

Employees at WNET in New York will have three unpaid days off between Christmas and New Year's Day, according to Crain's New York Business. Senior managers at the pubTV station will have five days of unpaid leave. Production staffers involved in daily shows will be exempt.

Kids' writing contest revived after Rainbow's end

2009-11-04T19:50:00.002-05:00

PBS is picking up where Reading Rainbow left off, launching a new annual writing and drawing contest for children in cahoots with public TV stations around the country. More at Current.org.

Viewers get grouchy over "Pox News"

2009-11-04T13:42:00.002-05:00

Now here's an unexpected question: Did Sesame Street take a poke at Fox News? That's what PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler is looking at in this week's Mailbag. In the Oct. 29 episode, Oscar the Grouch hosted the Grouch News Network, covering "all grouchy, all disgustin', all yucky" news. But another character thinks it's not grouchy enough and threatens to switch to "Pox News, now there's a trashy news show." Viewers wrote Getler to complain that the character actually said "Fox" News. "I can't really blame them," Getler writes. "When I went and watched the tape for the first time, I thought I heard 'Fox' as well, perhaps because of the association one assumes when you hear 'news' right after the word." But closed captioning revealed it was indeed Pox News.

New York, New York, that Sesame town

2009-11-04T10:52:00.004-05:00

New York magazine is celebrating 40 years of Sesame Street with a pageful of fascinating factoids in its current issue. A few: The show was almost called 123 Avenue B. Designer Charles Rosen based the set "on an amalgam of streets in Harlem, the Bronx, the Upper West Side," according to the mag. The very first episode on Nov. 10, 1969, was sponsored by the letters W, S and E, and the numbers 2 and 3. And Big Bird is still played by Caroll Spinney, now 75 years old. In other Sesame news, don't miss the new show opening.

ITVS announces fictional exploration of a future America

2009-11-04T10:28:00.003-05:00

Eleven fictional mini-features, each 15 minutes, created by indie filmmakers will ponder what America may look like in the future. The ITVS project, FutureStates, will run exclusively on its new website in March 2010. ITVS said in a statement that the industry will get a peek at the series at AFI's Digifest on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Columnist points out African-American absence on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight"

2009-11-03T14:08:00.004-05:00

WTTW-Channel 11 in Chicago doesn't have one African American reporter or anchor on staff, writes longtime Chicago media columnist Robert Feder on the WBEZ/Vocalo blog, noting the situation "seems like a throwback to some other era." Chicago Tonight, the station's public affairs program, has four white and two Hispanic staffers, he says. A WTTW spokesperson told Feder, "Because we reflect Chicago and we�re so Chicago focused, we know we�ve got to have African American talent. . . . It�s very front of our minds.� However, "given the station�s financial straits," Feder notes, "it�s not likely to happen any time soon."

PBS marks four decades today

2009-11-03T12:12:00.003-05:00

Happy birthday, Public Broadcasting Service! Yes, PBS turns 40 today. The U.S. Census Bureau took the opportunity to recognize the system and its "excellent programs and objectivity" in a short news release today. Let's hope that your station is having birthday cake. Or at least donuts.

Colorado pubTV joins with local journalists for state news project

2009-11-03T10:48:00.004-05:00

Colorado Public Television on Monday announced a partnership with local journalists for a news website and an investigative news show covering the state. The project, Colorado Public News, �is responsive to the reduction of significant investigative journalism that has occurred nationally and locally with the shrinkage of news staffs in print and broadcast media, including the closure of the Rocky Mountain News,� Wick Rowland, president and CEO of Colorado Public Television, said in a statement. Former Rocky Mountain News investigative reporter Ann Imse will be editor-in-chief. �Since traditional advertising isn�t funding in-depth journalism, we are choosing the PBS model of producing great journalism and asking for tax-deductible donations to fund non-profit, public journalism,� Imse said in the statement. When the project reaches its initial funding goal of $400,000, reporters will publish an in-depth or investigative report on at least one major issue weekly to post on the site and later in prime time on Channel 12. Check out its prototype website.

WXEL sale hits a paperwork snag

2009-11-02T09:55:00.004-05:00

A local group interested in buying the license for WXEL FM and TV in Palm Beach, Fla., has not submitted required documentation, according to owner Barry University, reports The Sun Sentinel. But the Community Broadcast Foundation of Palm Beach and Treasure Coast disagrees. "Now they've come back and say they want documentation of your funding," said Green, who told the paper that Barry officials have refused to meet with his group. "If you meet with us, you can ask us anything you want." The FCC may have to intervene, according to one source. Station ownership has been in flux for years.

Schiller responds to NABJ by "laying out the numbers"

2009-11-02T09:54:00.004-05:00

NPR released its staff composition stats after the National Association of Black Journalists questioned the network's commitment to diversity. "I couldn't agree more that NPR must increase the diversity of its staff--particularly in management and editorial," NPR President Vivian Schiller wrote in an Oct. 29 letter to NABJ leaders. "I believe our diversity efforts are best served through transparency, so we are going to lay out the numbers for you." NPR's management pool, which NABJ expressed concern about in an earlier letter to Schiller, includes 47 staff who describe themselves as people of color; that is nearly 24 percent of 199 managers at all levels of the network. Diversity among executive management is 11.8 percent. More than 22 percent of 58 news and programming managers are people of color; 14 percent are African-American. "Another concern not addressed by NABJ or Schiller is that the only on-air African American male is Juan Williams, who is not a staff employee," writes NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard, in a recent column. "Over a year ago, NPR's management put him on contract as a news analyst." The lack of diversity within NPR management was apparent to Shepard when she joined NPR two years ago. "Since then, there have been diversity meetings, committees, surveys, and they all conclude . . . NPR must focus on diversifying its staff, especially if NPR wants to better reflect the population and continue to expand its audience."

Father of pubcasting to talk about "Saving the News"

2009-11-02T09:44:00.004-05:00

Ward Chamberlin, one of the founders of American pubcasting, is one of four journalists who will discuss "Saving the News" Wednesday evening at Yale University, according to the New Haven Register. Chamberlin was COO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at its inception in 1967, and helped create PBS and NPR. Others in the panel are David Greenway, former editor of the editorial and op-ed pages of the Boston Globe; Robert Kaiser, associate editor and senior correspondent at the Washington Post; and John Yemma, editor of the Christian Science Monitor.

Rio Grande NPR hopefuls suffer setback

2009-11-01T08:57:00.010-05:00

Voices of the Valley, a grassroots group working to create a second pubradio station in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, has encountered a setback, reports The Brownsville Herald. Betsy Price, who had been dismissed from local NPR affiliate KMBH's board (Current, March 16, 2009), says ESPN nabbed an AM station in Raymondville the group wanted to lease. "We came very close," she told the paper. "We were working with a broker to get a five-year lease with one of the stations. It was looking good until (ESPN) bought it out. What we were looking at was to partner with Texas Public Radio. We would have been broadcasting right away. It was very disappointing." The group also is planning a Web site by January 2010 with online streaming of NPR and local programming. KMBH has struggled financially for several years, and this month a CPB Inspector General's office review cited problems from accounting to lack of a community advisory board.

Fairbanks PBS switches from UHF to VHF

2009-10-31T15:09:00.003-04:00

Reception problems with PBS affiliate KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska, prompted it to move from UHF Ch. 24 to VHF Ch. 9, at a cost of $1.1 million and six days off the air, according to Broadcasting & Cable. It switched in late September by undergoing rechannelization. The new Harris VHF transmitter and ERI transmission line and antenna had to be installed in a "tightly coordinated process," B&C reported, due to Alaska's brief period of mild weather. Climate is always a challenge in the state; currently, a message on the dual licensee's website explains to FM radio listeners that all that static is due to the transmitter operating at reduced power because of antenna icing. "Unfortunately, nothing can be done but wait for the weather to get colder which will cause the snow/ice to fall off of the antenna," it says.

Mister Rogers and the birth of zombies

2009-10-31T11:34:00.002-04:00

In case you missed it, zombie originator George Romero (the creatures were his creation in Night of the Living Dead) was a guest on the Halloween edition of NPR fave Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! He shared this interesting factoid: Romero got his start working with Fred Rogers on the Mister Rogers episode, "Let's Talk About Going to the Hospital," in which a little girl gets a tonsillectomy.

How Clifford was born

2009-10-31T10:59:00.003-04:00

The books that inspired Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS, now in its ninth season, were born of desperation in 1963, according to an interview with 81-year-old author Norman Bridwell in the Seattle Times. A woman whose job it was to read unsolicited manuscripts--known as the "slush pile"--at Harper & Row, knew that publisher would not be interested in it. But she "put it in her purse without telling anyone" and took it to Scholastic, Bridwell recalled. "I was just trying to find work," he said. "I'd been out of work and had a brand new baby daughter who wasn't sleeping through the night and my mother was visiting from Indiana. It was a very tense time.... I'm so lucky. If that woman hadn't come in that day (to look at the slush pile), things would have been very different." Today there are more than 126 million "Clifford" books in print in 13 languages.

Sid's flu shot brings letters to PBS ombudsman

2009-10-31T10:44:00.002-04:00

An episode of Sid the Science Kid explaining flu shots prompted letters to the PBS ombudsman this week. Michael Getler shares them and his take on the matter in his new Mailbag column.

Nothing scarier than nonmembers

2009-10-30T11:14:00.004-04:00

KCET head programmer Bohdan Zachary shares his colleagues' Halloween decoration of this very, very lapsed station member in his latest blog entry. Spooky indeed. Zachary also reminisces about the creepiest soap opera ever, Dark Shadows, and his attempt to contact a dead grade-school classmate using a seance inspired by the gothic show. Spoiler alert: It didn't work.