Quick Takes

Commerce IG looking at broadband grant program

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The Inspector General’s Office of the Commerce Department is reviewing the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, according to Broadcasting and Cable. The investigation will focus mainly on efficiency and the online application process. Several pubstations have applied for grants, including Florida Public Broadcasting Service; it’s asking for $22 million to connect public service entities into the Florida LambaRail high-speed network.

Development
Student hugging principal at graduation

Why fund a whole doc?

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Few docs as substantial as The Principal Story, which airs on P.O.V. Sept. 15, are funded in full by a single angel, but this one was. The Wallace Foundation didn’t choose to cover the whole cost to make independent producers’ lives easier, though the grant did that.

Quick Takes

ITVS Community Cinema turns 5 years old

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Community Cinema, a free monthly screening series in more than 50 cities nationwide, begins its fifth season this month. It shows Independent Lens films through partnerships with more than 2,500 local organizations such as the American Legion Auxiliary, Amnesty International and the Nature Conservancy. Since September 2005 more than 100,000 people have attended some 1,000 events, making it the biggest public outreach program in noncom or commercial TV, according to ITVS. Up first: D Tour, about an indie rocker’s quest for a new kidney.

Development

In Pittsburgh, members come first in credits

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Viewers like you — by name — have literally moved to the front of the line in underwriting credits at WQED in Pittsburgh. Since mid-August, a Mary Jones or Joe Smith of Anytown, Pa., who donated as little as $40 to the station, is mentioned ahead of major corporations or donors providing hundreds of thousands. That better reflects the overall importance of viewer contributions to the TV/FM licensee, said Deborah L. Acklin, g.m.

At a time when audience contributions are proving more reliable than many corporate and state government funders, the WQED credits and new ones from PBS are emphasizing the role of viewer-donors. The new national multiplatform credits package that PBS began feeding to stations in August focuses on the viewer as “Explorer” branding concept (Current, June 23). PBS head Paula Kerger seemed to approve of WQED’s idea after a Pittsburgh reporter mentioned it during her July appearance at the Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena, Calif.

Quick Takes

Neighborhood opens for fond farewells

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Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe set will come alive for the first time since production ceased in 2001 during an open house Nov. 6-8 in Studio A at WQED in Pittsburgh. King Friday XIII’s castle, X the Owl’s tree and other set pieces from the longtime fave kids’ show will be on display. Mr. McFeeley the Speedy Delivery Mailman will even be there (in real life, David Newell, still on the staff at Rogers’ Family Communications). WQED said in a statement it will send invitations to pubTV stations nationwide for Mister Rogers’ fans to attend the event.

Programs/Content

For WAMU and its listeners, HD Radio means more slices of pie to go around

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As a self-proclaimed evangelist for HD Radio, I am often asked why I have inculcated it so deeply in the workings of WAMU in Washington. We devote several full-time employees to produce more than 50 hours a week of live original programming for our multicast channels — bluegrass and Americana music on Channel 2, and news and information on Channel 3. We further demonstrate our commitment to multicasting on our main channel. For the first year after we started multicasting three HD Radio channels, we spent at least 15 seconds of every hour on our flagship signal cross-promoting Channels 2 and 3, and our hosts still give them at least four spots a day. Reminding listeners of the other offerings in our “radio community” requires a sizable investment in airtime, as well as the traffic department’s writing and logging.

Quick Takes

Going ga-ga for Kermit heads

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Now here’s a must-watch YouTube video: An interview on German TV of Lady Gaga dressed in a cape and hat made of dozens of Kermit frog bodies. Beneath the German voiceover the quirky pop phenom can be heard explaining, “I dress this way because my whole life is art.” No reaction from Muppet Kermit thus far. And no word on whether he’s pondering this outfit depicted in a photo of “Kermit’s revenge.”

Quick Takes

Grover says shalom to Jerusalem

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Madonna’s current visit to Israel may be getting more press, but Grover will reach far more fans with his. The popular Sesame Street resident is traveling the country to update the 1986 Shalom Sesame, which has sold 1 million copies — the No. 1 Jewish educational title, according to The Jerusalem Post. Grover has visited the Dead Sea, Caesarea, the Western Wall and even Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s largest shuk (outdoor market) to sample the goodies. Madonna may be visiting bigwigs including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Grover gets to star in Shalom Sesame with stars including Jake Gyllenhaal and Debra Messing.

Quick Takes

Pledges looking good at some stations

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Some pledge drives are going pretty darned well, reports The Washington Post. At D.C.’s WAMU, donations are running 50 percent higher than last year and membership is up 53 percent. “We’re getting astounding numbers,” Walt Gillette, WAMU’s director of individual giving, told the paper. Maryland Public Television in Baltimore saw a 3 percent increase over last year. WETA in Arlington, Va., is off 11 percent overall, but radio is up 2 percent.

Quick Takes

Backers ready to bid for WLIU

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Next week, a group of supporters of WLIU on Long Island will detail their plan to buy the radio station from Long Island University, reports the local Sag Harbor Express. The news site adds that within the next two weeks the backers will offer $800,000 to take over; a source with the group told Current while that figure is “in the ballpark,” it is not precise. More than 300 supporters in SPREE (Save Public Radio on the East End) include Loews Hotels Chairman Jonathan Tisch, publisher Jann Wenner, actor Alec Baldwin, singer Suzanne Vega and Congressman Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.). Here’s Current’s Aug. 24 story on the station and its challenges.

Quick Takes

Viewers mourn “Reading Rainbow” in letters to ombudsman

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Nearly 80 viewers wrote to PBS or ombudsman Michael Getler to lament the end of the long-running Reading Rainbow (Current, Aug. 6). Several of the letters Getler shared are quite emotional; one Portland, Ore., woman calls the show’s demise “a crime against literacy.”

Quick Takes

Site offers comprehensive overview of Mount Wilson towers

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Curious about the broadcasting tower site above Mount Wilson, threatened this week by Los Angeles wildfires? Tower aficionado Scott Fybush has two pages (here and here), complete with photos, detailing what area stations have equipment atop the mile-high mountain–which turns out to be many area broadcasters. Fybush is a radio transmission tower expert, as well as part-time pubcaster on WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Latest on the fire: Broadcast engineers have begun returning to the mountain to assess equipment damage, according to Television Broadcast site.

Quick Takes

NBC to reinvent “Prime Suspect”

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NBC has ordered a two-hour pilot remake of the longtime Masterpiece staple “Prime Suspect,” reveals The Hollywood Reporter. The popular ITV show starring Helen Mirren ran on PBS from 1992 through 2006 (Current, Nov. 6, 2006). The new one will be co-produced by ITV and Universal Media studios. “We want to carefully choose a couple of iconic titles this year to reinvent, and our intention is to create another classic television show from this brilliant original format,” said Angela Bromstad, NBC and UMS president of primetime entertainment.

Quick Takes

CPB searching for grants consultant, PBCore 2.0 program manager

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CPB is looking for:– A broadband grants consultant to assist stations applying to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service. Details here.– A PBCore 2.0 development project manager. The manager for the 12-month assignment will report directly to CPB’s veep of digital media strategy. Details here.

Quick Takes

KPBS receives $2.5 million gift

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KPBS will create an interactive newsroom for multimedia and multi-platform projects with a $2.5 million gift announced today. The donation came from Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan, longtime supporters of the San Diego station. Right now reporters, writers, producers and support staff work throughout the building. “It was time we created a physical environment where all news and content producers can work collaboratively,” said Tom Karlo, KPBS general manager.

Quick Takes

How do you connect better with your music community?

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Laura Fedele and Jim O’Hara from WFUV in New York City have been working on that with their “independent, emerging music” online and HD Radio channel (TheAlternateSide.org) and will report on best practices and best pitfalls at a webinar Sept. 16 (3-4 p.m., Eastern) organized by Public Media Innovation. Capacity is limited, reservation required. Listeners’ computers must run Windows 2000, XP and newer versions or Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) or newer.

Quick Takes

Progress on Mt. Wilson, still ablaze

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Firefighters have made “significant progress” in containing wildfires on Mt. Wilson, the Los Angeles Times is reporting, but “they are still concerned about the massive blaze’s fast-moving southeastern flank.” To protect the historic Mt. Wilson observatory and broadcast transmission facilities on the peak, fire crews have been dumping water and flame-resistant gel on the area. An AP story on NPR.org reports that 150 firefighters and engines were stationed at the peak last night to defend the towers.

Quick Takes

Ted Kennedy, Chappaquiddick and public broadcasting

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A comment on WAMU about Sen. Ted Kennedy enjoying jokes about the notorious Chappaquiddick incident is generating a lot of press, particularly on conservative news sites. Edward Klein, biographer of the senator who died last week, told Diane Rehm’s guest host Katty Kay that one of Kennedy’s “favorite topics of humor was, indeed, Chappaquiddick.” He added as an explanation: “Not that he didn’t feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.” NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard writes about Kennedy coverage in her latest column, noting that of 23 NPR stories on Kennedy’s death, “only one mentioned the name Mary Jo Kopechne and 5 mentioned Chappaquiddick.”