Current (https://current.org/2010/02/page/3/)
John Boland, former PBS chief content officer, was today named president and CEO of Northern California Public Broadcasting. Boland succeeds Jeff Clarke, retiring after nearly 45 years in pubmedia and broadcasting. Boland was the system’s first chief content officer (CCO) at KQED in 2002. He became PBS’s first CCO in 2006. Clarke’s last day is March 19 and Boland will take the helm on March 22.
Want a PBS-style ringtone? That catchy theme for Nova is now available. Download it here. It’s free.
Actress Loretta Long, 71, who has starred at Sesame Street’s Susan Robinson since its debut, suffered head wounds after being struck by a car, according to the Times of Trenton. She was crossing a county road about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday in East Windsor Township, N.J., when the accident occurred. A vehicle making a left turn struck Long, who was thrown onto the hood of the car. It traveled about 70 feet before she fell and struck her head. She’s in fair condition in a local hospital.
KERA/North Texas Public Broadcasting in Dallas is being sued by four Democratic candidates for Texas governor for not being included in a televised debate, reports the ValleyCentral.com news site. The candidates, Star Locke, Alma Aguando, Felix Alvarado and Clement Glenn, filed the lawsuit Tuesday asking for $400 million. They allege racial discrimination for being Native American, Hispanic or African-American. KERA released a statement Wednesday: “We are disappointed that these candidates have chosen to ignore years of judicial precedents upholding our right to use viewpoint neutral criteria in selecting candidates to participate in the Texas Debates. We are confident in our debate policy, and we will seek the speedy dismissal of this complaint as we have successfully with others in the past.”
StimulatingBroadband.com is offering a free webcast, “Broadband Stimulus National Town Hall Meeting,” starting at 11 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. It’s sponsored by the National League of Cities TV. Peter Pratt, for 30 years a telecom industry analyst and public policy specialist who runs Stimulating Broadband, said two main questions will be addressed: Is there a “secret sauce” seen in the Round I winning applications announced to date? And, what are the lead strategic considerations for Round II applications? Pubcasters nationwide are applying for the grants (Current, Sept.
KCET’s SoCal Connected today announced a partnership with the News21 team at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Tomorrow they launch a web-based, multimedia project, “Dream Interrupted: California in Crisis.” Reports will focus on the economy, education, transportation, housing and government in five areas of the state. News21 is part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
Pubcaster and blogger John Proffitt is leaving his home of nine years, Anchorage, Alaska, and venturing back to the Lower 48 and KETC in St. Louis. He’s taking a new position at the station, director of digital engagement. In a post at his blog Gravity Medium, Proffitt said that over the past few years, KETC has “embarked on a remarkable transformation, developing closer relationships with their community and using media to solve problems.” He cited its collaboration with the nonprof news site the St.
Longtime producer and station exec Fred Flaxman has written a “tongue-in-cheek” memoir of his life in broadcasting, Sixty Slices of Life … on Wry: The Private Life of a Public Broadcaster (Story Book Publishing). Flaxman is currently producer and presenter of classical music program Compact Discoveries, distributed by PRX. He worked as v.p. for national programming at WTTW in Chicago and spent time in management at KUAT-TV in Tucson, Southern Oregon Public Television, and WXEL in West Palm Beach, Fla. So no doubt he has plenty to talk about in his book.
Current’s office in suburban Washington, D.C., remains shuttered as another severe winter storm is battering the region. This week’s issue also is delayed. Need to reach an editor? Email probably is the best way. Above, cars buried after the first round of snow, as captured by Currentron Dru Sefton in her District of Columbia neighborhood.
Due to the impending arrival of yet another massive winter storm, the White House has moved a concert of civil rights music up one night, reports the Washington Post. “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” will now take place tonight in the East Room tonight instead of tomorrow evening. Performers scheduled to appear include Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp and Smokey Robinson. PBS will carry the program Thursday night, or viewers can watch live streaming video here. The federal government, schools and businesses remained closed today after the first storm hit last weekend with up to 30 inches of snow.
Steven Waldman, senior advisor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, says saving journalim “is not our job.” However, “we are looking at it in terms of preserving certain functions, in which I do include accountability journalism.” Waldman is exploring possibilities for a report to the commission on the future of news in an uncertain time, and sat down for a Q&A with Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton.
Sesame Street gets a new neighbor soon: Carrie Underworm, who looks and sounds very much like country superstar Carrie Underwood. She’ll debut Thursday. Get a sneak peek here.
Longtime public radio journalist Gregory Shanley, 49, a statewide talk host on Iowa Public Radio, died Jan. 26 [2010] in Iowa City.
If any news subject lends itself to coverage by multistation collaborations, it’s the environment of places like the Ohio River Valley, a region of 25 million people who share the river’s assets and liabilities.
Louisville Public Media’s WFPL is leading plans to build a pubradio reporting consortium for the region, starting with a public conference this month.
APTS Capitol Hill Day has been canceled for now. Spokesperson Stacey Karp said that due to the blizzard, there’s a good chance that local businesses as well as Congress will be “severely disrupted for several days.” Station reps were scheduled to meet tomorrow and Monday, and visit members of Congress on Tuesday. APTS is considering rescheduling or using alternatives such as webinars or video conferences.
The White House yesterday nominated Dick Lobo, president and chief executive of Tampa PBS station WEDU-Ch. 3, to head the International Broadcasting Bureau. The federal bureau runs Voice of America and two other broadcasts aimed at Cuba, Radio and TV Marti. Lobo, 73, still must be confirmed by the Senate. Lobo recently retired after seven years heading the Tampa station and 23 in commercial TV.
Text donations for disaster relief in Haiti topped $35 million earlier this week, and donors’ sudden willingness to use mobile phones for charitable contributions makes text-giving look like a promising way for pubcasting stations to raise money.But it’s not as easy as it sounds. WXPN in Philadelphia and KQED in San Francisco began experimenting with text-giving programs last year and had modest results.’XPN asked for text donations during its XPoNential Music Festival last July. “We didn’t make a lot of money, but we learned a ton about how to make it work,” said Melanie Coulson, a Development Exchange Inc. fundraising consultant who managed the project for WXPN. “I think events are a great way to do it.”KQED tried two different approaches: on-air requests for text gifts during Earth Day programming and promotions over the month of April; and, more targeted, urgent appeals during its year-end fundraising campaign in December. “The results were dramatically improved, with almost four times as much money raised,” said Yoon Lee, KQED director of new media marketing, of the latter campaign.Both Coulson and Lee will report on the projects on Monday, Feb.
The FCC announced today it is giving Native American tribes a priority (PDF) for broadcast radio licenses in their communities. The FCC statement notes that while more than a million Native Americans and Alaska Natives live on some 55 million acres of tribal lands nationwide, only 41 radio stations are currently licensed to native tribes. The new Tribal Priority gives license precedence to federally recognized Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, or companies controlled by tribes on their land. Here’s the order (PDF). In a related statement (PDF), Commissioner Michael Copps explained that the current allocation priorities, intended to provide fair distribution of radio service across America, have not worked for tribal lands.