Lawmaker to push over-the-air performance royalty

Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) plans to introduce a bill next month that would require over-the-air radio stations to pay performance royalties for the music they play, a move the recording industry has been plotting for some time. Broadcasters have paid royalties to composers and music publishers for decades, but unlike satellite and online radio operators, they haven’t had to pay the performance rights holders–generally record labels–of recordings they air. The National Association of Broadcasters predictably vowed to fight the effort. “The big record labels are spinning the same old tune to Congress–asking them to impose a tax on radio to line the pockets of international record executives,” NAB President David K. Rehr said at this week’s NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, N.C. “We can’t and won’t let that happen.”

CPB backs plans to build pubradio audience and major giving

To address the slowing in public radio’s audience growth, CPB put out an RFP today seeking someone to lead a systemwide consultation and develop goals, audience-building strategies and best practices. Deadline: Oct. 31.Earlier this week CPB gave the Development Exchange a $235,000 grant to plan a Major Giving Initiative for pubradio. The objective is to train radio fundraisers and otherwise help them find major donors, following completion of a similar project for pubTV.

Miami is the 12th largest metropolitan area without a full-time classical music service. The region lost its last classical FM radio service, a commercial station, seven years ago. As one of the largest producers and distributors of classical music programming in the world, the new station will build on one of American Public Media Group’s core strengths.“American Public Media Group is in a unique position, with our commitment to classical music, arts and cultural programming, to make this station into a strong public radio station serving the residents of Miami and southeastern Florida,” said Bill Kling, president and CEO of American Public Media Group. “As one of public media’s most active champions of classical music, we are pleased with this opportunity to contribute to southeastern Florida’s cultural vitality by bringing classical music back to the airwaves.”Through 89.7, American Public Media Group will connect classical music audiences in Miami to performances from around the world through American Public Media’s™ national classical music programs and its relationship with the European Broadcasting Union.American Public Media will begin providing programming to the station as soon as feasible, and will assume full responsibility for operations of the station when approval from the Federal Communications Commission is granted.About Public Radio CapitalPublic Radio Capital’s (PRC) mission is to secure and expand the number of public radio stations in communities nationwide, so that people have greater program choices for in-depth information, unbiased news, diverse music, and cultural programming. In its role to broaden the reach of public radio, PRC is the industry’s leading advisor in planning, acquiring and funding new public radio channels.

Iowa Congressman finds mistake in Burns’ WWII doc

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley found a factual error in Ken Burns’ The War, reports Radio Iowa. In his description of “one of the most famous Iowa families involved in that war,” Burns says the five Sullivan brothers were from Fredericksburg. ” ‘That came as a great surprise to all of us living in Waterloo, home of Sullivan Park and the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center,’ Braley says. Braley faxed a letter to Burns today, praising his work as a filmmaker but pointing out the error.”

APMG to bring back classical format to Miami

Rebuffed last week in a bid to buy an FM outlet in the Washington, D.C., area, American Public Media Group has agreed to laid out $20 million for a station in the Miami area, according to a news report on APMG’s Minnesota Public Radio. APMG plans to change the format of WMCU from Christian to classical music, a format that lost its longtime broadcaster a decade ago. APMG President Bill Kling said he’s not on a buying spree, but the offer was “just too good to pass up.” The seller is an affiliate of an evangelical school, Trinity International University. WMCU’s last day on the air will be Sunday, Sept.

What may become a frank and open chat with Jim Russell

The doctor is in. Jim Russell, the longtime radio producer who does business now as The Program Doctor, has just begun taking questions at Transom.org, the website for public radio producers. Like other Transom.org guests, Russell posted a conversation-starter, his 17-step guide to program development. (He had a hand in developing not only Marketplace, but also The World, Weekend America and more. Transom’s previous guest was Ben Shapiro, a TV-and-radio producer who discusses visual storytelling for radio folks.

African-American museum already active online

More than 40 stories of black families recorded by the ongoing CPB-funded StoryCorps Griot Project are on the website of the Smithsonian’s newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum, expected to be built on the Mall by 2015, aims to raise half of its expected $500 million cost and went online early to show donors that it’s already at work, the Associated Press reported. The Griot Project mobile recording booth has already swung through Atlanta, Newark, Detroit, Chicago and Oakland and will be in Holly Springs, Miss., tomorrow through Oct. 6, and moves on to Clarksdale, Oct. 11-27, and Memphis, Nov.

Nine news Emmys for PBS shows

PBS received nine Emmys last night in the 2007 News and Doc ceremony in New York last night; CBS came in second among the networks with five. Both Frontline and P.O.V. drew special awards for excellence from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Of the nine Emmys, six went to WGBH, including two to American Experience, two to Frontline and one each to Frontline World and one to Nova. Three went to WNET, including two to Nature and one to America’s Investigative Reports. Here’s the complete list.

Listening “won’t feel like a civic duty”

Jesse Thorn (“America’s Radio Sweetheart”) doesn’t mind that Esquire has listed his high-energy show, The Sound of Young America, in The Esquire 100. Esquire endorses it as “a public radio show that’s specifically designed not for the kind of people who carry around canvas NPR tote bags.” You want to check it out because: Listening to the show “won’t feel like a civic duty.” (Thorn himself compares the show to Fresh Air, “but more fun.”) Thorn and friends started the show in 2000 at the college station at UC Santa Cruz. Salon.com called his show “the greatest radio show you’ve never heard.”

Election mash-up draws more than 1 million

The online build-your-own Democratic presidential debate–hosted by PBS’s Charlie Rose–has attracted more than 1 million users since it premiered on Sept. 13, reports the Los Angeles Times. The site, created by Yahoo!, Slate.com and The Huffington Post, allows users to compare video of each candidate answering Rose’s inquiries about the Iraq War, health care and education. However, users seem more interested in another feature–the “wild card” questions posed by Bill Maher.

We’re deep into news — let’s walk that walk

“Let’s face it,” writes a prominent pubradio station news director, “despite 40 years of evolution, we have produced a lot of journalism, but we still lack full commitment. Especially local news commitment.”

Two-thirds of PTFP outlays to DTV

The Commerce Department’s Public Telecommunications Facilities Program announced its annual grants, grouped by state, this year totalling $22.4 million, two-thirds for DTV conversion. Twenty-four stations got aid to buy emergency generators. Some of the radio grants help launch the first pubradio signals for five localities.

NPR names Shepard new Ombudsman

NPR announced today that Alicia C. Shepard has been named the new NPR Ombudsman. In a memo sent to Jim Romenesko, NPR President Kevin Close said, “Lisa brings a strong portfolio in analyzing and explaining journalism and media policy. She is currently teaching a graduate-level course in Media Ethics at Georgetown University and writing a chapter on the media for the Center for Public Integrity’s forthcoming book, The Buying of the President. She has also served as a journalism instructor at American University and the University of Texas.” Shepard recently published the book Woodward & Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate and is co-author of Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11.

College nixes sale of station sought by APM

The trustees of a small Seventh-Day Adventist college just outside Washington, D.C., took its noncommercial FM station off the market yesterday, giving up, at least for now, expanding its thin endowment by some $20 million that American Public Media offered for WGTS. “The Lord performed a miracle today and we give him all the praise and thanks for what happened,” says John Konrad, g.m., in announcements on the station and its website. The college didn’t explain the board’s decision or say whether the decision was final. Konrad said the sale was off “for now.” If APM bought 91.9, its format was expected to leap from “family-friendly” Christian rock music to secular news/talk.

Kucinich criticizes Iowa PubTV for excluding him

Dennis Kucinich chastized AARP and Iowa Public Television in a recent release for excluding him from tonight’s Democratic Presidential Forum, which will focus on health care and financial security. The Iowa Democratic Party has said Kucinich does not have an “active organization” in the state. Kucinich said: “How can AARP and Iowa Public Television claim they are committed to education and informing the voters of Iowa on the number one domestic issue in this campaign when they deny a voice to the only candidate who is leading the effort to bring real reform to the health care system by ending the control of for-profit insurance and pharmaceutical companies?”

Ken Burns’ companion book already a best-seller

The companion book to Ken Burns’ The War, co-authored with Geoffrey C. Ward, “was released last week and makes its debut today at No. 34 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list,” reports the paper. The $50 book follows successful print renditions of The Civil War and Baseball.

Top GOP candidates won’t be at Smiley’s forum

“The leading contenders for the Republican nomination have indicated they will not attend the All American Presidential Forum organized by black talk show host Tavis Smiley, scheduled for Sept. 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore and airing on PBS,” reports the Washington Post. Party leaders are concerned this decision may further alienate black and Latino voters–earlier this month, top GOP candidates (except McCain) declined an invition to debate on Univision.

Latinos plan protests of The War

“Four protests of [Ken] Burns’ documentary at local PBS stations are planned Sunday in California; a Capitol rally is to be held in Austin, Texas; others will hold exhibits, commemoration days and panel discussions in their cities,” reports the AP on Latino groups’ continuing opposition to Burns’ 15-hour PBS series The War, which premieres Sunday evening.

City Attorney posts documents from KPBS

San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who requested public records from KPBS after it cancelled the public affairs show Full Focus, explained his actions in a recent press release: “Since the public records request was made public by KPBS, I’ve received more citizen concerns questioning whether KPBS is fulfilling its responsiblity as a public broadcasting station for the people. In addition, the Editors Rondtable’s [a KPBS weekly radio program] regular opinon-maker is the Union-Tribune’s Editorial Director, and people have expressed concern that the newspaper already enjoys a virtual monopoly on editorial content disseminated to the citizens of San Diego.” (The documents obtained by Aguirre can be downloaded from his website under “Significant Reports and Legal Documents.”)