Tom Keith, who created the sound effects for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show for decades, died Sunday (Oct. 30) after collapsing at his Woodbury, Minn., home. He was 64. The cause of death has not been determined, a spokesperson for the show told Minnesota Public Radio.”The Minnesota Public Radio family is shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of our friend and colleague, Tom Keith,” APHC producer MPR said in a statement. “Tom was beloved by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing and working with him.
America in Primetime, which premiered on PBS Sunday night (Oct. 30) carries underwriting spots for Unilever’s Dove brand produced by the Documentary Group, the team that created the program, and are shot in a style similar to the content, reports the New York Times. “Such crossover producing is increasingly common in commercial television,” the newspaper noted.Creators, writers and actors behind primetime television shows are interviewed in the series, which examines how character archetypes have evolved through the years. Unnamed Dove marketing and public relations executives are interviewed in the 30-second underwriting spots, discussing how the brand strives to relate to changing consumers.Tom Yellin, president and executive producer of the Documentary Group, approached Unilever with the idea, calling it a “natural opportunity” for a program about the creation of commercial primetime television to feature underwriting from a longtime primetime advertiser. He added that in the program, interviewees talk directly to the camera; in the spots, the executives are shot from the side.
KIXE-TV in Redding, Calif., is launching a television version of the On The House home-improvement AM radio call-in show. KIXE General Manager Mike Quinn tells the local Record Searchlight that the new show, set to debut in January, likened the project to a West Coast version of This Old House, originally produced by WGBH in Boston. Heard on around 200 stations, On The House offers advice from the Carey Brothers, James and Morris, experts in home building and renovation. Their first projects for the KIXE television version will be a remodel of the station’s Redding studio and construction of its new satellite studio in Oroville, Calif.James Carey says the regional difference is important. “If you watch This Old House, you see a lot about basements, a lot about oil-burning furnaces, snow and issues that surround snow.”
The free downloads of World Cafe artists and newcomers celebrating the WXPN production’s 20th anniversary may be welcome in some quarters, but in terms of lasting impact on our little planet, you’d have to give props to the return of program host David Dye to craft brewing, which he virtually invented. As recalled in this parody video, Dye was back with his old beer magic this weekend, cooking up a few vats of Broadcaster Brown Ale for the program’s anniversary at Philadelphia Brewing Co.Another gift to fans — a live two-hour anniversary concert today, (Oct. 30) 2 to 4 p.m., on XPN.org or WXPN’s local signal in Philadelphia. Update: Highlights of anniversary performances this weekend by John Hiatt, Dawes, Indigo Girls and Feist! will be heard on the broadcast Friday, Nov.
A freelance web producer for The Takeaway, a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, has been fired for her reported participation in the Occupy Wall Street protests.Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Caitlin E. Curran wrote a first-person piece Friday (Oct. 28) on the Gawker website detailing what happened during an Oct. 15 protest in Times Square, and her subsequent termination. Curran’s plan was to have her boyfriend hold a sign, and she would observe reactions to its message and post reports on her personal Twitter account. When her boyfriend “developed sign-holding fatigue” Curran wrote on Gawker, she “took over momentarily.”
Here’s a probable first for the pubcasting system: Live roller derby! KXLL-FM/Excellent Radio in Juneau, Alaska (“Public Radio That Will Melt Your Face Off”), will stream the matchup between two local teams, the Kilkats and the Raven Lunatics, on its website, for later broadcast on the statewide 360 North channel. Tonight’s (Oct. 29) bout, “Night of the Living Derby,” will be hosted by In DeKline of KXLL and Money Honey of the Juneau Roller Girls. Check out all the excitement online at midnight Eastern, 8 p.m. Juneau time.
Two public broadcasters are collaborating with an Ohio observatory and Nevada planetarium in a unique partnership to bring a December lunar eclipse live to web viewers worldwide. KNPB in Reno, Nev., and Star Gazers, a production of WPBT2 in Miami, are producing the streaming event, which “offers the opportunity for everyone to enjoy and discuss the entire lunar eclipse regardless of their location,” said co-host Marlene Hildago, a science educator with the Miami Science Museum. She’ll host with Dean Regas, outreach astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory; Bill Dishong, series producer of the new Star Gazers as well as the original Star Gazer with Jack Horkheimer; and Dan Ruby, associate director of the Fleischmann Planetarium in Reno.The Miami station had great success last year with a live stream of a lunar eclipse, ending up with more than 1,000 new Facebook friends and raves from chat-room participants from as far away as Japan.
PBS UK, the Public Broadcasting Service’s first international commercial channel, has finalized a carriage deal with Virgin Media. The agreement includes rights to offer PBS content across its TV On Demand services, including the Virgin Media online and its mobile player. The deal “gives PBS the best chance of reaching the widest audience,” said Richard Kingsbury, PBS UK general manager. PBS UK content also will run on Sky Digital.
MacNeil/Lehrer Productions has hired a new president and c.e.o., Boisfeuillet “Bo” Jones Jr., who has spent the last 32 years in executive positions at the Washington Post Co. “It is a happy day for us in public broadcasting,” said Robert MacNeil in a statement. “We welcome a man of such rich experience in journalism management to help us keep MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and PBS NewsHour vital into the future.””Bo Jones is the ideal person to take us where we must go,” said Jim Lehrer, who stepped down from the anchor chair in June. “He has a unique combination of journalistic integrity and business acumen, plus he understands Americans’ increasing demand for serious journalism about the issues and events that matter.” Jones is currently vice chairman of the Washington Post Co. and chairman of the Washington Post newspaper.
Public, educational and government (PEG) channels are facing numerous financial, policy and technological obstacles, according to a new Congressional Research Service report. “The study lays out what we have been saying all along,” said John Rocco, president of American Community Television (ACT), tells Broadcasting & Cable. “PEG access television has been under attack and is in desperate need of a Congressional fix.”The report also references the Community Access Preservation Act (CAP Act, HR 1746), backed by ACT and introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). The bill, opposed by cable operators, would allow jurisdictions to require cable companies to provide at least 2 percent of gross cable revenues in PEG support and would prevent charging subscribers for digital to receive PEG channels migrated from analog tiers.
PBS President Paula Kerger gave the keynote address Thursday (Oct. 27) at the Public Broadcasting International meeting, going on this week in Singapore. Kerger told the audience that she recently read the book Great by Choice, by Jim Collins, which examines why some companies thrive in uncertain times and others simply get by. “His findings were surprising, but absolutely relevant to all of us in this room,” she told the representatives from 20 noncommercial broadcast entities.Collins found “that the best leaders did not take more risks or have grander ambitions,” Kerger said. “Instead, the companies that succeeded were led by people who were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.
Two pubcasting deaths of note:— Art Langlas, “Mr. Auction” both behind and in front of the camera for Milwaukee Public Television Friends, died Wednesday (Oct. 26) of complications after surgery. He was 65. As auction director, Langlas raised $1 million a year over the past decade for the Wisconsin station. “He was the face of the auction,” said Mike McKenzie, who now oversees the annual weeklong fundraiser.
Eight radio docs, including pieces for Radiolab, This American Life, Marketplace and WNYC Radio, won trophies from among 300 entries in the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards, presented Oct. 23 in Chicago.The winners are listed below and pictured on the Third Coast Festival’s Facebook page.Documentary, Gold Award: “The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt,” by Nick van der Kolk and sound designer Brendan Baker, with Nick Williams, a Love + Radio podcast “for mature audiences.” (On the Nieman Journalism Lab blog, Annie Gilbertson discusses van der Kolk’s podcast about a Detroit strip club, which features profane language and dark subject matter.)Documentary, Silver: “Finding Emilie,” by Jad Abumrad with Robert Krulwich and Soren Wheeler, the team from WNYC’s Radiolab. Documentary, Bronze: “Patriot Games,” by Ben Calhoun, for This American Life, about two friends who formed a Tea Party chapter in Petoskey, Mich. Edited by Ira Glass and Julie Snyder.Documentary, Honorable Mention: “Heel, Toe, Step Together,” by Katie Burningham (U.K.) about an octogenarian East End London dancer, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.Directors’ Choice: “Children of Sodom and Gomorrah,” by English-language producer Sharon Davis and original German-language writer/producer Jens Jarisch, about a hellish, toxic computer waste dump in Accra, Ghana. English version broadcast on Australia’s ABC Radio National.
Mario A. Vazquez, a board member of the Alamo Public Telecommunications Council, is the new executive vice president and station manager of San Antonio’s KLRN-TV. Vazquez was previously head of the contract administration department at NuStar Energy. “Mario brings exceptional skills to this new position,” said KLRN President William Moll in a statement. “He was trained as a classical pianist, practiced as a paralegal, holds a degree in political science, and has long demonstrated a commitment of service to the communities of San Antonio, Laredo and South Central Texas.”
Dish Network is asking the Supreme Court to rule on what First Amendment test should apply to its Congressional mandate to carry noncommercial stations in HD over other stations, reports Broadcasting & Cable. “At issue, if the Supremes take the case, could be the underpinnings of entire government must-carry regime,” reporter John Eggerton notes.Dish filed a petition for certiorari, asking for a review of a decision last February in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Congress could require a private party (Dish) to grant preferential treatment to noncommercial stations. Dish claims the government is favoring one type of speech over another. “Applying intermediate scrutiny, the Ninth Circuit upheld the preference based on the government’s interest in increasing the popularity of federally funded stations to increase the flow of viewer donations. In other words, telethons trump editorial discretion,” Dish said in its current filing.It added: “Dish believes its viewers are more interested in seeing Harry Potter and the Super Bowl in HD than Charlie Rose and Sesame Street.”
An anonymous donor has emerged to save pubradio KCPW in Salt Lake City from a loan default on Nov. 1, reports The Salt Lake Tribune. The $250,000 gift came just as Mayor Ralph Becker threatened to block a second attempt by the City Council to loan the money to the struggling station. Attorneys for the city’s Redevelopment Agency deemed the aid inappropriate (Current, Oct. 17).
Joaquin Alvarado has been named one of the Top 100 Hispanic Influentials by HispanicBusiness magazine. Joaquin, American Public Media’s senior v.p. for digital innovation, was selected from among Hispanics of U.S. citizenship who have had recent and national impact, whose achievements inspire other Hispanics to similar endeavors, and who have promoted the advancement of Hispanics in the United States by their leadership, community involvement or professional achievements. “Innovation is key” to exerting a positive influence in the Hispanic community, Alvarado told the magazine, “because the Hispanic community and the minority communities in this country are oftentimes the early adopters of new technologies.” Prior to his APM appointment, Alvarado was senior v.p. for diversity and innovation at CPB, as well as a founder of National Public Lightpath, advocating for a high-speed fiber optic network as the next generation of the Internet with public media, education and community leadership. (Image: APM)
Three new-media innovators have joined the Knight Foundation’s board of trustees. The elections of Joichi Ito, director of MIT’s Media Lab; John Palfrey, professor at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society; and Chris Hughes, Facebook co-founder, “emphasized the importance of technology and media innovation on the delivery of news and information to communities,” the foundation said in an announcement today (Oct. 25).“The addition of these three seminal thinkers and key actors in the world of media innovation — in the search for how to inform communities in the digital age — is a giant leap forward for Knight,” said Alberto Ibargüen, foundation president and a former board chairman of PBS. “They will challenge and help guide us to an even more entrepreneurial approach to media innovation and engagement of people in communities.”
As more public media stations adopt social media for news reporting and user engagement, their next and more difficult challenge is to analyze the success of these efforts. Kim Bui, social media specialist and community editor for Southern California Public Radio/KPCC, has developed an aggressive methodology for tracking the impact of the station’s social media work, according to IMA blogger Amanda Hirsch, who interviewed Bui in a recent Q&A. “We use metrics to back up a lot of decisions,” Bui says. “We track as much as we can about how we use social media, using any method we can. We use Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and software called Argyle Social to track almost everything we do socially – from the Twitter and Facebook widgets we put on the SCPR site to how far a particular story was taken socially.”
Longtime PBS talk-show host Charlie Rose says he’s “having conversations” with CBS about possibly joining The Early Show, Rose revealed in a conversation with The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz.”I’m intrigued by the fact that they want to do it differently,” Rose says. “They understand that their success will not lie in duplicating what’s already on morning television.”Later, when the New York Times asked if that meant Rose might leave his namesake program, he replied, “not under any circumstances.”