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Jane Henson, puppeteer and philanthropist

Posted: April, 16, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Jane Nebel Henson, a puppeteer and philanthropist who was the widow of Jim Henson and founder of The Jim Henson Legacy, died in her Connecticut home April 2 after a long battle with cancer. She was 79. Continue reading →

Walt Bodine, KCUR talk show host

Posted: April, 04, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Walt Bodine, a broadcaster who helmed a signature local talk show on KCUR in Kansas City, Mo., for nearly three decades, died March 24 at the age of 92. Continue reading →

Blazing her own path as a pubTV broadcast engineer

Posted: May, 08, 2013
By Erica Sánchez-Vázquez

The first television broadcast in China was transmitted in 1958. The first time that Ling Ling Sun watched a television program was 20 years later, when she was 18. Now she is engineering manager for television broadcast services at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and was recently appointed vice chair of the PBS Engineering Technology Advisory Committee. Continue reading →

Pat Perini, pubTV producer

Posted: April, 05, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Patricia “Pat” Perini, a public television producer, director, writer and production executive for more than three decades, died Feb. 21 after a long battle with leukemia. She was 68. Continue reading →

Everhart promoted to Current managing editor

Posted: May, 01, 2013
Karen Everhart, a media reporter and editor who has covered public broadcasting at Current for more than two decades, has been promoted to managing editor. She joined Current in 1991 and has reported on the programming, politics and funding of both the public television and radio systems, as well as the growth of nonprofit news organizations specializing in investigative journalism and local news coverage. Prior to her March 2012 interim appointment, she was Current’s senior editor covering public radio and digital media. Continue reading →

WNET's new CTO revamped tech at MetLife Stadium; Kimmel to succeed WNIN's Dial; Hinman leaving pubcasting, and more . . .

Posted: April, 30, 2013
By Dru Sefton

David Hinman, executive director and general manager of KBTC-TV in Tacoma, Wash., is leaving to manage cable television and video services for Pierce County, Wash., which “allows me to participate more with the creative side of television, which I thoroughly enjoy and have missed." Continue reading →

Rivero exiting WGBH, Pruess heading to Quad Cities, AIR appoints Ferro to board, and more ...

Posted: April, 16, 2013
By Dru Sefton

Marita Rivero, vice president and general manager for radio and television at producing powerhouse WGBH, is stepping down after nearly 30 years at the Boston station. Effective in June, Rivero will be succeeded by Liz Cheng as g.m. for television and Phil Redo as g.m. for radio. Continue reading →

WETA's Bruns retiring, WGBH hires new national program exec, NFCB dismisses Jackson and more . . .

Posted: April, 02, 2013
By Dru Sefton

One thing that retiring WETA C.O.O. Joe Bruns will miss about public broadcasting is that “every day is different,” he told Current. “Not only on the air, but in all the challenges we face. And I’ll miss being mission-oriented." Continue reading →

Obama nominates two for CPB Board, Boston pair move from commercial radio to WGBH, and more ...

Posted: March, 12, 2013
By Dru Sefton

Jim Braude and Margery Eagan debuted Feb. 25 as co-hosts of Boston Public Radio, a midday news/talk show on Boston’s WGBH-FM. Continue reading →

Pubcasting tackles dropout crisis

Posted: August, 20, 2012
By Dru Sefton

The massive American Graduate project is all about potential — the potential of students who stay in school to graduate, as well as the potential of public broadcasting stations to serve as community conveners. Continue reading →

Sky's the limit: KBIA-FM gets $25k grant to create newsgathering drones

Posted: November, 28, 2012
By Dru Sefton

Are small, nimble flying robots the next newsgathering tool for public broadcasters? Continue reading →

News, game-ified and powered by the crowd

Posted: October, 10, 2012
By Andrew Lapin

Documentary filmmakers, code developers and public media executives are creating more interactive takes on the news in order to draw audiences into deeper experiences. Continue reading →

Pubcaster, college, for-profit news all meld in Macon

Posted: September, 24, 2012
By Andrew Lapin

A partnership between a public radio station, a private university and a for-profit newspaper is beefing up local news coverage in Georgia’s fourth-largest city. Continue reading →

New alliance in Mile High City

Posted: February, 01, 2013
By Dru Sefton

The latest merger agreement from Denver combines three different breeds of public media — flagship pubTV station Rocky Mountain PBS, community-licensed jazz broadcaster KUVO-FM and investigative digital news outlet I-News Network — in a consolidation that aims to build strength through diversity. Continue reading →

The ‘ongoing process’ of diversity

Posted: December, 06, 2012
By Mike Janssen

Public radio stations trying to diversify their audiences, staffs and programming have found an increasingly active ally in NPR, whose leaders have been travelling to stations in recent months to help broadcasters walk the difficult walk of achieving diversity. Continue reading →

Why don’t more stations adopt 'sustainer' ways?

Posted: July, 09, 2012
Commentary by Valerie Arganbright and Barbara Appleby

Public radio stations have widely adopted sustaining-member programs over the last several years. Because of this, one might assume that a significant number of sustainers contribute to public radio every month. However, the reality for most public radio stations is quite the opposite. Continue reading →

NPR cancels Talk of the Nation, pairs with WBUR in bid to bolster middays

Posted: April, 03, 2013
By Ben Mook and Mike Janssen

After more than two decades on the air, NPR’s Talk of the Nation will come to an end in June to make way for the newsmag Here & Now. Continue reading →

Long Island psychic finds radio audience eager for forecasts

Posted: April, 22, 2013
By Mike Janssen

Listeners to WPPB in Long Island, N.Y., can listen to Morning Edition or the BBC Newshour if they want to know what’s happening now. But if they’re looking for an inkling of what’s going to happen, they can ask McMahon. Continue reading →

Facing financial woes, KCETLink to focus on ‘transmedia’

Posted: May, 01, 2013
By Dru Sefton and Ben Mook

KCETLink laid off 22 full-time employees April 19, signaling another change of course in the Los Angeles public media organization's search for financial stability. Continue reading →

“If you can’t make it important, it’s probably not worth doing”

Posted: May, 17, 2013
Interview by Karen Everhart and Dru Sefton

In an extended interview with Current, Frontline creator David Fanning recalls how he came to work at Boston’s WGBH more than three decades ago, and how the show is positioning itself for the future. Continue reading →

Planet Money crowdfunder soars, PRI campaign falls short of goal

Posted: May, 16, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Two of public radio’s three biggest distributors launched major crowdfunding experiments in the past month, with wildly different results. Continue reading →

PBS acquires new British drama to anchor Sunday nights

Posted: May, 15, 2013
By Dru Sefton

Aiming to build on its successful strategy to boost viewing on Sunday nights, PBS acquired a new hit drama from the BBC, Last Tango in Halifax. Continue reading →

With Digital Studios, PBS tailors programs for a web-only audience

Posted: April, 01, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

In a bid to attract younger viewers who don't tune in to broadcast TV, PBS Digital Studios has cultivated a slate of online shows at a fraction of over-the-air production costs. The network promises its push into web video will help member stations, as well. Continue reading →

CPT's mobile venture to share revenues with PTV outlets

Posted: May, 13, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Connecticut Public Television has joined with a digital media company in rolling out a new mobile platform that will offer digital downloads of children’s programs. Continue reading →

PBS wades into over the top content streaming with new Roku apps

Posted: May, 09, 2013
By Ben Mook

As of May 8, owners of Roku Internet streaming TV set-top boxes gained access to the first-ever curated collection of PBS shows to be distributed for free on-demand viewings directly to television sets. Continue reading →

Planet Takeout offers menu of stories

Posted: May, 08, 2013
By Erica Sánchez-Vázquez

Although immersive media is a new concept for public media production, in the case of Planet Takeout the process began with traditional documentary filmmaking techniques. Over nine months, documentarian Val Wang and producer Kelly Creedon visited some 100 Chinese takeout restaurants. Continue reading →

Roger Ebert, film critic and pubTV icon, dead at 70

Posted: April, 04, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Roger Ebert, the legendary film critic who got his television start on Chicago PBS station WTTW, died April 4 after a long battle with cancer. He was 70. “Everyone at WTTW is deeply saddened by the loss of Roger Ebert, whose courageous battle with cancer in recent years was an inspiration to us all,” WTTW President Dan Schmidt said in a statement. Continue reading →

Mapping the places where ‘music is made all the time’

Posted: April, 18, 2013
By Mike Janssen

The music world of Austin, Texas, is now being shared with a global audience thanks to Austin Music Map, a website developed by the city’s public radio station, KUT. Continue reading →

New talking point on Capitol Hill: PubTV's role in education

Posted: March, 15, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Public television’s strongest case for preserving tax-based support for stations and CPB centers on informing political leaders about the full range of public-service work that stations deliver to local communities, particularly in the field of education, according to the field’s lead advocates in Washington, D.C. Continue reading →

Pubcasters win eight Peabody Awards for outstanding electronic media

Posted: April, 08, 2013
By Theodore Fischer

Pubmedia and independent producers win eight Peabody Awards including PBS, which won two, one for “Summer Pasture,”a documentary about nomadic Tibetan herders and Why Poverty?, a PBS series about income inequality Continue reading →

Storytelling ‘pop-up’ Hear Here builds bridge from KALW to Oakland

Posted: March, 14, 2013
By Dawn Morgan

Hear Here launched last spring as an experiment testing new ways to collect and distribute hyperlocal stories. About twice a month on both sides of the San Francisco Bay, KALW producers pop into local libraries and set up an impromptu studio. Continue reading →

Seeking the next $100 million

Posted: July, 09, 2012
Analysis by Mark Fuerst

A review of public stations’ financial data over the past 15 years shows that, despite their widely divergent revenue trajectories, public radio and television have both made great progress in implementing structural and cultural changes needed to pursue new revenues. Continue reading →

First Lady presents national arts and humanities award to Youth Radio

Posted: November, 20, 2012
By Andrew Lapin

Oakland-based Youth Radio paid a visit to the White House Nov. 19, as First Lady Michelle Obama awarded the nonprofit for its work training inner-city youth in arts, journalism and multimedia production. Continue reading →

Michael Toms, co-founder of New Dimensions

Posted: February, 27, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

Michael Toms, the co-founder and co-host of the public radio program New Dimensions for four decades, died in his sleep Jan. 24 at the age of 72. The series is syndicated by 188 stations throughout the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Continue reading →

Pubmedia-funded start-up accelerator Matter announces inaugural class

Posted: March, 06, 2013
By Andrew Lapin

The first start-up class of Matter, the media accelerator backed by Knight Foundation, KQED and the Public Radio Exchange, includes Localore partner Zeega. Continue reading →

Stanley Karnow, journalist and historian

Posted: February, 26, 2013
By Dru Sefton

Stanley Karnow, whose book Vietnam: A History was the basis of a critically acclaimed 13-hour documentary on PBS, died Jan. 27 at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 87. Continue reading →

GPB hires governor’s pick for plum job

Posted: December, 17, 2012
By Dru Sefton

When Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal recently approached Georgia Public Broadcasting’s top exec about appointing outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers to lead the state network’s proposed initiative promoting economic development, GPB chief Teya Ryan agreed to make the hire. Continue reading →

Pipeline 2013

Posted: October, 09, 2012
Compiled by Theodore Fischer

This year's Pipeline survey lists 120 television projects planned, underway, or completed for future seasons on public TV, beginning with Winter 2013. Continue reading →

Full speed ahead for Public Media Platform

Posted: December, 17, 2012
By Andrew Lapin

After two-plus years of planning and prototyping a shared hub providing easy access to digital content from across public media, partners in the Public Media Platform will begin building the new technical system next month. Continue reading →

Winning members at their doors

Posted: December, 03, 2012
By Dru Sefton

One of the most promising new membership initiatives to come along for public television in years doesn’t involve phone banks, on-air pitches or premium packages. It’s door-to-door canvassing, the grass-rootsy technique for talking up causes and soliciting donations face-to-face. Continue reading →

NEA announces 2013 media arts grants; OVEE and AIR projects among recipients

Posted: April 26, 2013

The National Endowment of the Arts announced $4.68 million in funding to 76 media-arts projects April 23, including new grantees such as the Online Video Engagement Experience (OVEE) developed with CPB funding, a new initiative from the Association of Independents … Continue reading →

President Obama chooses SCETV chair as third nomination to CPB Board

Posted: April 26, 2013

President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated Brent Nelsen, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., to a term on the CPB board expiring in January 2016. Nelsen would replace former Vice Chair Gay Hart Gaines, an interior … Continue reading →

Nine GOP House members express support for federal aid to CPB, PTFP

Posted: April 24, 2013

In the past week, members of Congress have sent two bipartisan letters in support of public broadcasting initiatives to subcommittee chairs in advance of the next round of budget proposals. Continue reading →

CPB accepts policy revamp proposal from radio CSG panel; first changes since 2005

Posted: April 24, 2013

The CPB Board on April 22 unanimously approved changes to its Radio Community Service Grants program for fiscal 2014, including phased-in hikes in nonfederal financial support (NFFS) requirements for most stations, pubradio’s first transparency requirements, qualification changes for minority-status stations … Continue reading →

KCETLink’s Marcus exits, recalling ‘great run’ with SoCal Connected

Posted: April 23, 2013

Bret Marcus, the KCET exec who led production of the station’s acclaimed local news series SoCal Connected, is among the 22 employees riffed in the layoffs announced last week by KCETLink, the new public media outlet formed in a merger of the … Continue reading →

CPB study to examine public policy implications of spectrum auctions

Posted: April 22, 2013

CPB has initiated a six-month research project on the upcoming broadcast spectrum auctions that will culminate with publication of a white paper. Mark Erstling, s.v.p. system development, told board members at headquarters April 22 that the paper will have “the … Continue reading →

CPB Board recognizes retiring IG Konz

Posted: April 22, 2013

The CPB Board today honored retiring CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz with a resolution of appreciation for his service in the post since 1998. Konz told the board he arrived 15 years ago thinking he’d stay for two years. “This … Continue reading →

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