Quick Takes

OTM issues apology, correction on “Infinite Mind” show

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On the Media has apologized for what it called a “lapse in journalistic judgment” concerning a November 2008 story on the public radio show The Infinite Mind. Dr. Fred Goodwin, the show’s host, had stirred controversy when The New York Times reported that he had accepted more than a million dollars in speaking fees from drug companies and talked about their brand-name drugs on the show. Infinite Mind producer Bill Lichtenstein had previously denied, in statements on his production company’s website, knowledge of the psychiatrist’s links to pharmaceutical firms. But OTM ‘s report about the flap relied on an account from an anonymous Infinite Mind producer who claimed the show was in fact aware of Goodwin’s activities. Host Brooke Gladstone said on March 13’s broadcast that OTM should have checked the allegation with Lichtenstein, who said his producer told him she had “no first-hand evidence that (Lichtenstein) knew of any fees.” Gladstone said not checking with Lichtenstein was “a mistake, it wasn’t fair and it didn’t serve our listeners.”

Quick Takes

Idaho g.m. testifies on the Hill about DTV transition woes

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Peter Morrill, g.m. of Idaho Public Television, told a House subcommittee today that public broadcasting fund cuts threatened the completion of the digital transition at his station, according to Broadcast & Cable magazine. In Idaho, he said, some coverage will be lost due to “those darn mountains.” However, due to “the short time frame and desperate economic conditions, it is extremely difficult to finance and deploy the transmitters.” He asked the committee to give stations two years to build out the systems, and to make money available without requiring matching funds.

Quick Takes

PBS veep mulls more British programs

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Will PBS be featuring ever-more British content? Senior v.p. for programming John Wilson tells Broadcast Now, a British magazine, that the economy is forcing the network to use major investments for programs “really vital to the schedule. We cannot afford nice-to-have programming; it has to be must-have programming.” Wilson also says the poor economy may mean PBS will be turning more to UK suppliers for lower-cost acquisitions “when we feel it’s the right kind of content.” The mag calls PBS “a major buyer and co-producer of British factual and entertainment programming.”

Quick Takes

WQED head to ask for further salary reduction

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George Miles Jr., president of WQED in Pittsburgh, has already taken a hefty salary cut and is asking his board to slice off perhaps 10 percent more. Revenues at the station are expected to fall almost 17 percent this fiscal year. His first salary cut took his compensation from $306,259 to $235,000. He hasn’t ruled out layoffs at the station, which has already frozen salaries, reduced pension contributions, cut health-care spending and eliminated travel and meetings.

Quick Takes

OPB to oversee American Archive initiative

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Oregon Public Broadcasting will develop the pilot project for the American Archive program, CPB announced today. The archive will preserve content from past years of pubcasting for future access by educators, students, historians and the public. As initiative manager, OPB will oversee the pilot to save content related to the civil rights movement and World War II, as well as administer grants to stations to assist in acquiring and digitizing the content. Here’s background from Current on the project.

Quick Takes

New Hampshire cuts five jobs

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New Hampshire Public Television announced five layoffs today. President Peter Frid said the cuts are part of a restructuring. Several other vacant spots will not be filled. “We have seen a significant drop in fundraising revenue in individual giving, corporate underwriting and foundation grants. Reducing staff was our last resort,” Frid said in a statement.

Quick Takes

CPB unveils multimillion initiative backing economic coverage and collaborations

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CPB announced details of its Public Service Media Economic Response Initiative, a package of grants investing in programming and station-based projects that deal with the economic crisis. Grants to be awarded could total as much as $7.8 million, according to a CPB news release. Programs and projects comprising the initiative include a $2.5 million digital collaboration among major national producers to produce comprehensive news coverage and distribute it on multiple platforms with links among the offerings and customization tools for stations. In addition, CPB will provide $2.3 million to NPR, Marketplace, The World, Capitol News Connection, Frontline and WNET’s Worldfocus to enhance their economic coverage. Producers of Sesame Street will receive an unspecified amount of aid for a multimedia project for families dealing with economic hardship.

Quick Takes

Another college station looking for a new operator

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Oregon Public Broadcasting may take over operations of KMHD, a jazz and NPR News station in Gresham, Ore., under a partnership agreement negotiated with Mt. Hood Community College, KMHD licensee. The college, which proposes to transfer operations to OPB on July 1, anticipates state funding cuts of at least $4 million in 2009-10, according to MHCC President John J. Sygielski. Transferring the station’s operations to OPB “is one of the areas where we can reduce costs without compromising a music institution that is important to the College and the community,” Sygielski said. OPB intends to continue operating KMHD as a jazz station.

Quick Takes

Masterpiece wins “Conscience” award from Emmy academy

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The PBS series Masterpiece has won a Television with a Conscience award last week for its God on Trial program. The honor is from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the group that presents the Emmys. This is the first such award for a PBS show, according to the network. Seven other programs on commercial networks and premium channels also received awards. God on Trial is a fictional account of a group of Auschwitz prisoners debating the goodness of God, a co-production of Hat Trick Productions Ltd.

Quick Takes

NewsHour starts up Global Health Unit

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NewsHour has launched a Web site for its new Global Health Watch Unit. This week the show began a three-part series on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa. The new unit is funded by a $3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Quick Takes

Idaho pubTV digital signal coverage in jeopardy

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PBS viewers in several areas of Idaho are in danger of losing Idaho Public Television’s signal. A state legislative committee just rejected a proposed $150,000 in matching grants for federal funds that would have paid for translators to eliminate the holes in digital coverage, which includes parts of Boise. ” … at this point, I’m not sure what were going to do as we don’t have match money,” g.m. Peter Morrill said.

Quick Takes

More pubradio fundraising specials in the works

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The pubradio marketing consultants who produced the end-of-year fundraising special “The Best of Public Radio 2008” plan to create a “best-of” summer show that will take pledges via a national toll-free number, according to this project report from John Sutton & Associates. For a 2009 year’s end special to be broadcast in December, the project hopes to incorporate text giving. A follow-up survey of contributors to the December 2008 fundraiser found that the more ways an individual listens to public radio, including online listening to more than one station, the more likely he or she is to contribute.

Quick Takes

Lehrer’s 19th novel now in stores

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PBS newsman Jim Lehrer’s 19th novel, Oh, Johnny (Random House), goes on sale today. In an interview with USA Today, Lehrer details his writing technique, which involves checking into hotel rooms in his hometown of Wichita, Kan.

Quick Takes

Pubradio weekly audience approaches 33 million

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The cumulative weekly audience for NPR programming and newscasts grew 7 percent to 27.5 million listeners last fall, according to an NPR news release announcing record-setting growth in just-released Arbitron ratings for Fall 2008. Total listening to NPR stations reached 32.7 million, a 6 percent increase. All Things Considered boosted its weekly cume to 13 million listeners, a 15 percent increase from Fall 2007, and nearly 14 million listeners tuned into Morning Edition each week, a 9 percent increase. In the Washington Post’s story on NPR’s Fall 2008 numbers, the weekly cume of 23.6 million listeners reported for all NPR programs excludes listeners to NPR newscasts, according to an NPR spokeswoman.

Quick Takes

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania …

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Here’s a Q&A with Kathleen Pavelko, CEO and president of WITF in Central Pennsylvania, in which she discusses not only her upcoming fight to save $900,000 in state funding but also the station’s controversial new 75,000-square-foot headquarters — which cost $26.9 million.

Quick Takes

Kansas defeats pubcasting funding shift

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The Kansas House today voted down a motion that would have transferred the state’s entire $2.1 million in public broadcasting operating grants to home-based services for citizens with disabilities, according to The Kansas City Star. Rep. Virgil Peck offered the motion, which would have been an amendment to the budget bill. He said Kansas has more more critical services to fund than public TV and radio. The measure was defeated 42-74.

Quick Takes

Celebrating Sesame Street guest songs

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The staff at MusicRadar.com (“The Place for Music Makers”) details its fave songs by guest stars during the 40 years of Sesame Street. Videos on the site include Johnny Cash as “Johnny Trash” singing Nasty Dan to Oscar the Grouch.

Quick Takes

Colorado initiates special campaign

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Colorado Public Radio is creating a “Drive to Thrive: Campaign of Confidence” to generate revenue to meet its revised membership budget of $1.6 million for the fiscal year, reports Denver’s Westward blog. Sue Coughlin, station v.p., details the plans in a letter to staffers: “Activities will include customized mail and telemarketing appeals, campaign-related promos, a $100,000 member challenge, targeted major donor solicitations, a timely web presence and a few additional days of on-air fund raising. The Campaign of Confidence will begin in earnest on April 1st and continue through June 30th with a final countdown during our June Drive. Leading up to the June Drive, we will have two short mini campaigns — one day of fund-raising on April 22nd and a two day effort May 13th & 14th.”

Quick Takes

Ready to Learn grants now available

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CPB has announced Ready to Learn grants so pubcasting stations can work in collaboration with state education agencies to “assess, align, and integrate research-tested and curriculum-based RTL products and services into early childhood education.” A one-year planning grant of up to $50,000 will be awarded to up to five stations with state educational agency partnerships. Deadline is April 27.

Quick Takes

Ombudsman examines “UltraMind” pledge program

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PBS ombudsman Michael Getler writes about the ongoing controversy over the pledge program The UltraMind Solution in his latest column, More Pledge Madness. It includes a Q&A with Joseph A. Campbell, v.p. of fundraising programming for PBS.