Quick Takes
|
The FCC has adopted rules for digital “plug and play” cable compatibility, which will allow viewers to plug their cable directly into their digital TV sets without the need for a set-top box. (PDF.)
Quick Takes
|
Torey Malatia, president of Chicago Public Radio, chats tonight at 8 pm Eastern Time on the website of the Association of Independents in Radio.
Development
Donors demand clearer view of station reality
|
The bad news: Public radio is a small part of a rapidly expanding nonprofit sector. Competition with other nonprofits for mind-share and donor support will intensify. Moreover, public radio lacks the financial transparency that donors increasingly expect.
Programs/Content
Strong opinions from NPR personalities raise questions about limits on editorializing
|
Scott Simon and Mara Liasson made remarks that some journalists and colleagues thought went too far.
System/Policy
Donors demand clearer view of station reality
|
Fundraisers got an outsiders’ view of pubradio from a former insider at the Public Radio Development and Marketing Conference, July 10 [2003], in Snowbird, Utah. This article is adapted from remarks by longtime public broadcaster Robert G. Ottenhoff, president of GuideStar, a leading source of information for monitoring the performance of nonprofits of all kinds. Ottenhoff founded Newark’s WBGO-FM, served as executive director of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority and then became chief operating officer of PBS. I was asked to come here today and give you an outsider’s perspective on public radio. I’m an avid listener of public radio.
Quick Takes
|
Discovery Communications plans to expand delivery of its media content to schools through its acquisition of United Learning, a major partner with public TV stations in delivering streamed instructional content to schools.
Quick Takes
|
“From the very moment the troops came in on the ground it was clear not enough thought had gone into what would happen when the war was over,” says NPR’s Anne Garrels about Iraq in the Buffalo News. (Via Romenesko.)
Quick Takes
|
Want to know who owns a station or cable company? The Center for Public Integrity, an investigative outfit in Washington, D.C., has put 65,000 scraps of FCC info into a searchable database at openairwaves.org. Data on commercial stations is extensive, on public stations incomplete.
Quick Takes
|
Record label honchos salivate over PBS’s upcoming musical extravaganza, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues, in a Billboard wire story. “If the films convey the excitement and the intensity of emotion of blues, then people will want the music,” says Bruce Iglauer, owner of Chicago-based label Alligator Records.