Mar 11, 2010

Fred Rogers Center to host confab on educational technology

More than 60 national leaders in education, research, technology, policy and children’s media will meet March 22 and 23 at the Fred Rogers Center in LaTrobe, Pa., to explore using new technologies and media in education. Representing pubcasting at the Fred Forward Conference on Creative Curiosity, New Media and Learning (PDF) will be CPB, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, PBS and Family Communications Inc., Rogers' production company that carries on the educational legacy of Mister Rogers.
posted at 10:40 AM EST

Satellite carriage bill passes Senate, could be law by Easter Congressional break

The Senate yesterday passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. The Association of Public Television Stations had backed passage of the bill, which was known as the Satellite Home Viewer Update and Reauthorization Act when it passed the House on Dec. 3. The bills allow satellite operators to carry out-of-market network TV station signals for viewers who don't receive an adequate signal from their nearby stations. In a statement, APTS President Larry Sidman praised Congressional leadership. “Working together on a bipartisan basis with each other and with their counterparts in the House, they have crafted legislation that serves consumers interests.” Next up: A joint conference committee to hammer out any differences in the bills. The statement added that APTS hopes the bill will be signed into law before the Easter recess.
posted at 10:04 AM EST

Reeling from funding losses, WQUB seeks partnership with commercial operator

WQUB in Quincy, Ill., plans to dismiss its professional on-air staff as of June 1 and turn most of its operations over to WGEM, a commercial radio/TV outlet affilated with NBC. Quincy University, WQUB's licensee, is reducing its $250k subsidy for the NPR News and music station but doesn't want to sell it, says Bob Weirather, g.m. "That is not in their mind at all. What we're trying to do is get more community support for the station." The station doesn't qualify for state funding because Quincy is a private university. Last year, it fell out of CPB funding criteria and lost half of its $90,000 Community Service Grant, according to Weirather. It also was disqualified from funding by the Illinois Arts Council. The relationship with WGEM, reported March 9 by the Quincy-Herald Whig, is under negotiation, but Wierather expects that WGEM's talent will announce programming and student interns will continue to host air-shifts. "Our programming will be unchanged, but the voices may be different," Weirather said. "We will still determine the programming and content." WQUB's 28,000-watt signal broadcasts to rural western Illinois and northeastern Missouri, reaching a potential audience of 119,000.
posted at 9:52 AM EST

Mar 10, 2010

Pubmedia Chatters stifled by 140 characters now have Google Group

A Google group for pubmedia collaboration has sprung from the ongoing Pubmedia Chat Tweetfests on Monday evenings. Chris Beer, a web developer with WGBH Interactive, created the group to provide room for communication without a 140 character limit, he tells MediaShift. "I'm not particularly attached to the idea of a Google Group or a listserv, I just see a need for more collaboration outside of Monday at 8," Beer said. "Twitter is a fine medium for getting people talking, but I find it difficult to have a conversation, and I hope something like this can supplement the #pubmedia chat. I haven't found a place within public media to ask very practical questions around public media projects. Because setting something up takes all of five minutes, it seems silly not to experiment."
posted at 7:13 PM EST

Madeleine Brand to helm new KPCC show

Pasadena's KPCC hired Madeleine Brand to host a new daily news magazine launching later this spring. The yet-to-be named show will bring a "distinctive Southern California perspective" to local and regional news and launch with a significant online component, according to a KPCC release. Brand, co-host of NPR's Day to Day until its cancellation last year, "has tremendous intellectual bandwidth, but doesn't take herself too seriously," said Bill Davis, KPCC president. The one-hour show will air at 9 a.m. PT, replacing BBC NewsHour. "Even though I'm part British and love the BBC, I think we need a little more California in that 9 am hour, and I'm excited to bring it," Brand said. On her twitter feed this morning, Brand quipped: Conan writers: Talk to me!
posted at 3:32 PM EST

House committee approves bill to extend spectrum inventory deadline

The FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration would have four years instead of two to complete a spectrum inventory under a bill okayed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee today, reports Broadcasting & Cable. Rep. Rick Boucher, House Communications and Internet Subcommittee chairman and bill co-sponsor, has said he expects the FCC to wait until after the inventory to request or reclaim spectrum from broadcasters to meet growing demands for mobile device bandwidth. Any spectrum auction would leave pubcasters with a tough decision: Money soon, or frequency opportunities later (Current, Feb. 8).
posted at 12:37 PM EST

"War room" was integral to Detroit PubTV's capital campaign efforts

A "war room" with white boards, dollar amounts and donor name targets helped Detroit Public Television/WTVS close out its 2009 $22 million capital campaign, station v.p. of development Kelley Hamilton revealed at a local nonprofit seminar this week. “In addition to the larger foundations, we had to go to the indigenous population of family foundations, largely unknown,” Board Chair Richard Rassel told Crain's Detroit Business. To encourage smaller donations, the station provided naming opportunities for everything from a light switch to the COO’s white board, cameras and editorial suites.
posted at 12:09 PM EST

Idaho PTV dodges state funding phase-out

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee of the Idaho legislature yesterday voted 19-0 to cut only 16 percent of Idaho Public Television's state funding, according to Associated Press. Gov. Butch Otter had previously sought a four-year total phaseout of funding. More good news: A House proposal would increase tax credits to IPTV and other agencies. “This would give more opportunity for donations, especially at the higher giving level, to see some positive tax credit,” IPTV G.M. Peter Morrill told the Idaho Reporter. The current limit for a tax credit is $100, that would increase to $500. The average gift to IPTV is $90.
posted at 11:48 AM EST

NewsHour gets CPB grant for Student Reporting Lab

CPB has given the PBS NewsHour a $300,000 grant for a Student Reporting Lab project in six schools nationwide, reports Television Broadcast. From last month through January 2011, NewsHour journalists are providing footage, sources and mentors to the students, who will report on three topics. Their work will run on the NewsHour website and YouTube. A statement from NewsHour said the project will "examine how broadband connectivity, open-source platforms, and public media can help to produce an informed and engaged public."
posted at 11:24 AM EST

South Dakota pubcasting faces 2 percent state funding cut

South Dakota is the latest state threatening cutbacks to pubcasting as part of overall budget tightening. A 2 percent cut to South Dakota Public Broadcasting might mean the loss of matching federal funds next year, according to the Argus Leader. The state budget is expected to run $36 million to $40 million; the Republican-led legislature has proposed $52.6 million in cuts and new revenues. The budget is scheduled to be finished today for consideration by the full Senate and House on Thursday or Friday. Pubcasters nationwide are facing similar cuts in state funding (Current, Jan. 25).
posted at 10:55 AM EST

Mar 9, 2010

Wednesday webinar to explore Google broadband experiment

Pubcasters can learn more about Google’s Fiber for Communities during a webinar Wednesday sponsored by American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio and the National Center for Media Engagement. The project aims to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more locations across the country. Intrigued? Log on at 2 p.m. Eastern to learn how to nominate your community with advice from Minnie Ingersoll, product manager of Google's Access team; Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications Corporation; Marnie Webb, co-CEO of TechSoup Global; Bernadine Joselyn, Director of Public Policy and Engagement for rural Minnesota's Blandin Foundation; and Joaquín Alvarado, veep for Digital Innovation for American Public Media. Register here.
posted at 4:47 PM EST

In the Loop, a NextGen show from MPR, ends run

Minnesota Public Radio has canceled production of In the Loop, a show that migrated from the broadcast airwaves to engage its audience of young adults where they lived--in the realm of on-demand media and social networking web platforms. Hosted by the earnest and talented Jeff Horwich, ITL was smart, off-beat and entertaining. "I always appreciated ITL as a Skunk Works for the sub-Boomer set, full of sparky 'story slams,' interactivity and Horwich's funky but not frivolous news sense," writes MinnPost media critic David Brauer. Horwich explains as much as he can on this FAQ. Both Horwich and producer Sanden Totten have been reassigned to work on MPR's Public Insight Network.
posted at 2:51 PM EST

Minnesota pubcasters, Georgia's WUGA targeted in state budget battles

“I don’t want to overstate the case, but this could lead to signals going dark,” Allen Harmon, g.m. of WSDE-TV in Duluth, says in this MinnPost report on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to zero-out funding for public broadcasters in the fiscal year beginning July 1. The governor's spending plan would cut more than $2 million in general appropriations support for public broadcasting in fiscal 2011 and beyond. It hits Minnesota's six public TV stations the hardest, eliminating $1.361 million in general-fund appropriations. Community radio stations would lose $387,000; Minnesota Public Radio, $250,000; and, Twin Cities regional cable, $17,000. Pubcasters tell MinnPost media critic David Brauer that the Legacy Amendment funds they're receiving for arts and cultural programming won't make up the difference in lost general support. Meanwhile, the University of Georgia recently threatened to shut down WUGA-FM, a Georgia Public Broadcasting station located on its Athens campus, in a draconian budget-cutting plan unveiled last week. The station is part of the GPB Radio network but cuts away for local classical music and other programming. "It’s one of the signature stations in our network," said Nancy Zintak, GPB spokeswoman. The proposed WUGA shut-off is part of a controversial plan by the University of Georgia's financial planners to cut $600 million in spending. “This is like a death knell for public education, and we’re not going to stand for it,” a student leader tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There's a little bit of saber-rattling and posturing and people are saying some dramatic things," Zintak told Current. "We have no idea how the legislature is going to come down on this." Zintak referred questions on WUGA funding to the university's press office, which did not respond to a call seeking comment.
posted at 12:46 PM EST

Knight Foundation, FCC broadband summit brings together policymakers

Today the Knight Foundation and the FCC are sponsoring "America's Digital Inclusion Summit" at the Newseum in Washington, and satellite locations in Akron, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Philadelphia. Reps from an array of agencies and organizations advocating for universal broadband access are taking questions from the public at NewMedia(at)fcc.gov, or follow along at #BBPlan on Twitter. The summit is also streaming live and runs to 12:30 p.m. Eastern. Speakers include FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. (Photo: Robertson Adams, Knight Foundation) UPDATE: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has announced the agency's effort to create a Digital Literacy Media Corps, a nationwide outreach of computer training for persons in communities including low-income housing, rural towns, tribal lands and areas with many racial and ethnic residents. "Basic literacy must be supplementetd by digital literacy," Clyburn told the crowd. The Knight Foundation also announced a partnership with the FCC on an "Apps for Inclusion" Challenge, an offer of $100,000 from Knight to software developers who can provide easier online access to civic affairs information such as tracking Congressional voting records.
posted at 9:27 AM EST

Mar 8, 2010

Broadcasters battle performance royalties while investment bankers court Pandora

The dispute over music performance royalties for radio airplay is heating up again, the New York Times reports. The MusicFirst Coalition, which represents record companies and artists, and the National Association of Broadcasters are duking it out via ad campaigns and old-fashioned lobbying. Talks between supporters and opponents, initiated last fall at the request of lawmakers, appear to have stalled. Meanwhile, the Times reports in a separate article, investment bankers are aggressively courting Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. The Internet radio service reported its first profitable quarter last year, and usage among its 48 million listeners now averages 11.6 hours a month, according to the Times. "That could increase as Pandora strikes deals with the makers of cars, televisions and stereos that could one day, Pandora hopes, make it as ubiquitous as AM/FM radio."
posted at 11:36 AM EST

Mar 5, 2010

Worldfocus to leave the air next month

WNET.org will discontinue Worldfocus [Word doc], its weeknight international news report as of April 2. The producing station was “a few million dollars short” of what it needed to keep Worldfocus on the air, President Neal Shapiro said in a release today. “We demonstrated that there is a demand for international news, but we had the misfortune of launching a brand new program into the teeth of the recession,” Shapiro said, adding, “… we were in the right place at the wrong time.” The station will put resources in its new weekly current affairs series Need to Know, which starts in early May, when Bill Moyers retires from his weekly show and Now on PBS ends its run. The station announced last week that Shelley Lewis, a former CNN and ABC executive producer, has that role for Need To Know. Lewis comes from Howdini.com, a how-to video website for women that she co-created; she also co-created Air America Radio and was its senior v.p. of programming. She was previously e.p. of CNN’s American Morning with Paula Zahn and Greenfield at Large, and before that was e.p. for ABC News Productions.
posted at 3:37 PM EST

KUED sister agency receives broadband grant

Utah Education Network, a sister agency with KUED at the University of Utah, has received a $13.4 million federal Recovery Act grant to bring fast Internet service to 130 schools, libraries and other community institutions in the state, and it has been a partner with PBS in developing the Digital Learning Library. The state is putting in $3.5 million to match. UEN already serves 300 schools (its map). With the Utah grant announced last week, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration had awarded grants totaling $610 million out of $7.2 billion allotted for NTIA- and Ag Department-funded broadband projects by the Recovery Act (this week's quarterly report to the House Commerce Committee). NTIA is accepting a second round of applications through March 15.
posted at 11:48 AM EST

CJR delivers progress report on Vivian Schiller's agenda for NPR

“I’m not a command-and-control person,” Vivian Schiller tells the Columbia Journalism Review in a feature on her first year as NPR president. "I lead by building consensus." Schiller is addicted to her Blackberry, conducts lots of business via email and "has succeeded somewhat in piercing NPR's infamous bureaucracy," at least in the case of creating new business and reporting arrangements for Planet Money, the radio/online economics reporting collaboration with This American Life. CJR reporter Jill Drew also finds points of tension. Kevin Beesley, president of NPR's AFTRA unit, questions a "larding of the management ranks" with recent hires Keith Woods, v.p. of diversity, and Susanne Reber, deputy managing editor for investigations. "Beesley’s concern is that too much money is being spent on managers, leaving little to improve the lot of the people who create NPR’s content," CJR reports. And, among station leaders, not everyone has bought into Schiller's push for local-national collaboration in online news and fundraising. American Public Media President Bill Kling, for one, questions the campaign for mega-gifts that Ron Schiller, NPR senior v.p. of development, is planning. “If I found a $10-million donor and Ron Schiller came to town and said, ‘Let’s split that,’ I’d say no,” Kling tells CJR. “Here the most important thing to do next is to get Minnesota Public Radio up to its full potential in professional news collection and dissemination.”
posted at 10:14 AM EST

Mar 4, 2010

State funding cuts pose "greatest immediate danger" to pubTV service in rural areas

Of all the public TV stations facing steep cuts in state funding this year, Idaho Public Television is among those in "greatest immediate danger," CPB Senior V.P. Mark Erstling tells Stateline.org. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has proposed to zero-out the state network's funding over four years. For a station broadcasting to sparsely populated areas, there's no way to make up the difference with corporate underwriting or member donations. “You can really see a potential loss of service,” Erstling says. "We don't have enough funding to bail out all the stations that are coming to us asking for help and saying they're in financial distress." To adjust to the loss of $1.6 million annually, Idaho Public TV will have to cancel most of its local programming, close three studios and shut off its network of rural translators, among other service changes.
posted at 10:43 AM EST

Mar 3, 2010

Smiley organizes panel this month to discuss "black agenda"

PBS talk host and activist Tavis Smiley may have recently ended his annual State of the Black Union events, but this month he's once again bringing together African Americans to press the case for a "black agenda," reports the Associated Press. Smiley told the AP he felt compelled to organize the discussion after statements from some black leaders downplaying the need for President Barack Obama to specifically help the African-Americans community. Scheduled to speak during the March 20 panel discussion at Chicago State University are advertising pioneer Tom Burrell, professors Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux. The gathering may be broadcast.
posted at 5:45 PM EST

A new twist on local history from WOSU

Columbus Neighborhoods, an engagement-focused website just launched by WOSU Public Media and the Columbus Metropolitan Library, invites visitors to explore and share stories, photos and videos of life in central Ohio. Inspired by WOSU-TV's documentary series on local history, the site mainly features archival photographs of thirty different neighborhoods and suburbs. Next week, WOSU debuts "Short North," the next installment of its TV documentary series, previewed here.
posted at 1:52 PM EST

Mar 2, 2010

Sprinkle ... love ... for digital stuff

Kachingle, an online service designed to make it easy for online media consumers to leave thank-you gifts, officially began operation with 75 sites participating, including the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Cyberjournalist.net, the company says. Others are “queued up” to go live, including the Center for Public Integrity. Newspapers in Boulder, Colo., and Sioux City, Iowa, also have signed up so far. Their slogan has evolved from “Sprinkle change on the content you love” to “Crowdfunding sites you love” and now “Social cents for digital stuff.” See Current’s article and the Kachingle website.
posted at 7:05 PM EST

New PubRadio Player introduces banner ads

Public Radio Player Version 2.1, an upgrade of the iPhone app developed by Public Radio Exchange last year, is now available for downloads in the iTunes App Store. PRX rewrote the code to improve the app's performance and added features such as a sleep timer, alarm clock and the ability to bookmark your favorite listening selections. There's something else very different about the latest player: PRX is introducing national banner ads on top-level pages. "CPB has encouraged us to find ways to sustain the project beyond grant support so this is our first foray into mobile advertising," explains Executive Director Jake Shapiro on PRX.org. "We are working to make it possible for stations to sell local ads on their own Player pages." A broader roll-out of local station ads is planned for version 3.0, which PRX will release in June. CPB recently renewed its funding of the Public Radio Player, a pubradio collaborative project that PRX has managed since 2008. The first version offered live streams of 150 public radio stations. Now 500 are accessible through the app.
posted at 3:04 PM EST

Mar 1, 2010

PBS brings aboard new development s.v.p.

PBS today announced a new senior vice president of development, who will also head up the PBS Foundation. Brian Reddington will help expand fundraising efforts to generate new revenue for stations and content, PBS said in a statement. He will help PBS raise money from individual donors, foundations, corporations and other sources, and oversee creation of individual-giving programs and online fundraising initiatives. Reddington comes to PBS after four years as director of institutional advancement at the Smithsonian Institution, where he directed all external functions in the Central Office of Development.
posted at 4:11 PM EST

Rivera appointed to lead Vocalo.org

Vocalo.org has hired Silvia Rivera as executive director. Rivera, former g.m. of Chicago's Radio Arte, is chair of the Latino Public Radio Consortium board. She played a key role in the drafting of LPRC's 2007 "brown paper." At Vocalo, she succeeds Wendy Turner, who was promoted to v.p. at Chicago Public Radio, Vocalo.org's parent station. Rivera began her public media career in 1998 at Radio Arte, a Chicago public radio station and media training program serving Latino youth. She rose through the ranks to become g.m. in 2006. “I look forward to helping realize the potential of Vocalo.org," Rivera said in a news release. "First-person storytelling, music, and the art of media-making are passions of mine, so I am thrilled to be joining a team of creative visionaries that recognize that these elements can help redefine public media and engage a new generation.”
posted at 4:03 PM EST

KCSN drops classical music for Triple A

Los Angeles now has a full-time Triple A music station. KCSN, the 370-watt noncommercial station operated by California State University at Northridge, dumped its daytime classical music schedule today and reintroduced itself as the only L.A. radio station broadcasting contemporary music 24/7. “We’ve researched what is the best public radio format to reach the broadest audience and we’re convinced this is it. This format serves the musical interests of listeners in our region,” said Karen Kearns, interim g.m. and associate dean of the university's college of arts, media and communication, in a news release. The station has struggled for viability in the crowded L.A. market amidst all-classical KUSC, news/eclectic music KCRW, jazz-format KKJZ, and news/talk KPCC. KCSN's signal, the weakest among pubradio outlets in the region, reaches across the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys into L.A. and has a potential audience of nearly 3 million. "That's a lot of people, but in L.A. there is so much competition," said Kearns in an interview last fall. This is the second time in five months that KCSN has changed its format. Last Sept. 30, KCSN dismissed all paid on-air staff and switched to an automated service of daytime classical and Triple A/Americana music on evenings and weekends. KCSN went to automation after losing its CPB funding, Kearns said. "There is no money to pay the hosts."
posted at 2:27 PM EST

PubTV station helps folks understand meaning of old military awards

East Tennessee Public Television co-sponsored an interesting event over the weekend: A Missing Medals Recovery Program. Veterans and their family members turned out for help identifying medals, military patches, ribbons and badges, reports the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
posted at 10:08 AM EST

Tonight's Tweets: Impact measurement

The third PubMedia Chat will focus on impact measurement. The ongoing Twitterfests give practitioners and supporters of public media a way to interact and brainstorm. Jessica Clark of the American University's Center for Social Media will host beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Follow @pubmedia to participate. In case you missed it, here are highlights of last week's Tweets.
posted at 9:26 AM EST

Feb 26, 2010

BBC to announce several cutbacks, Times of London reports

An upcoming BBC strategic proposal signals "an end to the era of expansion" for the British broadcaster, reports the Times of London. The review, scheduled for public release next month, will announce closures of two radio stations, the shuttering of half its website and a 25 percent cut in funding for American program imports. The Times story said that Mark Thompson, the Beeb's director general, will reveal in the report that the moves are due in part to the corporation becoming too large.
posted at 3:15 PM EST

LA Public Media mission: to create new multicultural audiences for public radio

Oscar Garza, senior assignment editor for the Los Angeles Public Media Service, is "one of those people who's been around for a while and his perspective is key to helping understand Los Angeles," writes KCET blogger and KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, in this Q&A about the new CPB-backed start-up. Garza is a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times and former editor in chief of the glossy magazine Tu Ciudad. Los Angeles Public Media's mission is "to create new audiences for public radio," he tells Guzman-Lopez. "Public radio has a couple of problems. One is that their audience is older and getting older, their average audience. And they're not very diverse. It's an overwhelmingly Anglo audience." The new service will target listeners aged 25-40, and the ethnic mix will reflect the multicultural life of the L.A.: "[B]ecause of the diversity of the city . . . generations . . . are accustomed to living in this multicultural, diverse environment . . . , they're not just living in this Latino bubble. We all have Asian friends, African American friends." Los Angeles Public Media, a project of Radio Bilingüe, plans to launch a daily one-hour radio show and online news service later this year.
posted at 9:46 AM EST

Feb 25, 2010

Founder of current WPSU-TV dies in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania State University journalism professor Marlowe Froke, who founded WPSX-TV (now WPSU-TV) in 1964 at the university, died Feb. 23 in State College, Pa. He was 82. Penn State Live, the university's news site, said he "took the lead in the early days of cable and public TV to establish networks of connections among Pennsylvania stations and cable operations that preceded today's Public Broadcasting System." He joined the Penn State faculty in 1959 as an associate professor of journalism and developed the school's first broadcast journalism curriculum. In 1964 he was named Penn State's director of broadcasting and established WPSX.
posted at 1:13 PM EST

FCC chair says he wants to release 500 MHz of spectrum over 10 years

FCC Chair Julius Genachowski has revealed a specific number for the amount of spectrum the agency wants to see freed up: 500 Mhz. Also, he confirmed what many experts have expected, that there will indeed be a spectrum auction for that bandwidth. In a speech today (PDF) to the New America Foundation, a D.C. progressive think tank, Genachowski said the National Broadband Plan to be presented to Congress next month "will work closely" with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration over the next decade to release the spectrum. The plan proposes a “Mobile Future Auction” permitting existing licensees, "such as television broadcasters in spectrum-starved markets," to relinquish spectrum in exchange for a share of auction proceeds. "Now, I’ve mentioned broadcast spectrum – so let me be clear: the recommendation is for a voluntary program," he noted. Public broadcasters are watching the spectrum debate with interest, as stations stand to monetarily gain from an auction but would give up valuable bandwidth to do so (Current, Feb. 8, 2010).
posted at 10:52 AM EST

Feb 24, 2010

South Dakota tribe contacts FCC regarding towers on sacred butte

A Native Tribe in Reliance, S.D., has asked the FCC to examine the location of a commercial broadcasting tower on Medicine Butte — where South Dakota Public Broadcasting also has an tower, reports the Daily Republic in Mitchell. Michael Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux, said he sent a letter to the FCC after a storm brought down the tower last month, requesting an opportunity to discuss the the situation because his tribe regards Medicine Butte as a sacred site. Fritz Miller at SDPB said the station does not anticipate moving its tower. He told Current that laws on tribal boundaries were changed last year, giving tribes the opportunity to buy back land. According to SeVern Ashes, SDPB director of engineering, "The butte is part of the tribe's creation history and is still used today for vision quest and prayers." The station checked its land deed and guy wire easements a few years back and is satisfied it is legally covered if the Lower Brule Sioux decide to buy back the butte.
posted at 2:29 PM EST

FTC news workshop includes "On the Media's" Bob Garfield

The second round of two-day workshops convened by the Federal Trade Commission on the future of journalism are scheduled for March 9 and 10, the agency said in an announcement today. Speakers at "How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?" include FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz; and Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's On the Media, addressing "The State of Advertising." Agenda is here (PDF).
posted at 1:43 PM EST

New KCRW g.m. discusses future of station

In case you missed it yesterday: You can now download or stream the interview with Jennifer Ferro, new g.m. of KCRW-FM in Los Angeles, from the station's own The Politics of Culture program. Ferro's promotion from assistant g.m. to lead the station was announced Saturday.
posted at 11:18 AM EST

North Carolina city ventures into spectrum white spaces

Wilmington, N.C., was the first community in America to discontinue analog broadcasting. Now it's the first to test a municipal WiFi network using white spaces between DTV channels, reports Broadcasting & Cable. So far the city has been using white-space wireless cameras for traffic and surveillance in a park and highway; soon cameras will also check water levels. And there'll be public WiFi in a park and school. The city is being assisted by Spectrum Bridge, a real-time online marketplace for radio spectrum. That firm is supplying a spectrum database to prevent interference with local TV stations.
posted at 10:54 AM EST

This American Life tops list of best journalism in 2009

Writer Conor Friedersdorf of True/Slant compiled a list of the best journalism he encountered in 2009. This American Life, the only public radio program to appear in on it, turns up 10 times. TAL's reportage is cited in several categories--exceptional storytelling, investigative journalism, and media criticism, among others, and more often than any other publication. Friedersdorf acknowledges that there's a lot of great work that he misses every year. "[T]his isn’t an infallible account of journalism’s best, but I aim to make it the best roundup that any one person can offer, one of these years I intend to do better than the committees who pick the Pulitzer Prizes and National Magazine Awards. . . and if nothing else my effort encompasses writing that is well worth your time." Friedersdorf produces a twitter stream of exceptional reporting as JournoCurator.
posted at 10:51 AM EST

Feb 23, 2010

PBS, your source for baseball talent

Now that baseball spring training is under way, eager fans are counting the hours until opening day. While spectators will be eating hot dogs in the bleachers, some PBSers will take to the field in their National Adult Baseball Association (NABA) league. KCET/Los Angeles President and CEO Al Jerome (at left in photo) formed the California Blue Jays team in 2002 and recruited athletic talent from around the system, including the strong double-play combination of shortstop Lloyd Wright (president and CEO of WFYI/Indianapolis, Ind., right in photo) and second baseman Andy Russell (senior v.p., PBS Ventures, center in photo). Former team members have included Mel Rogers of KOCE/Huntington Beach, Calif., and Jeff Clarke of KQED/San Francisco. The far-flung players practice on their own using local batting cages and, no doubt, family members drafted into playing catch. The California Blue Jays come together for one week each year to compete; Wright reports that last fall they won the 1A Division of NABA National Tournament in Las Vegas. Jerome, whom Wright calls "a crafty southpaw," was starting pitcher; Russell and Wright were the team's top two hitters in the tourney. Quips Wright: "You might say these executives are 'out standing in their field.'"
posted at 2:17 PM EST

Youth Radio: media training without that "school-like feel"

"Peer teaching is at the heart of Youth Radio," Jacinda Abcarian, executive director of the Oakland-based media program, tells San Francisco Chronicle. "You don't get that school-like feel; there are no adults talking down to you." In a feature noting the organization's 10th anniversary, music journalist Ben Fong-Torres reports on Youth Radio's growth from a tiny storefront operation in Berkeley to a media training ground that has served "some 10,000 urban kids," produced news reports for NPR and other major news outlets, and established radio streams for musical expression and health concerns.
posted at 11:26 AM EST

New three-part "Upstairs, Downstairs" coming next year

New episodes of the 1970s PBS hit Upstairs, Downstairs are coming to Masterpiece in 2011 as part of a co-production deal with BBC World Sales and Distribution, Americas, the partners announced in a press release today. There'll also be a 21st-century version of Sherlock Holmes, and three Aurelio Zen mysteries about a fictional Italian detective. The original Upstairs, Downstairs won seven Emmys including a best actress for Jean Marsh; she'll recreate her role of Rose the parlor maid. The three-part series will be set in the same house. The new episodes take place in 1936, advancing the storyline that left off in 1930. Read more in the UK's Guardian.
posted at 10:37 AM EST

Feb 22, 2010

Three Writers Guild Awards for PBS shows

PBS won three Writers Guild of America Awards on Saturday night, which honored outstanding achievement in television, radio, news, promotional writing and graphic animation during the 2009 season. Frontline's “The Madoff Affair” took the Documentary–Current Events honor; American Experience won for "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer" for Documentary–Other Than Current Events; and Bill Moyers Journal scored in the News–Analysis, Feature of Commentary, for its segment “A Private War: Expose: America's Investigative Reports.” Announcements were made in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles (Writers Guild, West) and New York City (Writers Guild, East). A list of winners is available at the Writers Guild website.
posted at 12:04 PM EST

Ferro moves up to lead KCRW

Jennifer Ferro is the new g.m. of Los Angeles’ KCRW-FM, following her formal approval by the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees Saturday. “Jennifer epitomizes the perfect mix of traditional public radio experience and the strategic and creative new media thinking that will be critical to KCRW’s continued success in the years ahead,” said Chui L. Tsang, president of the college, in a press release. KCRW is licensed to the school. Ferro joined KCRW in 1991 as a volunteer arts reporter and since 1997 worked as assistant g.m. to outgoing station chief Ruth Seymour, who announced her retirement in November. “Jennifer is an ideal choice to lead the station forward,” Seymour said. “She’s innovative, courageous and independent. … She will make a terrific manager and I look forward to a KCRW under her leadership.” Ferro told the Santa Monica Daily Press that she does not plan any major changes to the station’s signature lineup of news, public affairs and cutting-edge music. She does plan to increase major gifts and support for independent producers, the Los Angeles Times reported. Look for more coverage in Current’s March 1 issue. UPDATE: Seymour appeared on KPCC's Air Talk last week to discuss her legacy: "I’m very much about the present, responding to the moment. And I think that’s the art of radio — that it isn’t about the past and it isn’t about the future, but it’s about now, and capturing 'now.'" Also, Ferro will appear on KCRW's The Politics of Culture at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time tomorrow (Feb. 23) to talk about the station. Stream available at KCRW's website.
posted at 11:36 AM EST

Proposed Minnesota funding cuts would hit pubTV and radio

PubTV and radio in Minnesota are in for less funding if Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed budget is adopted, according to the Duluth News Tribune. The plan puts forth some $1.4 million reductions for TV, and for radio, $287,000 in service grants, $100,000 in equipment grants and $250,000 of equipment grants for Minnesota Public Radio; indie KUMD 103.3 FM in Duluth would also be subject to those cuts. WDSE-TV station manager Al Harmon told the paper that would mean staff cuts at the station and the end of some local programming. Harmon said state grants make up about 10 percent of WDSE’s operating budget, and 20 percent of the salaries for the station’s 30 employees. Similar reductions are happening in state budgets across the country (Current, Jan. 25, 2010).
posted at 10:25 AM EST

Coach's famous glasses net $9,000 for Penn State Broadcasting

Thanks to a pair of Joe Paterno's trademark black glasses, Penn State Broadcasting is $9,000 richer. The much-loved Penn State University's football coach donated the glasses for the station's Connoisseur's Dinner and Auction. WPSU seems to be working its way around the much-loved coach's body, already having auctioned autographed khaki pants, white socks, sneakers and neckties from several bowl games.
posted at 10:02 AM EST

Feb 19, 2010

25 seats open in Producers Academy at WGBH

Next summer's annual weeklong CPB/PBS Producers Academy, led by top TV production specialists, will accept applications through Tuesday, March 23, 5 p.m. Experienced indie and station-based producer/writer/directors are eligible for scholarships that cover the cost of the workshops, room and board in Boston, June 19-25. Details and app form are online at PBS.org.
Questions go to PBS and CPB, not WGBH: Kathryn Lo of PBS and Angie Palmer of CPB.
posted at 6:05 PM EST

NPR gets high rating for construction bonds

Preparing for a bond issue this spring to finance construction of its new headquarters, NPR got a vote of confidence from two of the big-three bond rating agencies, the network said in a news release yesterday. Standard & Poor’s gave NPR an AA- rating and Moody’s gave it a comparable Aa3. Both are high-grade ratings, the fourth of 20 or more grades. Last March, NPR bought the site seven blocks east of its present home and is planning a new seven-story, 330,000-square-foot structure incorporating about two-thirds of an old historic-landmarked warehouse. NPR plans to break ground next fall and occupy the building by mid-2013.
posted at 5:10 PM EST

FCC kicks off inquiry into future of news

The FCC officially launched its inquiry into future news and information needs of communities at its meeting in Washington yesterday, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Steve Waldman (right), special adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, has been working for several months to assemble a cross-agency team and begin gathering information. The first formal group workshop will be March 4. Waldman said that discussion would be TV and radio stations, adding that there had been a "newspaper centrism" to past media discussions.
posted at 12:56 PM EST

Florida bill would allow state money to non-CPB funded stations

A bill in the Florida Legislature would amend a statute that limits state money for public broadcasting only to stations under the purview of CPB. It adds “nondenominational television stations licensed by the FCC as full-power educational broadcast stations”as eligible for funding via the State Board of Education. “What this bill would do is open it up to a larger group of licensees,” said Sandra Ceseretti, g.m. of WSRE at Pensacola Junior College. “It could be community or perhaps religious licensees that are nondenominational. It would take the current infrastructure and grow it, perhaps to another 200 new licensees." As the college's newspaper, the Corsair, reports, that could dilute funding to existing stations, causing problems WSRE. The station has already had cutbacks and layoffs as a result of a deficit last year.
posted at 10:06 AM EST

Feb 18, 2010

G4 receives more time to gather digital media comments for FCC

The FCC has granted an extension to APTS, CPB, NPR and PBS for comments on the report, "The Future of Media and Information Needs of Communities in A Digital Age." The deadline, originally March 8, is now May 7. The G4 told the FCC the delay was necessary because of the "wide-ranging nature" of the topics involved. Also, the organizations are planning regional town meetings to solicit viewpoints of community leaders and broadcast station execs. FCC order here (PDF).
posted at 4:05 PM EST

FCC presents preview of National Broadband Plan

At a public meeting in Washington today, the FCC previewed part of its upcoming report to Congress on a National Broadband Plan. The focus was the "national purposes" portion of the plan, "designed to support America’s competitive advantages in key sectors of the economy and society," according to an FCC press release (PDF) with details of the presentation (a more specific report, also in PDF, here). The agency discussed potential solutions for challenges in areas including health care technology, education, energy, jobs, public safety and civic engagement. A final report is due to Congress in mid-March.
posted at 3:46 PM EST

Bole plans pubmedia get-togethers at SXSW

Rob Bole, CPB's veep of digital media strategy, is working to bring together public media folks at the upcoming SXSW event. "I see an opportunity to help get out of parochial grooves, network, make connections and generally be more collaborative," he told Current in an email. He's gathering a list of interested pubmedia types that he'll redistribute. There'll be a call for "SXSW newbies" with Kevin Dando, director of digital and education communications at PBS. Bole is also planning a Sunday evening social event, a #pubsxsw Twitter hashtag for back-channel communications, and a post-SXSX briefing via WebEx conferencing. Interested? Email Bole at rbole(at)cpb.org, ping him through #pubmedia, direct message to @rbole or sign up online.
posted at 11:00 AM EST

Indiana's WNIT lays off eight, outsources several jobs

WNIT Public Television in South Bend, Ind., is letting go eight staffers and restructuring in the wake of a 50 percent drop in state funding, according to the Elkhart Truth newspaper. The station had been studying a restructuring plan but the $200,000 loss moved it more quickly ahead, president and g.m. Mary Pruess told the newspaper. Employees were cut from several departments and levels of seniority. And bookkeeping, accounting, program scheduling and marketing will be outsourced. The state is just one facing a fiscal meltdown that endangers pubcasters (Current, Jan. 25, 2010).
posted at 10:25 AM EST

Feb 17, 2010

NPR unveils its plans for SXSW music extravaganza

NPR will produce two live music showcases from the South by Southwest Music and Media conference: the previously announced March 17 festival opener to be headlined by Spoon, and a March 18 daytime concert featuring the Sleigh Bells. (Details on both line-ups here.) Both shows will be offered for broadcast by NPR stations, as well as live webcasts for online listeners on NPR Music. Five station partners--Austin's KUT, New York's WFUV, Philadelphia's WXPN, Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, and Seattle's KEXP--will collaborate on the SXSW coverage by producing artist interviews and reporting on other performances throughout the festival. NPR's own All Songs Considered will post updates to Twitter (@allsongs) and produce a daily podcast in which Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson and Carrie Brownstein geek-out about their best music discoveries of the day. To prepare for the music extravaganza, bookmark npr.org/sxsw, where all this coverage will reside (and where you'll find archives from previous years' coverage) and check out the Local Natives, one of the bands to be featured at NPR's SXSW day party. More than 1800 bands are scheduled to perform during SXSW. WXPN's Bruce Warren recommends that you keep your ears to the ground for Austin's own Strange Boys.
posted at 5:42 PM EST

KPBS considered format switch, station purchase, document reveals

A blogger for the San Diego Reader is reporting on a project last year from local pubcaster KPBS to buy an additional local FM station and switch its existing news frequency to a "lucrative classical music format." That plan was not executed, says Matt Potter, staff writer and editor at the publication. He obtained the report -- labeled Privileged and Confidential -- titled, “Funding Our News Future: A Case for Purchasing a New Radio Frequency,” through California's public records act. That study says that KPBS management was looking to purchase KPRI, a 30,000-watt FM station, for $8 million. Potter quotes the document: “A properly run classical music station can generate significant revenue. In fact, this scenario, with a purchase price of $8m and conservative listener sensitive revenue projections, shows positive cash flow after debt service in year #2. We could potentially reach $1.5m cash flow by year #5. These revenues will go toward funding the KPBS News service, which rarely operates with positive cash flow.” Nancy Worlie, spokeswoman for KPBS, told Current: "We're no longer interested. After careful consideration we never made an offer. We decided to keep our focus on our current media outlets and toward expanding our local news service."
posted at 3:15 PM EST

How viable is WLIU's bid for independence?

The campaign to establish Long Island's WLIU as an independent public radio outlet is faltering, according to this report by the Hamptons Independent. With a looming deadline to relocate from WLIU's longtime home on the Southhampton campus of Stonybrook University, station leaders are also trying to raise money through a new nonprofit, Peconic Public Broadcasting, to acquire WLIU's license. The Independent reports that actor Alec Baldwin, one of several celebrities who backed the campaign, is not fulfilling his pledge. Meanwhile, critics of G.M. Wally Smith say he hasn't done enough to reduce operating expenses. "We do have a plan," Smith said. "Our goal is to not live hand to mouth."
posted at 1:35 PM EST

Pubmedia online outreach projects need metrics to measure success: Jessica Clark

Jessica Clark, director of the Center for Social Media's Future of Public Media project, takes on a big question on the MediaShift blog: How well are stations measuring success in multiplatform public media projects created to inform and engage the public? "Very few stations define success with concrete metrics," Clark writes. "Most examples are anecdotal. ('I just have a sense.') What they consider to be 'successful' is very subjective. Those that do have an idea of what success means to them include metrics such as page views, unique users, and calls into station when online offerings fail to work." She cites "Embracing Digital: A Review of Public Media Efforts Across the United States," a June 2009 CPB-funded report by Gupta Consulting, which revealed that "few station executives can quote quantitative measures of either goals or achievements related to their digital offerings." Some stations were not even able to provide a rationale for creating particular digital offerings. "Clearly, accurately measuring impact is difficult -- if not impossible -- if producers are not able to identify their own motivations," Clark points out. Read the entire CPB report here (PDF).
posted at 1:26 PM EST

Florida Channel nixes use of its video on candidate's website

WFSU at Florida State University has demanded that its video of an Air Force commander discussing offshore drilling be removed from a state House candidate's website. Democrat David Pleat thought the video explained the reasons he opposes oil drilling near the Gulf Coast, so he put a copy from Youtube.com on his campaign Web site, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. The video “can be posted for educational purposes," said Florida Channel Executive Director Beth Switzer. “We can’t, and are not allowed to, grant use in political advertisements or on websites.” Pleat's site now carries a red X over the spot where the video once played. On a page linked to that spot, the website says the campaign feels WFSU's request "is censorship of important information regarding oil drilling in the Gulf." Pleat told the paper: "We simply put forward information that was taped in a public hearing with public dollars.”
posted at 10:16 AM EST

Feb 16, 2010

Boston Mag portrays rifts within WGBH over radio expansion

In a lengthy feature on WGBH's ambitions to compete against WBUR for NPR News audiences, Boston Magazine goes behind the scenes to describe rifts between WGBH management and rank and file. By its account, WGBH staff were demoralized by months of budget cuts and downsizing when station leaders opted to spend $14 million on all-classical WCRB. Author Paul Kix portrays the scene during a staff meeting at which WGBH veep Marita Rivero announced the decision: "one woman sobbed and, according to numerous accounts, screamed something at Rivero to the effect of 'Jesus, you've got a lot of nerve! I can't believe this has happened.'"

"This wasn't just fury over the company's financial state. It was also the creeping clash between the old culture of WGBH and the new, between the way things had been and the way things would need to be."

"Part of the problem with 'GBH is there's a culture of mollycoddling where everyone's treated the same, and everybody's patted on the back," Emily Rooney, WGBH's top news talent, tells Kix. Rooney, a veteran of commercial TV news, adds that, had the "sobbing, shouting woman" been her employee, she would have been fired.
posted at 5:04 PM EST

FCC chair previews broadband recommendations for Congress

Today in Washington, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (right) provided insights into what will be contained in the agency's National Broadband Plan report to Congress next month. In a speech to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (PDF), he cited several important issues, including spectrum use. He said that the commission will make the recommendation to "free up a significant amount of spectrum in the years ahead for ample licensed and unlicensed use." Experts have been predicting a coming spectrum auction, which might leave pubcasters with a tricky decision ("At what cost spectrum? Stations may face choice: Cash soon or opportunities later," Current, Feb. 10, 2010). Several other recommendations Genachowski mentioned included "lowering the cost of broadband build-out -- wired and wireless -- through the smart use of government rights of way and conduits," and developing "public/private partnerships to increase Internet adoption, and ensure that all children can use the Internet proficiently and safely." He also said the plan will set goals for the United State to have the world’s largest market of very high-speed broadband users, which he dubbed a “100 Squared” initiative: 100 million households at 100 megabits per second.
posted at 3:54 PM EST

America only mediocre in broadband efforts compared with other countries, study says

An international broadband study out today (see previous item for national numbers) shows the United States is a "middle of the pack" performer on broadband efforts, but has higher prices for high-speed and next generation Internet. The research was commissioned by the FCC and conducted by examination of existing literature from 30 countries by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Another finding: America has 30 wifi free and pay hotspots per 100,000 residents; that compares with Sweden, which has 80. The 333-page report in PDF form is here.
posted at 11:07 AM EST

WVIA in Pennsylvania back on the air after transmitter site fire

WVIA, a dual licensee in Pittston, Pa., is slowly returning to the air after a devastating electrical fire on Friday. Newswatch 16, in nearby Moosic, Pa., has loaned out an unused transmitter. The FCC okayed the shift in order to restore the signal, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune. Over-the-air viewers can rescan their TVs to find the new PBS signal, Newswatch 16 reports. Radio is at reduced power but operating. WVIA will rebuild the transmitter site but WVIA President Bill Kelley said the building is a complete loss. "That building is toast. Every transmitter, every wire, every tube. It's melted, it's gone," he told Newswatch 16. Construction estimates are between $1 and $2 million.
posted at 10:32 AM EST

NPR's investigative unit reports on Christmas Day bomb suspect

"Going Radical," an NPR investigative series that begins airing tomorrow, is the first to be produced by the new reporting unit headed by Suzanne Reber. The three-part series examines the radicalization of the Christmas Day bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Three reporters--Peter Kenyon, Dina Temple-Raston and Ofeibea Quist-Arcton--collaborated on the investigation, according to Poynter Online. Within NPR headquarters, the investigative team working under Reber includes correspondents Daniel Zwerdling and Joseph Shapiro, librarian Barbara Van Woerkom and computer-assisted reporter Robert Benincasa. NPR plans to hire a producer/off-air reporter to complete the team, but journalists will "cycle through" the unit on assignments, NPR News chief Ellen Weiss says.
posted at 10:19 AM EST

NTIA broadband report shows disparities continue; 30 percent do not use Internet

A new report on broadband Internet usage that surveyed 50,000 households reveals all demographic groups are using more broadband but disparities among particular groups continue to exist, according to the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Among the findings: 64 percent of households have broadband access compared with 51 percent in October 2007. Lagging behind in broadband use are low-income households, seniors, minorities, the less-educated and the unemployed. And 30 percent of all Americans surveyed do not use the Internet in any location. The research was commissioned by the NTIA and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in October 2009. Access the full report here (PDF).
posted at 10:09 AM EST

Apple competitors create alliances for compatible mobile apps (good luck!)

Mobile app developers will get “a simple route to market” that lets them develop a single app for wireless devices’ various incompatible operating systems, according to the Wholesale Applications Community announced in Barcelona yesterday by more than two dozen cell phone carriers and device makers. The “distribution ecosystem” based on “openness and transparency” is backed by carriers weary of being outflanked and bullied by Apple’s iBandwagon, including such open and transparent corporate citizens as Verizon, Sprint, major foreign carriers and even AT&T, Apple’s U.S. iPhone carrier. Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson also joined. Information Week ‘s blogger expects this new League of Nations to get bogged down, fall behind and fall apart.

Demonstrating that even alliance-hungry Apple competitors can’t agree on the same strategy, two more such companies, Nokia and Intel, said they will combine their Linux-based open-source mobile/netbook OS efforts, under the Linux Foundation, Ars Technica reported. The joint effort is MeeGo.
posted at 7:32 AM EST

Feb 14, 2010

Idaho PTV cuts CPB spots after state legislator's comments

Idaho Public Television has removed spots touting the importance of public television that featured state legislators, reports the Twin Falls, Idaho, Times-News website. In a recent hearing before the state joint finance-appropriations committee on funding for the station, a senator asked IPTV g.m. Peter Morrill if the appearances gave the politicians a political advantage. Morrill looked into the spots, then replied to the committee in a subsequent letter. The legislators "did not advocate for any funding proposal, only for the general public service that we provide,” Morrill wrote. “To avoid any further confusion, I have instructed my staff to take these spots off the air during the legislative session.” The promotion project is funded by CPB.
posted at 10:39 AM EST

PBS ombudsman emerges from snowdrift with latest column

Plenty of interesting comments in this week's Mailbag (well, Snowbag) from the PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler. Topics include "The Bombing of Germany" from American Experience, and Frontline's "Flying Cheap."
posted at 9:55 AM EST

Feb 13, 2010

Illinois Public Media cuts staff, changes format due to budget crunch

Illinois Public Media in Urbana-Champaign will realign its AM, FM and TV staffing to survive its budget woes. The operation at the University of Illinois will eliminate nine staff positions, phase out the weather department, add news to its FM classical format, shift its AM news staff to more local coverage and outreach, and add three staff positions in "areas with potential for revenue growth." General Manager Mark Leonard announced the overhaul in a statement on its website. Illinois Public Media has been operating with a deficit during the current fiscal year as a result of $110,000 in budget cuts from the Illinois Arts Council that were announced in October, Leonard said. “We cannot continue to do things the way we’ve done them in the past,” he said. “If we do, we’re spreading ourselves too thin across too many projects. And we’ll miss the opportunities that technology offers to provide public media in new ways.” The station provided an FAQ to address listener and viewer concerns. The station is one of several in Illinois working with CPB consultants to explore a cost-saving merger.
posted at 9:51 AM EST

Feb 12, 2010

CNN hires Tom Bettag, former news and pubaffairs advisor to PBS

Tom Bettag, who authored a recent advisory report for PBS on its news and public affairs initiative, has joined CNN Worldwide as senior e.p. for State of the Union with Candy Crowley and Reliable Sources, effective immediately, according to a CNN statement. PBS had asked Bettag last year to consider how public TV could reinvent its news offerings, and Bettag spent time meeting with executives in both pubTV and radio news units (Current, May 11 and 26, 2009.)
posted at 8:51 PM EST

Feb 11, 2010

John Boland new president of Northern California Public Broadcasting

John Boland, former PBS chief content officer, was today named president and CEO of Northern California Public Broadcasting. Boland succeeds Jeff Clarke, retiring after nearly 45 years in pubmedia and broadcasting. Boland was the system's first chief content officer (CCO) at KQED in 2002. He became PBS's first CCO in 2006. Clarke’s last day is March 19 and Boland will take the helm on March 22.
posted at 8:32 PM EST

Nova calling

Want a PBS-style ringtone? That catchy theme for Nova is now available. Download it here. It's free.
posted at 3:13 PM EST

Sesame Street actress hit by car

Actress Loretta Long, 71, who has starred at Sesame Street's Susan Robinson since its debut, suffered head wounds after being struck by a car, according to the Times of Trenton. She was crossing a county road about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday in East Windsor Township, N.J., when the accident occurred. A vehicle making a left turn struck Long, who was thrown onto the hood of the car. It traveled about 70 feet before she fell and struck her head. She's in fair condition in a local hospital.
posted at 2:50 PM EST

Candidates sue KERA in Dallas over gubernatorial debates

KERA/North Texas Public Broadcasting in Dallas is being sued by four Democratic candidates for Texas governor for not being included in a televised debate, reports the ValleyCentral.com news site. The candidates, Star Locke, Alma Aguando, Felix Alvarado and Clement Glenn, filed the lawsuit Tuesday asking for $400 million. They allege racial discrimination for being Native American, Hispanic or African-American. KERA released a statement Wednesday: "We are disappointed that these candidates have chosen to ignore years of judicial precedents upholding our right to use viewpoint neutral criteria in selecting candidates to participate in the Texas Debates. We are confident in our debate policy, and we will seek the speedy dismissal of this complaint as we have successfully with others in the past."
posted at 2:09 PM EST

Town hall webinar tomorrow to focus on broadband funding

StimulatingBroadband.com is offering a free webcast, "Broadband Stimulus National Town Hall Meeting," starting at 11 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. It's sponsored by the National League of Cities TV. Peter Pratt, for 30 years a telecom industry analyst and public policy specialist who runs Stimulating Broadband, said two main questions will be addressed: Is there a “secret sauce” seen in the Round I winning applications announced to date? And, what are the lead strategic considerations for Round II applications? Pubcasters nationwide are applying for the grants (Current, Sept. 21, 2009). Interested? Click here to register.
posted at 1:38 PM EST

Feb 10, 2010

KCET show partners with Annenberg School journalists

KCET's SoCal Connected today announced a partnership with the News21 team at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Tomorrow they launch a web-based, multimedia project, "Dream Interrupted: California in Crisis." Reports will focus on the economy, education, transportation, housing and government in five areas of the state. News21 is part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
posted at 8:28 PM EST

Meet him in St. Louis, Louis: Proffitt to depart Alaska

Pubcaster and blogger John Proffitt is leaving his home of nine years, Anchorage, Alaska, and venturing back to the Lower 48 and KETC in St. Louis. He's taking a new position at the station, director of digital engagement. In a post at his blog Gravity Medium, Proffitt said that over the past few years, KETC has "embarked on a remarkable transformation, developing closer relationships with their community and using media to solve problems." He cited its collaboration with the nonprof news site the St. Louis Beacon, now housed in the station (Current, March 30, 2009), and its multi-media and outreach work on the mortage and economic crisis (Current, July 14, 2008). Proffitt takes his new position in early March.
posted at 1:42 PM EST

Longtime pubcaster Fred Flaxman writes memoirs

Longtime producer and station exec Fred Flaxman has written a "tongue-in-cheek" memoir of his life in broadcasting, Sixty Slices of Life ... on Wry: The Private Life of a Public Broadcaster (Story Book Publishing). Flaxman is currently producer and presenter of classical music program Compact Discoveries, distributed by PRX. He worked as v.p. for national programming at WTTW in Chicago and spent time in management at KUAT-TV in Tucson, Southern Oregon Public Television, and WXEL in West Palm Beach, Fla. So no doubt he has plenty to talk about in his book.
posted at 12:53 PM EST

Feb 9, 2010

Currently, Current is closed

Current's office in suburban Washington, D.C., remains shuttered as another severe winter storm is battering the region. This week's issue also is delayed. Need to reach an editor? Email probably is the best way. Above, cars buried after the first round of snow, as captured by Currentron Dru Sefton in her District of Columbia neighborhood.
posted at 6:23 PM EST

Civil rights concert moves to tonight, will run Thursday on PBS

Due to the impending arrival of yet another massive winter storm, the White House has moved a concert of civil rights music up one night, reports the Washington Post. "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" will now take place tonight in the East Room tonight instead of tomorrow evening. Performers scheduled to appear include Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp and Smokey Robinson. PBS will carry the program Thursday night, or viewers can watch live streaming video here. The federal government, schools and businesses remained closed today after the first storm hit last weekend with up to 30 inches of snow. A second snowstorm is coming into the District of Columbia tonight; that may bring an additional 16 or more inches.
posted at 5:56 PM EST

Feb 8, 2010

FCC should preserve accountability journalism, advisor says

Steven Waldman, senior advisor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, says saving journalim "is not our job." However, "we are looking at it in terms of preserving certain functions, in which I do include accountability journalism." Waldman is exploring possibilities for a report to the commission on the future of news in an uncertain time, and sat down for a Q&A with Broadcasting & Cable's John Eggerton.
posted at 7:37 PM EST

"I holler every day, 'I’m a worm, hip hip hurray!' "

Sesame Street gets a new neighbor soon: Carrie Underworm, who looks and sounds very much like country superstar Carrie Underwood. She'll debut Thursday. Get a sneak peek here.
posted at 6:34 PM EST

Feb 6, 2010

APTS Capitol Hill day postponed

APTS Capitol Hill Day has been canceled for now. Spokesperson Stacey Karp said that due to the blizzard, there's a good chance that local businesses as well as Congress will be "severely disrupted for several days." Station reps were scheduled to meet tomorrow and Monday, and visit members of Congress on Tuesday. APTS is considering rescheduling or using alternatives such as webinars or video conferences.
posted at 6:05 PM EST

Feb 5, 2010

Tampa pubcasting president gets nod for International Broadcasting Bureau post

The White House yesterday nominated Dick Lobo, president and chief executive of Tampa PBS station WEDU-Ch. 3, to head the International Broadcasting Bureau. The federal bureau runs Voice of America and two other broadcasts aimed at Cuba, Radio and TV Marti. Lobo, 73, still must be confirmed by the Senate. Lobo recently retired after seven years heading the Tampa station and 23 in commercial TV. He had worked in overseas broadcasting earlier; President Clinton appointed him head of USIA's Office of Cuba Broadcasting in 1994. Lobo's wife, Caren, supervised Florida fundraising for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election.
posted at 11:15 AM EST

Text-giving for pubcasters: learn from those who've tried it

Text donations for disaster relief in Haiti topped $35 million earlier this week, and donors' sudden willingness to use mobile phones for charitable contributions makes text-giving look like a promising way for pubcasting stations to raise money.

But it's not as easy as it sounds. WXPN in Philadelphia and KQED in San Francisco began experimenting with text-giving programs last year and had modest results.

'XPN asked for text donations during its XPoNential Music Festival last July. "We didn't make a lot of money, but we learned a ton about how to make it work," said Melanie Coulson, a Development Exchange Inc. fundraising consultant who managed the project for WXPN. "I think events are a great way to do it."

KQED tried two different approaches: on-air requests for text gifts during Earth Day programming and promotions over the month of April; and, more targeted, urgent appeals during its year-end fundraising campaign in December. "The results were dramatically improved, with almost four times as much money raised," said Yoon Lee, KQED director of new media marketing, of the latter campaign.

Both Coulson and Lee will report on the projects on Monday, Feb. 8, during a webinar produced by DEI.
posted at 9:55 AM EST

Feb 4, 2010

Native tribes get priorities for radio licenses, FCC rules

The FCC announced today it is giving Native American tribes a priority (PDF) for broadcast radio licenses in their communities. The FCC statement notes that while more than a million Native Americans and Alaska Natives live on some 55 million acres of tribal lands nationwide, only 41 radio stations are currently licensed to native tribes. The new Tribal Priority gives license precedence to federally recognized Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, or companies controlled by tribes on their land. Here's the order (PDF). In a related statement (PDF), Commissioner Michael Copps explained that the current allocation priorities, intended to provide fair distribution of radio service across America, have not worked for tribal lands.
posted at 9:38 AM EST

Feb 3, 2010

"Way We Get By" film wins honor from AARP Magazine

The Way We Get By, an indie doc produced in association with WGBH Lab, has won best documentary in AARP Magazine’s annual Movies for Grownups Awards. The honors recognize outstanding productions for the 50-plus audience. The film was made through the Independent Television Service's LINCS (Linking Independents and Co-Producing Stations) initiative.
posted at 4:44 PM EST

NCME, CPB and APTS offering broadband stimulus webinar

Does your station want to get in on broadband stimulus funding? The National Center for Media Engagement is hosting a webinar, the first in a series, at 2 p.m. Thursday. Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications Corp. and an authority on community broadband, will provide technical and strategic advice to pubcasting stations. This is the first in a series of webinars from NCME, CPB and the APTS Grant Center. Sign up at the NCME website. The next one is 2 p.m. Feb. 11.
posted at 10:38 AM EST

Feb 2, 2010

An iPhone app tailor-made for This American Life

The latest public radio offering in Apple's iTunes App store is from This American Life. For $2.99, iPhone users gain access to the 15-year archive of This American Life radio programs; episodes of the Showtime television series can be downloaded for an additional fee. Public Radio Exchange developed the app in collaboration with producers of TAL and Chicago Public Radio. "There is no doubt: it is a high-end app," says Jake Shapiro, PRX executive director. "A lot of ingenuity went into it, and back-and-forth about what it needs to be. It needed a lot of development time to make sure it was high-performing." Among the app's nifty features: customizable searches allowing users to find their favorite episode or contributors, sharing tools, and a countdown clock encouraging users to live stream the first broadcast of each weekly episode, Friday evenings on Chicago Public Radio. “Note, ours is the only app providing a hand-held Geiger counter for the live show that drives interactive media inexorably backwards to 1968,” says WBEZ President Torey Malatia, in a PRX release. PRX recently received CPB funding to upgrade and relaunch its Public Radio Player, the free iPhone app providing access to the web streams of public radio stations, and to create a new local station app in collaboration with WBUR.
posted at 12:30 PM EST

Administration budget seeks to link NTIA and FCC on spectrum project

President Barack Obama's new budget proposal includes extending the FCC's authority to auction spectrum "indefinitely," according to Broadcasting & Cable. That move would free up space for wireless broadband carriers. The budget is looking for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the FCC to collaborate over 10 years "to make available significant spectrum suitable for both mobile and fixed wireless broadband use." Many broadcasters say spectrum is not available, because it's already being used for HDTV and muliticasting and mobile DTV. The FCC is undertaking a spectrum inventory this year, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps told the CPB Board of Directors at a meeting last week.
posted at 11:29 AM EST

POV docs receive two Academy Award nominations

Two documentaries airing on POV this year are among Academy Award nominees announced this morning. “Food, Inc.,” scheduled for April 21, and the ITVS co-production of “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," also running in 2010, were both nominated for the Best Documentary Feature award. The Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented at 8 p.m. Eastern on March 7 from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. There's a full list of nominees on the Academy's website.
posted at 11:15 AM EST

Pubcasters' requests among those rejected for broadband stimulus money

At least three public broadcasting requests for broadband stimulus funding have been turned down. The site simulatingbroadband.com, which tracks news about the effort, reports that the federal agency overseeing the grants, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is mailing out around 1,400 rejection letters and updating its online database to reflect the nonfunded applications. Included in the rejections: Mississippi Public Broadcasting, which wanted $2.2 million for a public computer center for children and childcare providers; Florida Public Broadcasting Service, which requested $22.8 million for a HELPS (Health, Education, Local, Public Safety) Network; and PBS, asking for $8.7 million for an eight-station local and national partnership (California, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia) to combine content and outreach programs to stimulate demand for educational broadband content. For background, see Current's Sept. 21, 2009, story.
posted at 10:47 AM EST