Quick Takes

Henson Company to release 3D movie

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The Jim Henson Company is working on a 3D sequel to Jim Henson’s “Dark Crystal” film, CEO Lisa Henson tells Reuters. She said several of her father’s primary interests before he died in 1990 were 3D films, computer animation and digital imagery. “He was pretty far ahead of his time, and I like to think that we have taken the company in the direction he would have chosen,” she said. “I really believe that 3D will only get better.” The movie, “The Power of the Dark Crystal” will be made in Australia with using techniques including 3D and CGI to propel puppets into the 21st century and beyond.

Quick Takes

Stations wind up unique multi-year forgiveness outreach

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A four-year Campaign for Love and Forgiveness program draws to an end Tuesday (June 15) at six pubcasting stations nationwide participating in the Fetzer Institute program. It’s an outreach that encourages participants to come together to forgive on both personal and community levels. At KEET in Eureka, Calif., there was a theater production and art exhibits. KPBS in San Diego sponsored conversations among youth and survivors of torture. Maryland Public Television dedicated a forgiveness garden.

Quick Takes

Need to Know brings on financial reporter

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Financial journalist Stacey Tisdale tis joining Need to Know as a contributing reporter on June 25. “It’s an honor to be part of something that PBS entrusts with the responsibility of succeeding Bill Moyers,” she told The Women on the Web site. “I look forward to the longer ‘docustory’ format that will allow us to go in depth and meet the journalistic standards and expectations of the PBS audience.” Tisdale’s career includes reporting for CNN, NBC’s Today, CBS MarketWatch, The Early Show and CBS Evening News. CLARIFICATION: Tisdale is joining the show as a contributing correspondent, not as a staffer as previously reported.

Quick Takes

KWMU to air St. Louis Symphony performances

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KWMU is picking up live performance broadcasts of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in September. The partnership, announced yesterday, provides a new outlet for the symphony after KFUO, the city’s all-classical outlet, switches to the “Joy FM” format under new owner Gateway Creative Broadcasting, a religious broadcaster. KWMU, which recently rebranded itself St. Louis Public Media, will air all Saturday concerts in the symphony’s Wells Fargo Advisors Orchestral Series, beginning with the 2010-11 season-opening performance featuring violinist Joshua Bell.

Quick Takes

NPR Music: Passport to the coolness of Bonnaroo

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NPR Music is about to begin webcasting live from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., a first for the online music service recently touted by the Washington Post as “a kind of passport to coolness for NPR’s core radio audience of aging baby boomers.” Neon Indian, a synth-pop band that riffs off Wizard/True Star-era Todd Rundgren in a track on NPR Music’s Bonnaroo Preview playlist, kicks off three days of live performances at 1 pm ET. Three public radio stations–KUT, WFUV and The Current–have joined NPR in producing coverage of more than 40 full sets from the festival. On Twitter, follow @NPRMusic, @allsongs, and @RitaHoustonWFUV for updates and color commentary. For reactions to the Washington Post’s June 6 feature headlined “NPR has become a major player in the indie rock scene,” check out the blog posts and comments on New York Magazine’s Vulture and The Alt Report (via Bruce Warren’s Some Velvet Blog).

Quick Takes

Sylvia Strobel, attorney and former pubcaster, heads association of access centers, ACM

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Sylvia Strobel, president of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network until it was dismembered in state budget cuts recently, has been named executive director of the Alliance for Community Media, the national association of cable access centers, starting Aug. 1. Strobel is chair of the American Women in Radio and Television and recently served as its acting president. She held executive roles with Twin Cities Public Television and CPB and has been a senior partner in the entertainment law firm Lehmann Strobel PLC, now based in Lancaster, Pa.

Quick Takes

Foundations withdraw their option on WDUQ

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The Pittsburgh foundations that bought a 60-day option on the sale of WDUQ last month have withdrawn their nascent bid for the public radio station. The group sought to recast the NPR News and jazz station as a public media news service for the Pittsburgh region, but recently decided that there wasn’t enough time to complete its analysis and solicit community feedback before the July 2 deadline. The Heinz Endowments, one of four community foundations involved in the planning, announced the decision yesterday. Duquesne University wants at least $10 million for WDUQ, the city’s most-listened-to public radio outlet. It’s unclear whether any bidders are willing to pay that amount.

Quick Takes

PBS Kids Go! writing contest judges includes hit kids’ book authors

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R.L. Stine, author of the hit children’s book series Goosebumps, is among the judges for the PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest — which has already generated 25,000 entries from 87 stations nationwide, according to PBS. The contest, co-sponsored by WNED-TV Buffalo/Toronto, encourages children from kindergarten through third grade to create illustrated stories. Also on the 14-judge panel is six-time Emmy winner Marc Brown, creator of the character Arthur of book and PBS program fame; Ann M. Martin, author of the mega-hit series The Baby-sitters Club; and Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Winners will be announced in July.

Quick Takes

ABC News veteran signs on as NewsHour political editor

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Longtime ABC News Political Director David Chalian joins the PBS NewsHour on July 6, the show announced today. As its political editor, Chalian will direct the NewsHour’s political coverage across all platforms and manage the editorial content from the NewsHour’s congressional, White House, and Supreme Court beats. He will also serve as an on-camera political analyst and will appear in regular political webcasts on the Online NewsHour, as well as develop original digital political content.

Quick Takes

West Virginia pubcasting audit reveals issues with its relationship with nonprofs

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An audit of the Educational Broadcasting Authority in West Virginia (PDF) released to state legislators Wednesday (June 9) concludes that by operating two supporting nonprofits with separate bank accounts it may not be following state requirements, reports the Charleston Gazette. Among the findings: That EBA employees do not have the authority to fundraise and provide administrative support for Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting and the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation (both those groups have no employees). And while the EBA may receive donations, its employees cannot solicit donations on state time. Auditors put forth a series of recommendations, including that the two nonprofits “operate as complete and separate entities” with different missions and finances “to protect the financial rights of the state and persons affected by the agency’s activities.” In its response, EBA said seeking an opinion from the West Virginia Ethics Commission on the issue of its employees supporting the two entities, and that its board passed a resolution earlier this month turning over control of underwriting funds to the state.

Quick Takes

PBS lays off 13

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Thirteen staffers “will be leaving PBS,” network President Paula Kerger said in a memo to the system today (June 9). “The entire PBS senior management team actively participated” in the decisions, she added. Departments affected include marketing and communications, interactive and general counsel.

Quick Takes

FCC news: Cap Hill testimony, and an upcoming forum

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In a hearing today (June 9) on Capitol Hill, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski asked Congress for its assistance in reclaiming spectrum for mobile broadband, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The request came during the House Appropriations Committee Financial Services Subcommittee testimony on the FCC’s 2011 budget. Genachowski said the spectrum giveback (background, Current, Feb. 8, 2010) was good for all parties involved — broadcasters, viewers and the government — but the feds need to move quickly to head off a looming spectrum shortage. Congress needs to okay use of some proceeds from the spectrum auction to compensate broadcasters.

Quick Takes

It’s Takeaway vs. Morning Edition in Minneapolis

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On community station KFAI-FM in Minneapolis, The Takeaway, the live drivetime news show from Public Radio International that launched in April 2008, will go head-to-head with the powerhouse Morning Edition from 5 to 8 a.m. starting June 30, writes David Brauer, MinnPost’s media reporter. He says The Takeaway “is like Morning Edition in a hoodie: more casual, younger-skewing, and international, but hardly the rush to the barricades” that Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! provides. (Democracy Now! will follow The Takeaway at 8.) KFAI, feeling pressure to draw a larger audience and maintain its CPB grant, is moving music to make room for news.

Quick Takes

06-09-10

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Published online only. Next print edition includes many of these items.

Kutzner chairs team to look
beyond today’s DTV standard
Jim Kutzner, PBS chief engineer, is chairing a team of the Advanced Television Systems Committee that will think ahead about the country’s next-generation broadcast TV system — “probably five years out” from today, he says. Ideally, the next system would be compatible with broadcasters’ and viewers’ present hardware, Kutzner told Current, but advances in modulation and compression technology are coming so fast that much improved technology will be within sight within a few years. The Next-Generation Broadcast Television Team, nicknamed PT-2, “will explore potential technologies to be used to define a future terrestrial broadcast digital television standard,” ATSC said in a release May 21 after its annual meeting in Arlington, Va. Two separate ATSC committees will examine options for two capabilities that could be added much earlier to the present ATSC-developed DTV standard:

The 3D TV Team (PT-1), chaired by Craig Todd, chief technology officer of Dolby Laboratories, will report on benefits and limitations of a standard for broadcasting three-dimensional TV.

Quick Takes

WOXM, Classical 90.1 in Vermont, takes to the airwaves

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There’s a new pubradio music station today: Vermont Public Radio’s Classical 90.1 WOXM, which signed on this morning (June 8). It launched with a performance by pianist Annemieke Spoelstra live from Middlebury College. The station brings VPR Classical to more than 83,000 listeners in most of Addison County. VPR also finalized its purchase in May of WCVR 102.1 FM, based in Randolph; that should begin broadcast this summer, also as VPR Classical. It’s Vermont’s only classical music network featuring local hosts.

Quick Takes

U.S. Forest Service temporarily alters rules affecting pubTV camera crews

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The controversy over Idaho Public Television’s request to film in a federal wilderness area is spreading. The Associated Press via the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., reports that pro-wilderness groups say that filming within areas such as the 2.3-million-acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, which IPTV has been doing for 30 years, may not reflect “appropriate stewardship” of the lands. IPTV’s show Outdoor Idaho annually follows students doing conservation work within the wilderness. Last month its cameras were denied access by a U.S. Forest Service supervisor, who said theirs was a commercial enterprise. That decision was reversed after Gov. Butch Otter and Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson complained the Forest Service had inappropriately barred cameras, and the Forest Service conducted an investigation.But more voices are questioning pubTV cameras venturing into the wilderness, as Oregon Public Broadcasting also does.

Quick Takes

Sesame Wii games use unique (and fuzzy) remote-control cover

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For the first time, two video games will use a cover to actually hide buttons on the Wii Remote. “Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure” and “Cookie’s Counting Carnival” games from Sesame Street will use the plush cover (Elmo, right) to make the Nintendo control less confusing for youngsters, the Associated Press reports. “We will be the first to introduce such an aid,” said Scott Chambers, Sesame Workshop senior vice president of media distribution. “We’re doing it so that preschoolers can play and learn from these Sesame Street games without feeling frustrated with the controller.” The two titles are also the first Wii games from Sesame Workshop.

Quick Takes

Upcoming PBS concert has gamers excited

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The video gaming community is going bonkers in anticipation of a PBS special airing July 31 and through August. And it’s no wonder: According to the Video Games Live website, the 90-minute orchestral performance includes “never before televised live musical performances from the Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Halo, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, God of War, Civilization, Chrono Cross, StarCraft and Guitar Hero franchises, including a musical journey through Classic Gaming.” It describes the show as an “immersive concert event” featuring music from the video games along with “synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!” It adds that the event is put on by the video game industry “to help encourage and support the culture and art that video games have become.” The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra does the honors for this concert (above), filmed in February in New Orleans.

Education/Engagement

Veterans’ welcome home morphed from doc to project to movement

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Wisconsin Public Television’s LZ Lambeau “welcome home” outreach for Vietnam veterans and their supporters last month was judged so successful that pubcasters in Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan are planning similar tributes to service members. The National Center for Community Engagement has scheduled a webinar June 23, and soon there’ll be a CPB-funded LZ toolkit

For the Wisconsin network’s three-day event, May 21-23, some 70,000 vets and supporters reported to the landing zone, Lambeau Field, home field of the Green Bay Packers. WGVU in Grand Rapids, Mich., has already scheduled LZ Michigan for July 3. “It’s a perfect fit for local stations, to get us into the community,” said Timothy Eernisse, development manager. “We’ve already had people on our Facebook page e-mailing from Ohio and Illinois — regular people off the street, asking how to reach their stations to help plan something like this.