A New World
Premature funding request withdrawn, says Salyer

Originally published in Current, May 15, 1995

Public Radio International's announced news program, A New World (working title), won't be among the 1995 CPB Radio Program Fund recipients. PRI withdrew its request for $1.4 million because the proposal was not ready to be evaluated, President Steve Salyer said recently.

Neil Curry, executive producer of the show, was hired the very day in December that CPB's peer-review panel looked at the proposal, Salyer said. Although a demo had been produced for the panel, it lacked the desired ''voice,'' Salyer said. PRI will reapply in a later round.

The withdrawal eased the competition for a big chunk of the annual CPB program grant pool, which totals $4 million. NPR is seeking $900,000 for expansion of All Things Considered, from 90 minutes to two hours, beginning in the fall.

Salyer said that PRI has ''in sight'' a ''significant portion'' of the $15 million it needs to take the show through its first three years, with $5 million ''firmly committed.'' That committed amount is the same amount PRI cited when it PRI first announced the show in April 1994. Salyer said in February that PRI's board remains enthusiastically supportive of the new international news program, which seeks to present international news from a global perspective and to incorporate indigenous voices.

PRI recently announced a new launch date for the program, April 1, 1996. It will test the program at several big-market stations beginning in January 1996.

CPB has delayed announcing grant winners because of other demands: its staff has had to devise funding plans for public broadcasting under a short congressional deadline.

Fund Director Rick Madden did say weeks ago that he was working with two grantees on proposal revisions. Sources say NPR news chief Bill Buzenberg has had conversations with Madden; it would be a surprise if the network got no funding for the ATC expansion.

NPR is seeking money from other sources for the expansion, and just got a $650,000 grant from the Archer Daniel Midlands agricultural products company, according to Buzenberg. The two-hour ATC, to launch this summer, will cost $300,000 for this fiscal year and an estimated $900,000 for the next, he said.

The two-hour show will move from a 5 p.m. start to a 4 p.m. start in the fall.

 

New World now set to debut a year from now

Originally published in Current, March 4, 1995

Public Radio International has released a new timeline for its international news program, A New World (now a working title). The program is now set to launch April 1, 1996. Initial plans called for a spring 1995 release, and then a July 1995 launch. PRI says the delay is due to the fact it took longer than expected to hire an executive producer.

Neil Curry, the e.p. hired away from the BBC World Service, has moved himself and his family to Boston, according to PRI and planning of new digital studios is underway at WGBH, the program's North American production site.

The network plans to test the program at several stations for three months, beginning Jan. 1. Audience research will be used to refine program concepts and market it to all stations, PRI says. Stations participating in this phase include WGBH, WBEZ in Chicago, KERA in Dallas, KQED in San Francisco, and KUSC and KCRW in Los Angeles.

Curry will hire senior editors within the next few months. This fall, PRI plans to have the program fully staffed, to pilot elements of it, and to conduct EARS testing and dry runs.

Web page created Dec. 19, 1995
Current
The biweekly newspaper that covers public broadcasting
Copyright 2001