A PBS NewsHour producer has helped a Haitian amputee receive a prosthesis, says the TV Newser, a blog in the MediaBistro network. Dancer and choreographer George Exantus lost his right leg below the knee while trapped in rubble following January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti. After viewers saw his story on NewsHour, they wanted to assist. Producer Merrill Schwerin got Freedom Innovations to donate an artificial limb and now Exantus is dancing again.
Launch of Tampa’s new all-classical station WSMR has been delayed due to technical problems at its tower site, according to the Bradenton Herald. “We are very disappointed about this,” says Joanne Urofsky, general manager. WUSF Public Media, which acquired the license to broadcast on 89.1 MHz in Sarasota this summer, didn’t delay the format switch for its FM station in Tampa, which now devotes its daytime grids to news programs and nights to jazz. The classical service debuted today as an HD Radio channel of WUSF and as an Internet stream. Urofsky hopes that engineers will put WSMR-FM on the air within the next couple of days.
A new Pew research report reveals that while 35 percent of U.S. adults have apps on their cell phones, only 24 percent actually use them. “The Rise of Apps Culture” released Tuesday (Sept. 14) by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Nielsen also shows that app use scores at the bottom of a list of what people do with their phones, just 29 percent. Taking photos is atop that list, at 6 percent . Other cell-phone uses include texting, 72 percent; accessing the Internet, 38 percent; and sending or receiving e-mail, 34 percent.
Big changes are under way at KIXE in Redding, Calif. Philip Smith, who came on as g.m. in July, is restructuring the station and has done away with the positions of corporate support, production manager and community affairs coordinator, reports the local Record Searchlight. Smith plans to immediately hire a development director to handle the corporate support and community affairs duties. The production manager’s position will be redefined to include work that is much broader than traditional TV production, Smith told the paper; that new hire is several months off. In a programming change in August, KIXE dropped Democracy Now!, sparking a local controversy.
The Federal Communications Commission is now offering a searchable online license database, the commission announced today (Sept. 15). FCC License View lets users peruse more than 3 million FCC licensees, around 2 million of which are active. Search by licensee name, call sign or FCC registration number to reveal interesting facts such as: WGBH holds 58 licenses.
The Independent Television Service is bringing the PBS film “Pushing the Elephant” to Capitol Hill Thursday (Sept. 16) to raise awareness of violence against women and girls around the globe, according to ITVS. Speaking after the film will be its subject, Congolese refugee Rose Mapendo, who escaped from the genocidal war in the Democratic Republic of Congo in February 2000. PBS President Paula Kerger also will address the audience on the network’s role in bringing new and underserved voices to viewers. The event, at 8:30 a.m. in the Rayburn Office Building, is in cooperation with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Illinois) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas).
Carol Pierson, former president of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, will receive the Everett C. Parker Award at the United Church of Christ’s 28th annual Parker Lecture in Ethics and Telecommunications on Sept. 29 in Washington, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The event was created in 1983 to recognize the media activist’s work as an advocate for public rights in broadcasting. Presenting the main lecture this year is FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Pierson is being honored for her 30-year career in public broadcasting and her work to help ensure that pubcasting serves people of color and other underserved communities.
The first of three hearings to decide the fate of the New Jersey Network are under way today at the statehouse, reports the Bergen Record. Gov. Chris Christie (R) has proposed ending the state’s $11 million subsidy and transferring NJN’s operations, licenses and equipment to a nongovernmental entity, most likely an independent, nonprofit (Current, July 6, 2010). So far, Democrats are emphasizing the need for a statewide television network; Republicans agree but are stressing the state’s fiscal difficulties.
The Charlotte Observer, American Public Media and the Charlotte Viewpoint website last weekend (Sept. 11) launched its citizen-sourced Carolinas Public Insight Network. It’s a confidential database of volunteer news sources, according to the site. “You connect with our newsroom through the Web, and then agree on occasion to receive an e-mail asking for your insights and expertise,” explained Observer editor Rick Thames. Longtime Observer editor Cindy Montgomery is heading up the effort.
Rob Bole, CPB’s v.p. digital media strategy, is among the speakers at the Oct. 12 FedTalks 2010, a D.C. confab that bills itself as “a gathering of 500 of the most influential government leaders, industry executives, and media giants of our time, brought together to share their thoughts on how technology can change government.” Other speakers include Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post; Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; and Chris Kemp, chief technology officer of NASA.
Sarasota’s WSMR debuts Wednesday (Sept. 15), bringing 24-hour classical music to South Florida, according to the Bradenton Herald. Renovations continue on its $150,000 studio at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. WUSF in Tampa recently purchased WSMR for $1.275 million on a 10-year loan from the University of South Florida Foundation, an affiliate of its licensee (Current, Aug. 9, 2010).
East Tennessee Public Television is now East Tennessee PBS, reports the Knoxville News Sentinel. “To cover our large viewing area of more than 925,000 households in East Tennessee, we’ve added two broadcast towers over the years, which is why we have two sets of call letters: WKOP in Knoxville and WETP in Sneedville,” said Teresa James, ETPBS g.m. The station had been using the former name for more than 40 years.
“Warning: This Is a Long Column,” writes PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler. It’s his second piece on viewers raising questions about the financial support of billionaire David H. Koch for Nova’s “Becoming Human” series. The issue is a complicated one, with Nova raising the ire of several letter writers by using a Smithsonian scientist to address the issue of climate change, when the Smithsonian’s David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins was founded by Koch — who is a skeptic that global warming is occurring.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today (Sept. 13) announced $3.14 million in matching grants for 19 more community-based projects as part of its five-year Knight Community Information Challenge. More than 75 other initiatives have been funded so far.Several public broadcasters are recipients or partners in this third round of funding, including:– Hiki No, PBS Hawaii, $240,500: To create a statewide student news network linking middle and high schools across the islands. Called Hiki No, Hawaiian for “can do,” the journalism network, in partnership with the PBS affiliate, will produce newscasts on air and online.– NOWCastSA/Texas Week, KLRN-TV, San Antonio, $205,500: Local news site and previous challenge winner, NowCastSA, will partner with the PBS affiliate to increase the site’s visibility and use.– Alaska Public Telecommunications Inc., $175,500: The state’s public radio and TV stations will create an online news hub to host hyperlocal blogs and virtual community “think tanks” on arts and culture, Alaskan natives and local business. Organizers will make a special push to include the voices and contributions of rural Alaskans.
Instead of replacing their traditional news outlets, Americans are actually integrating new technologies into their media habits, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. More than 36 percent of Americans got news from both digital and traditional sources the day before they were surveyed, which is just under the number who relied solely on traditional sources, 39 percent.And news audiences are drawn to different sources for different reasons, the survey points out: Headlines, entertainment, in-depth reporting, views and opinions, or a combination. For regular NPR listeners, for instance, “no single reason stands out as to why people watch, read or listen,” the survey says. Some 28 percent of regular NPR listeners cite several, or all, of the reasons listed, while nearly as many say they listen for the latest news 21 percent or for in-depth reporting 20 percent.Another interesting finding: Men and women differ in their news consumption on digital platforms. Around 50 percent of men and 39 percent of women get news on the Internet and mobile technology on any given day. Men are more likely to get news by cell phone, email, RSS feeds or podcasts than are women; men and women are equally likely to get news through Twitter or social networking sites.The biennial news consumption survey was conducted June 8-28 on cell phones and landlines among 3,006 adults; more on methodology here.
The Seattle based ivi today (Sept. 13) launched an app that it claims will provide subscribers live access to more than 20 channels including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, the CW and PBS for $4.99 a month. One catch: Networks that are “involved” with this that were contacted by the Wrap entertainment and media news website knew nothing of their inclusion, much less had even heard of ivi.”Clearly, ivi is operating in a legal gray area,” the Wrap said. “It argues that its status as a cable company allows it to have servers set up in several markets — initially New York and Seattle — that receive transmissions of television signals that originated with other servers and then retransmit them through their app. Yet, because it is online only, ivi maintains it is not governed by the Federal Communication Commission and consequently does not have to pay retransmission fees in the way that a Comcast or Cablevision would.”WNET’s programming is included in the schedule on ivi’s website.
Supporters of the San Diego State University licensee will gather for a private gala Tuesday night (Sept. 14) to celebrate the Golden Anniversary, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff will speak, and the station will announce its KPBS Hall of Fame’s first 13 inductees, honoring station pioneers and key donors. And the paper reports that a $3.2 million renovation of the newsroom begins soon. (All that news generated several online comments, including one that said in part: “KPBS is a fistula of lies from the white upper middle class coupled with the moronic linkage to a failing community college that pretends to be a university.”
Frontline’s authoritative baritone, that uber-narrator Will Lyman, is one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “Best Characters and Most Memorable Scene-Stealers” for the fall TV season. Rolling Stone dubbed him “The Voice.” As Frontline Executive Producer David Fanning told the mag, “Will Lyman could read the phone book and make it feel like it’s important to the country.” Other honorees include Leopold “Butters” Scotch from South Park and the awkward teenage vampire Jessica on True Blood.
Kentucky Educational Television last week (Sept. 9) laid off 13 employees, the Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting. Network spokesperson Tim Bischoff declined to identify the employees. The paper said KET’s full-time staff is now 152, down from 223 during fiscal 2008. “That’s clearly left some voids in very critical positions,” he said.
Legendary film critic Roger Ebert returns to Chicago’s WTTW, original home of the pubcasting fave At the Movies, in January 2011 with Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. This time around, Ebert is producing. Co-hosting will be Christy Lemire, film critic of The Associated Press, and Elvis Mitchell of KCRW’s The Treatment. In addition to reviewing new releases, the two will comment on new media, classics, on-demand viewing and genres, and there’ll be more on the show’s website. The program will use the famous (and copyrighted) “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down” format invented by Ebert and his longtime collaborator, Gene Siskel, who died in 1999.