Quick Takes

Oberlin’s alumni mag on Radio Lab

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In a profile in the alumni magazine of Oberlin College, Radio Lab hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich discuss the show and its ties to their shared alma mater. “It feels like an extension of conversations I used to have at Oberlin,” Abumrad says. “There’s a playfulness that connects it to college. I hope that’s not just regression.” A coda to the article features other Oberlin grads in public radio contemplating the connection between their college and their jobs.

Quick Takes

YouTube – Sesame Streets

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Put dialogue from Scorcese films into the mouths of Grover and Big Bird and you get Sesame Streets. (NSFW. Via WFMU’s blog.)

Quick Takes

Sirius drops PRI

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As of Tuesday, Sirius Satellite Radio stopped carrying programs from Public Radio International.

Quick Takes

FCC on LPFM and a public file violation

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In actions announced today, the FCC denied a low-power FM application on localism grounds and fined WXLV-FM in Schnecksville, Pa., $10,000 for failing to maintain its public file (PDFs).

Quick Takes

Knight seeks proposals for digital community connections

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The Knight Foundation will spend $5 million in the first year (and perhaps $25 million over five years) for innovative digital prototypes, initiatives and experiments that improve connections among people in communities. Application deadline for the Knight Brothers 21st Century News Challenge: Dec. 31. Guidelines are posted at www.newschallenge.org. Applicants need not be journalists or have printing presses or transmitters.

Quick Takes

Hear 2.0: What the new Arbitron rules mean to you

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Mark Ramsey comments on Arbitron’s decision to include ratings for noncommercial radio in its market reports. “Public radio will now be on commercial radio’s radar like never before,” he writes. “Commercial radio will more aggressively learn from public radio, compete with it, and counter-program it.” (Via Technology360.)

Quick Takes

Soldiers’ language wiped by fears of FCC

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The New York Observer’s NYTV columnist reports on how FCC indecency rules inhibit PBS’s coverage of the war and other topics. “It’s a really sorry state of affairs if we’re Disney-fying combat,” says filmmaker Martin Smith, whose Oct. 3 Frontline documentary, “Return of the Taliban,” will air without f-words spoken by soldiers in combat.