Quick Takes

BBC to announce several cutbacks, Times of London reports

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An upcoming BBC strategic proposal signals “an end to the era of expansion” for the British broadcaster, reports the Times of London. The review, scheduled for public release next month, will announce closures of two radio stations, the shuttering of half its website and a 25 percent cut in funding for American program imports. The Times story said that Mark Thompson, the Beeb’s director general, will reveal in the report that the moves are due in part to the corporation becoming too large.

Quick Takes

LA Public Media mission: to create new multicultural audiences for public radio

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Oscar Garza, senior assignment editor for the Los Angeles Public Media Service, is “one of those people who’s been around for a while and his perspective is key to helping understand Los Angeles,” writes KCET blogger and KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, in this Q&A about the new CPB-backed start-up. Garza is a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times and former editor in chief of the glossy magazine Tu Ciudad. Los Angeles Public Media’s mission is “to create new audiences for public radio,” he tells Guzman-Lopez. “Public radio has a couple of problems. One is that their audience is older and getting older, their average audience. And they’re not very diverse.

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Founder of current WPSU-TV dies in Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania State University journalism professor Marlowe Froke, who founded WPSX-TV (now WPSU-TV) in 1964 at the university, died Feb. 23 in State College, Pa. He was 82. Penn State Live, the university’s news site, said he “took the lead in the early days of cable and public TV to establish networks of connections among Pennsylvania stations and cable operations that preceded today’s Public Broadcasting System.” He joined the Penn State faculty in 1959 as an associate professor of journalism and developed the school’s first broadcast journalism curriculum.

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FCC chair says he wants to release 500 MHz of spectrum over 10 years

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FCC Chair Julius Genachowski has revealed a specific number for the amount of spectrum the agency wants to see freed up: 500 Mhz. Also, he confirmed what many experts have expected, that there will indeed be a spectrum auction for that bandwidth. In a speech today (PDF) to the New America Foundation, a D.C. progressive think tank, Genachowski said the National Broadband Plan to be presented to Congress next month “will work closely” with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration over the next decade to release the spectrum. The plan proposes a “Mobile Future Auction” permitting existing licensees, “such as television broadcasters in spectrum-starved markets,” to relinquish spectrum in exchange for a share of auction proceeds. “Now, I’ve mentioned broadcast spectrum – so let me be clear: the recommendation is for a voluntary program,” he noted.

Quick Takes

South Dakota tribe contacts FCC regarding towers on sacred butte

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A Native Tribe in Reliance, S.D., has asked the FCC to examine the location of a commercial broadcasting tower on Medicine Butte — where South Dakota Public Broadcasting also has an tower, reports the Daily Republic in Mitchell. Michael Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux, said he sent a letter to the FCC after a storm brought down the tower last month, requesting an opportunity to discuss the the situation because his tribe regards Medicine Butte as a sacred site. Fritz Miller at SDPB said the station does not anticipate moving its tower. He told Current that laws on tribal boundaries were changed last year, giving tribes the opportunity to buy back land. According to SeVern Ashes, SDPB director of engineering, “The butte is part of the tribe’s creation history and is still used today for vision quest and prayers.”

Quick Takes

FTC news workshop includes “On the Media’s” Bob Garfield

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The second round of two-day workshops convened by the Federal Trade Commission on the future of journalism are scheduled for March 9 and 10, the agency said in an announcement today. Speakers at “How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” include FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz; and Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR’s On the Media, addressing “The State of Advertising.” Agenda is here (PDF).

Quick Takes

New KCRW g.m. discusses future of station

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In case you missed it yesterday: You can now download or stream the interview with Jennifer Ferro, new g.m. of KCRW-FM in Los Angeles, from the station’s own The Politics of Culture program. Ferro’s promotion from assistant g.m. to lead the station was announced Saturday.

Quick Takes

North Carolina city ventures into spectrum white spaces

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Wilmington, N.C., was the first community in America to discontinue analog broadcasting. Now it’s the first to test a municipal WiFi network using white spaces between DTV channels, reports Broadcasting & Cable. So far the city has been using white-space wireless cameras for traffic and surveillance in a park and highway; soon cameras will also check water levels. And there’ll be public WiFi in a park and school. The city is being assisted by Spectrum Bridge, a real-time online marketplace for radio spectrum.

Quick Takes

This American Life tops list of best journalism in 2009

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Writer Conor Friedersdorf of True/Slant compiled a list of the best journalism he encountered in 2009. This American Life, the only public radio program to appear in on it, turns up 10 times. TAL’s reportage is cited in several categories–exceptional storytelling, investigative journalism, and media criticism, among others, and more often than any other publication. Friedersdorf acknowledges that there’s a lot of great work that he misses every year. “[T]his isn’t an infallible account of journalism’s best, but I aim to make it the best roundup that any one person can offer, one of these years I intend to do better than the committees who pick the Pulitzer Prizes and National Magazine Awards.

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PBS, your source for baseball talent

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Now that baseball spring training is under way, eager fans are counting the hours until opening day. While spectators will be eating hot dogs in the bleachers, some PBSers will take to the field in their National Adult Baseball Association (NABA) league. KCET/Los Angeles President and CEO Al Jerome (at left in photo) formed the California Blue Jays team in 2002 and recruited athletic talent from around the system, including the strong double-play combination of shortstop Lloyd Wright (president and CEO of WFYI/Indianapolis, Ind., right in photo) and second baseman Andy Russell (senior v.p., PBS Ventures, center in photo). Former team members have included Mel Rogers of KOCE/Huntington Beach, Calif., and Jeff Clarke of KQED/San Francisco. The far-flung players practice on their own using local batting cages and, no doubt, family members drafted into playing catch.

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Youth Radio: media training without that “school-like feel”

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“Peer teaching is at the heart of Youth Radio,” Jacinda Abcarian, executive director of the Oakland-based media program, tells San Francisco Chronicle. “You don’t get that school-like feel; there are no adults talking down to you.” In a feature noting the organization’s 10th anniversary, music journalist Ben Fong-Torres reports on Youth Radio’s growth from a tiny storefront operation in Berkeley to a media training ground that has served “some 10,000 urban kids,” produced news reports for NPR and other major news outlets, and established radio streams for musical expression and health concerns.

Quick Takes

New three-part “Upstairs, Downstairs” coming next year

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New episodes of the 1970s PBS hit Upstairs, Downstairs are coming to Masterpiece in 2011 as part of a co-production deal with BBC World Sales and Distribution, Americas, the partners announced in a press release today. There’ll also be a 21st-century version of Sherlock Holmes, and three Aurelio Zen mysteries about a fictional Italian detective. The original Upstairs, Downstairs won seven Emmys including a best actress for Jean Marsh; she’ll recreate her role of Rose the parlor maid. The three-part series will be set in the same house. The new episodes take place in 1936, advancing the storyline that left off in 1930.

Quick Takes

Three Writers Guild Awards for PBS shows

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PBS won three Writers Guild of America Awards on Saturday night, which honored outstanding achievement in television, radio, news, promotional writing and graphic animation during the 2009 season. Frontline’s “The Madoff Affair” took the Documentary–Current Events honor; American Experience won for “The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer” for Documentary–Other Than Current Events; and Bill Moyers Journal scored in the News–Analysis, Feature of Commentary, for its segment “A Private War: Expose: America’s Investigative Reports.” Announcements were made in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles (Writers Guild, West) and New York City (Writers Guild, East). A list of winners is available at the Writers Guild website.

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Ferro moves up to lead KCRW

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Jennifer Ferro is the new g.m. of Los Angeles’ KCRW-FM, following her formal approval by the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees Saturday. “Jennifer epitomizes the perfect mix of traditional public radio experience and the strategic and creative new media thinking that will be critical to KCRW’s continued success in the years ahead,” said Chui L. Tsang, president of the college, in a press release. KCRW is licensed to the school. Ferro joined KCRW in 1991 as a volunteer arts reporter and since 1997 worked as assistant g.m. to outgoing station chief Ruth Seymour, who announced her retirement in November. “Jennifer is an ideal choice to lead the station forward,” Seymour said.

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Proposed Minnesota funding cuts would hit pubTV and radio

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PubTV and radio in Minnesota are in for less funding if Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed budget is adopted, according to the Duluth News Tribune. The plan puts forth some $1.4 million reductions for TV, and for radio, $287,000 in service grants, $100,000 in equipment grants and $250,000 of equipment grants for Minnesota Public Radio; indie KUMD 103.3 FM in Duluth would also be subject to those cuts. WDSE-TV station manager Al Harmon told the paper that would mean staff cuts at the station and the end of some local programming. Harmon said state grants make up about 10 percent of WDSE’s operating budget, and 20 percent of the salaries for the station’s 30 employees. Similar reductions are happening in state budgets across the country (Current, Jan.

Quick Takes

Coach’s famous glasses net $9,000 for Penn State Broadcasting

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Thanks to a pair of Joe Paterno’s trademark black glasses, Penn State Broadcasting is $9,000 richer. The much-loved Penn State University’s football coach donated the glasses for the station’s Connoisseur’s Dinner and Auction. WPSU seems to be working its way around the much-loved coach’s body, already having auctioned autographed khaki pants, white socks, sneakers and neckties from several bowl games.

Quick Takes

25 seats open in Producers Academy at WGBH

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Next summer’s annual weeklong CPB/PBS Producers Academy, led by top TV production specialists, will accept applications through Tuesday, March 23, 5 p.m. Experienced indie and station-based producer/writer/directors are eligible for scholarships that cover the cost of the workshops, room and board in Boston, June 19-25. Details and app form are online at PBS.org. Questions go to PBS and CPB, not WGBH: Kathryn Lo of PBS and Angie Palmer of CPB.

Quick Takes

NPR gets high rating for construction bonds

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Preparing for a bond issue this spring to finance construction of its new headquarters, NPR got a vote of confidence from two of the big-three bond rating agencies, the network said in a news release yesterday. Standard & Poor’s gave NPR an AA- rating and Moody’s gave it a comparable Aa3. Both are high-grade ratings, the fourth of 20 or more grades. Last March, NPR bought the site seven blocks east of its present home and is planning a new seven-story, 330,000-square-foot structure incorporating about two-thirds of an old historic-landmarked warehouse. NPR plans to break ground next fall and occupy the building by mid-2013.

Quick Takes

FCC kicks off inquiry into future of news

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The FCC officially launched its inquiry into future news and information needs of communities at its meeting in Washington yesterday, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Steve Waldman (right), special adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, has been working for several months to assemble a cross-agency team and begin gathering information. The first formal group workshop will be March 4. Waldman said that discussion would be TV and radio stations, adding that there had been a “newspaper centrism” to past media discussions.

Quick Takes

Florida bill would allow state money to non-CPB funded stations

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A bill in the Florida Legislature would amend a statute that limits state money for public broadcasting only to stations under the purview of CPB. It adds “nondenominational television stations licensed by the FCC as full-power educational broadcast stations”as eligible for funding via the State Board of Education. “What this bill would do is open it up to a larger group of licensees,” said Sandra Ceseretti, g.m. of WSRE at Pensacola Junior College. “It could be community or perhaps religious licensees that are nondenominational. It would take the current infrastructure and grow it, perhaps to another 200 new licensees.”