University will offer Flint station to another pubTV operator

The University of Michigan announced today it will close WFUM in Flint and expects to arrange for transfer of the channel to another public TV operator by this summer. Some or all of 21 employees will lose their jobs. A detailed fact sheet, in a Word document, says the station is projected to lose revenues equal to one-third of its operating budget. WFUM was one of the stations found to be in “fragile” economic condition by a CPB survey, the university said. The survey predicted the recession would reduce pubTV stations’ income by 14 percent this year.

Unionized NPR employees ratify new contracts

NPR technicians represented by the National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians have ratified a new contract with management. The votes, collected yesterday, were 72 percent in favor and 28 percent against, according to NABET. The contract reduces NPR’s contributions to retirement plans, cuts three holidays and requires employees to take week-long furloughs. It also suspends jurisdictional rules governing some technicians’ jobs. NPR employees represented by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, who make up a much larger share of the network’s workforce, also ratified their contract yesterday.

What good is journalism, anyway? Comments invited …

PBS is helping to collect public comments on the journalism’s iffy future for a blue-ribbon Knight Commission that compares itself to the Carnegie Commission of 40 years ago. The 15-member commission is scheduled to vote on its recommendations in May. A summary of its draft report finds that journalism is “a critical intermediating practice” (and other good things). Since Tuesday, a handful of people have contributed remarks on the pubTV network’s little-known social network, PBS Engage — a comment line that will be open until May 8. The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, funded by the Knight Foundation and run by the Aspen Institute, features a Carnegie-like cast of 15 commissioners, including Co-chairs Theodore Olson, former U.S. solicitor general, and Google exec Marissa Mayer.

State cuts threaten to shutter two Pennsylvania pubTV stations

Proposed budget cuts in Pennsylvania are putting two stations in jeopardy of closing, according to testimony at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate’s Communications and Technology Committee. Gov. Ed Rendell wants to eliminate the network that links stations statewide, and end grants to individual stations. “The precipitous decline in funding would have a severe, if not fatal, effect on our two smallest stations,” Tony May, chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network, told the committee. May told Current that Philadelphia’s WYBE and WQLN in Erie each count on state funding for more than 30 percent of their budgets, and that there are “certainly alternatives to going dark but none of them are very palatable.” Under Rendell’s proposal, some limited functions of the network would continue through another state agency.

With 17 layoffs at WHYY, eyes turn to boss’s paycheck

Philadelphia’s WHYY-FM/TV laid off 17 employees or 8 percent of its staff Wednesday to help balance its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Inquirer reported today, quoting spokesman Art Ellis’s reassurance to audiences that the affected workers include “no one directly involved in news or content production.” The newspaper, which examined President Bill Marrazzo’s pay at great length in November, yesterday reported pointedly that his $740,090 potential salary, benefits, expenses and deferred compensation in fiscal ’07 equalled 62 percent of the amount saved by the layoffs.

WNYC’s Greene Performance Space now open

WNYC radio opened its long-awaited Jerome L. Greene Performance Space on Tuesday in Lower Manhattan, reports The New York Times. It’s wired for TV, radio and video streaming, and features a reconfigurable wood stage, seating for more than 100, programmable LED lighting and robotic cameras. “It’s not just about going back to performance; it’s also about adding a 21st-century multiplatform aspect,” said Laura Walker, the president and chief executive of WNYC.

Comcast shift of MPT sparks outcry

In what may be a harbinger of nationwide problems, angry viewers continue to complain to Maryland Public Television that they’ve lost the station. The problem: Comcast moved MPT from its basic lineup of channels to the digital tier, The Washington Post reports. “We’ve had quite a few calls,” station spokesman Michael Golden told the newspaper. “More than ‘many.’ ” The move affects tens of thousands of viewers in 10 Maryland and Virginia counties plus the District of Columbia.

Kerger of PBS responds to tribal complaints over “We Shall Remain”

PBS head Paula Kerger has responded to the three Native American tribes regarding their concerns over the series We Shall Remain, according to the Cape Cod Times. The Mashpee Wampanoag, Narragansett and Wampanoag of Gay Head (Aquinnah) tribes of Massachusetts had complained to the network about their representation in the first episode, “After the Mayflower,” which detailed tribal interactions with Pilgrims. In her letter, Kerger said the producers did reach out to the tribes and interviewed several tribal members. More on the tribal letter here.

Is it time to kick out Andre Rieu?

Posted in Current’s reader forum, DirectCurrent, by Mark Jeffries on April 22, 2009 at 12:55pm

In the Current article on spring fundraising and pledge drives, they say that Twin Cities Public Television (KTCA, St. Paul) placed its emphasis on the fans of established programming instead of relying on the off-message poppy concerts, Lawrence Welk retrospectives and disguised infomercials that have become too often the bread-and-butter of pledge drives — the concept, of course, that public radio has been able to emphasize in pledging for years with great success. Can I hope that the success of TPT might inspire other PTVers to dump what must be expensive shows to license and bring pledge drives back to the proper emphasis of the regular programming that regular viewers of PTV stations want? Or is that just too much to ask and that PTV programmers are just hooked on the Suze Orman and Andre Rieu FlavorAid? Replies to this discussion
Reply by Ezra Wall on June 10, 2009 at 3:15pm

Public broadcasters across the board receive ever-decreasing portions of their financial support from taxpayer sources.

Indiana station gets legislative support

Lakeshore Public Television in Merrillville, Ind., struggling under state budget cuts, is getting a boost from Indiana Senate Democrats. They’ve put the station on their priority list of “Top Ten Things That Need to Change in the Budget,” according to The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana. The station was “blindsided,” as the paper said, by the $110,000 funding cut. It reduced its staff by 10 percent, leaving four vacant positions unfilled and laying off six people. “It’s one thing to say from the outset ‘this is what you’re going to be getting,'” said Thomas Carroll, station CEO.

PBS launches new portal for video on demand

PBS unveiled its new online video portal offering full-length episodes of nearly all of its primetime programs. The catalog of shows available for on demand streaming is limited with this beta launch, but PBS aims to add thousands of hours of programs by summer, the Los Angeles Times reports. PBS Video will begin offering programs from local public TV stations in May. Here’s a link to our earlier coverage of PBS Video, which began pilot testing last fall. PBS’s news release on the site launch is here.

Elmo the Elmonaut tells kids about astronomy

Sesame Street’s Elmo appeared today at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington to introduce a show that helps children learn about astronomy, The Associated Press reports. “This is one small step for a monster and one giant leap for monsterkind,” Elmo declared to the delight of kids at the museum. Dressed in a space suit, he dubbed himself an Elmonaut.

FCC proposes rules on rural radio service

The FCC has proposed new rules intended to increase radio service to rural areas (PDF). If approved, they establish new preferences for such areas and make moving licenses out of the locations more difficult. The proposal specifically addresses Native broadcasters, stating that “several tribal groups have expressed concern about their ability to establish radio service to their people and tribal lands.” (Some 30 Native entities received FCC construction permits late last year, see Current story from November 2008.) The proposal tentatively concludes that to serve the public interest, federally recognized tribes should have a priority in FM allotments, AM filing window applications and noncom educational FM filing window applications.

Gorilla ends up at pubTV station

A wayward large stuffed gorilla now has a home at WDSE in Duluth, Minn., according to station promotions director Jodi Hagen. She told Current that the gorilla was bound for a dump site but rejected because it wasn’t construction debris. It fell off the back of the owner’s truck — coincidentally, right into the path of a state Department of Transportation official. The owner returned when he realized it was gone and subsequently offered the nearly 6-foot toy to state troopers. One of them thought WDSE might like the gorilla for its Kids Club Circus, an annual event to thank parents for supporting children’s programming. “They made sure weren’t drugs in it or anything,” Hagen added.

Many foundations reducing grants, new report says

Nearly two-thirds of foundations responding to a survey are planning to reduce the number or size of grants they award in 2009. More than 1,200 foundations took part in the new research by the Foundation Center, titled Foundations Address the Impact of the Economic Crisis (PDF). Nearly two out of five respondents expect to dip into endowments to fund grants. More than half are engaging in more nongrantmaking activities, and about two-thirds plan to seek more collaborations and partnerships this year.

Review of Saberi sentence ordered by top judge

Iran’s highest judge ordered a “careful, quick and fair” consideration of an appeal against the eight-year jail sentence imposed on Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was tried last week on charges of espionage. Saberi has reported from Iran for NPR, the BBC, ABC News, FOX and other news organizations, and has been held in Iran’s Evin Prison for months. NPR, which joined other major news networks early this month in calling public attention to Saberi’s detention, issued a statement responding to news of the ruling by a secret Iranian court: “We are deeply distressed by this harsh and unwarranted sentence,” said NPR President Vivian Schiller. “Through her work for NPR over several years, we know her as an established and respected professional journalist.” In an interview NPR’s Scott Simon on Friday, Reza Saberi, the 31-year-old reporter’s father said his daughter was coerced into making incriminating statements.

WHUT to participate in mobile video trial

The Open Mobile Video Coalition, an alliance of broadcast groups including PBS and APTS, today announced a consumer trial this summer in Washington, D.C., of mobile digital television technology. Taking part will be Washington’s WHUT. According to Broadcasting & Cable, the trial will enable broadcasters to showcase and test programming, services and features of the technology, and will help prepare broadcasters for the commercial deployment scheduled for later this year. That will include nine pubcasting stations. For a list of those stations and background on the coalition, see this Current story.

Jim Lehrer faces Stephen Colbert, survives

If you missed it last week, the NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer’s appearance on The Colbert Report is now online. As the intro on the website reads, “It takes real courage for Jim Lehrer to be boring five nights a week on television.”

Tribal leaders criticize “We Shall Remain”

Officials from three Native American tribes are signatories to an open letter to PBS concerning the American Experience series “We Shall Remain.” In a piece published in the Indian Country Today newspaper, they contend their tribes, the Wampanoag, Mashpee Wampanoag and Narragansett, were overlooked. “Our ancestors are central to the events following the Mayflower landing, yet our historical guardians … were avoided by this PBS production,” they wrote. ” …