Quick Takes
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Boston University named one of its assistant vice presidents, former TV exec Peter Fiedler, interim g.m. of WBUR.
Quick Takes
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WBUR-FM and its parent, Boston University, share tendencies to overspend and dream too big, says a Boston Globe columnist.
Quick Takes
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Former PBS star Louis Rukeyser, stricken with cancer and absent from his CNBC investment commentary program for nearly a year, says he asked the cable net to discontinue the show, according to a snarky Washington Post dispatch. The program goes out of production Dec. 31.
Quick Takes
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Frontline’s “The Choice 2004” debuts on PBS stations Oct. 12. Reviewers for the New York Times and the Seattle Times write in today’s editions that, by contrasting the presidential candidates’ military service during the Vietnam War, the two-hour documentary casts Senator Kerry in a more favorable light.
Quick Takes
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More coverage of Jane Christo’s resignation in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Providence Journal, and on NPR.
Quick Takes
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The New York Times reviews Postcards from Buster, the new PBS show starring “the sort of character that children understand: perpetually hungry, a little nervous and fascinated by outer space.”
Programs/Content
If public radio needs new audiences, which would they be?
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Here’s a take on the topic of a panel held Oct. 1, 2004, at the Public Radio Program Directors Conference in San Antonio: “Scanning the Horizon: New Audiences for Public Radio.” The author is public radio consultant John Sutton, described by PRPD as one of the “visionaries and agitators” interviewed by planners of the panel discussion. How will public radio get the new audiences it needs? You hear the question more and more when our colleagues get together. But we should answer other questions beforehand: Do we really need new audiences?
Quick Takes
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Jane Christo, g.m. of WBUR-FM in Boston, announced her resignation today. Coverage in the Providence Journal and the Boston Phoenix. The Journal also reports that Boston’s WGBH will not buy WBUR’s Rhode Island stations, but would consider partnering with another operator.
Quick Takes
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Tonight Cleveland’s WVIZ launches a new local series covering topics that viewers in Northeastern Ohio are most concerned about–education, the economy, jobs, among other issues. “I can envision people talking about it at work the next day,” host Rick Jackson tells the Plain-Dealer. Producers used results from a three-year audience research project to shape the show’s content and format.
Quick Takes
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Boston Phoenix media critic Dan Kennedy explores WBUR’s controversial sale of two AM frequencies in Rhode Island and other allegations of management misconduct, asserting that “There’s plenty of smoke, but it’s too early to say whether there’s any fire.” (via mediabistro.com)
Quick Takes
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“I’ve pretty much been around the world, but the thing about it is when I go away I’m not thinking about relaxing, I’m thinking about the story I’m working on,” says Nova senior executive producer Paula Apsell, in a profile by her hometown newspaper.
Quick Takes
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The Twin Cities’ City Pages says public radio’s Pop Vultures is “conversational to the point of free association.”
Quick Takes
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Supporters of public radio in Rhode Island plan to meet tomorrow with executives at Boston’s WGBH about the future of their state’s stations, reports the Providence Journal. (More in the Boston Globe.)
Quick Takes
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In a feature on nonprofit journalism by Carl Sessions Stepp, American Journalism Review finds that the PBS NewsHour, Pacifica’s KPFK, NPR and several nonprofit periodicals enjoy (literally) a feeling of independence unknown to many media professionals. Via Benton.org.
Quick Takes
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WTTW plans to adapt its hit restaurant review series for other major market stations, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
Quick Takes
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KUVO-FM in Denver became the first radio station to broadcast a live concert in digital surround sound, reports Radio Magazine. Also in Radio: the International Association of Audio Information Services has endorsed in-band, on-channel digital radio.
Quick Takes
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KCPW-FM in Salt Lake city aims to distinguish itself from competitor KUER-FM with shorter news reports and a new branding statement, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
Quick Takes
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Two top execs left the Public Radio Partnership in Louisville, Ky., as a result of restructuring, reports Business First of Louisville.