Quick Takes

Pedlow of Latino Public Broadcasting discusses growing importance of Hispanic stories

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In an interview Hispanic news site Voxxi, Sandie Viquez Pedlow, executive director of Latino Public Broadcasting, talks about raising the profile of a growing segment of America. “If you look at the Census, you see that Latinos right now are 50 million strong and represent 16 percent of the American population,” Pedlow said. “By 2050, nearly one-third of the total American workforce is going to be Hispanic. We, organizations such as Latino Public Broadcasting and other Latino organizations, really need to look at that and we need to translate those numbers into the many stories that are out there and distribute them across all media platforms, so that these stories can be seen and understood by the American public.”

Quick Takes

Romney signed law that provides WGBH with millions, Boston Globe reports

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Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney may have said during last week’s debate that he would eliminate funding to public television, but during his time as Massachusetts governor WGBH in Boston received millions from the state’s film tax credit program that Romney signed into law, according to the Boston Globe. Last year alone WGBH received $4.2 million for programs including American Experience, Antiques Roadshow and Nova. Also, Watertown, Mass., animation studio Soup2Nuts received about $300,000 in subsidies last year, mainly for the PBS series WordGirl. “It has been very helpful for us to make our budget,” WGBH spokesperson Jeanne Hopkins told the newspaper. “That’s funding we would have to find elsewhere.”

Under the program, Massachusetts companies get $1 in film tax credits for every $4 they spend filming movies, television shows, and commercials in the state.

Quick Takes

Margaret Drain to leave Boston’s WGBH in February 2013

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Margaret Drain, longtime head of national programming for production powerhouse WGBH in Boston, is stepping down in February 2013, the pubTV station announced today. Drain has overseen the production of icon series such as American Experience, Frontline, Masterpiece, NOVA and Antiques Roadshow, as well as numerous specials. During her 10 years in the position, the station has won 44 Emmys, 10 du-Pont-Columbia awards and 14 George Foster Peabody awards. “Through her deep commitment to quality journalism, Margaret Drain has advanced WGBH’s mission to serve our audiences across the country with programming that sets the standard for public television,” said WGBH President Jon Abbott. “I am very proud of what I have accomplished at WGBH,” Drain said.

Quick Takes

St. Louis Public Radio, nonprofit Beacon begin collaboration talks

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St. Louis Public Radio and the nonprofit St. Louis Beacon have signed a letter of intent to explore an alliance, they announced today. The two already work together in a Beacon news bureau in Washington, D.C., and on “Beyond November,” a comprehensive election-coverage project that also includes a partnership with the Nine Network of Public Media. “We see the digital revolution as a historic opportunity to further establish St.

Quick Takes

New class of MacArthur fellows includes two POV filmmakers

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Two acclaimed filmmakers whose work has been featured on the documentary showcase  POV on PBS were among the 2012 “Genius Grant” recipients, announced Monday by the  John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Natalia Almada and Laura Poitras, along with the 21 other grantees, will each receive $500,000 paid over five years. Almada, based in Brooklyn and Mexico City, produces works that spotlight the conflict and turmoil of individual lives in Mexico, as well as the complex realities of immigration. Three of her films have been featured on POV, including 2005’s Al Otro Lado and 2009’s El General. Her most recent work, El Velador (The Night Watchman), aired on Sept.

Quick Takes

Video of latest Public Media Futures forum now online

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Video of the fourth in a series of Public Media Futures forums, held Sept. 20 in San Francisco, is now online at the website of one of the sponsoring organizations, the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. This forum highlighted news content innovation and social media integration within the pubcasting system. Here’s background on the forums in Current (Jan. 30).

Quick Takes

FCC soliciting comments on spectrum auctions

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The FCC has released a 205-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the upcoming spectrum auctions to clear bandwidth for mobile devices, and is requesting comments. In the notice, the FCC says that it anticipates participation in the auction by noncommercial educational licensees “will promote the overall goals of the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction and serve the public interest by providing NCE licensees with opportunities to strengthen their financial positions and improve their service to the public.” The FCC also notes that channel sharing by commercial stations and NCE stations operating on reserved channels, one option for broadcasters in the auction, “raises special concerns.” Channel-sharing arrangements could result in “a de facto ‘dereservation'” of the reserved channel, the FCC says. So it is recommending a new method for allocating and licensing NCE stations on reserved channels.

Quick Takes

WTVI brings back first-run PBS shows, rebrands as PBS Charlotte

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WTVI in Charlotte, N.C., will return to carrying first-run PBS programming for the first time since 2004, reports the Charlotte Observer. The move will cost the station about $200,000 annually, according to the newspaper. The struggling pubcaster was taken over by Central Piedmont Community College in March. The station had dropped the primary PBS schedule eight years ago because it duplicated programming on overlap stations UNC-TV in Chapel Hill and SCETV in Columbia. At first the station’s plan to focus on local shows worked, but over time viewership and donations declined.

Quick Takes

PBS planning Jerry Lewis pledge special with producer Jimmy Osmond

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Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis will do a rare television special for PBS premiering in March 2013, the month of the entertainer’s 86th birthday. The program will be available to member stations as a pledge special. “We have been thinking about doing something with or about Jerry Lewis for some time,”  Joe Campbell, PBS v.p., fundraising programming, told Current. “Jimmy Osmond pitched this specific show in early August. The Osmond family has a long relationship with Jerry and convinced him to do the show.”

Quick Takes

Call the Midwife scores 1.5 overnight rating for PBS

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The Sunday night premiere of Call the Midwife, PBS’s eagerly anticipated limited-run drama series from the BBC, earned a 1.5 rating in Nielsen overnights, according to PBS. That’s 50 percent above the usual 1.0 PBS overnights for 8 p.m. Sundays last season, but far less than Downton Abbey’s Season 2 premiere of 2.7. A PBS spokesperson said the Midwife’s 1.5 figure is expected to be higher in full national ratings, which also count DVR hits and within-week repeats. In Britain, Call the Midwife earned bigger ratings than even Downton Abbey, which is now a mega-hit for Masterpiece.

Programs/Content

WNYC reactivates Swing State Radio Network for debate coverage

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The “Swing State Radio Network” launched by New York’s WNYC is returning for the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates. WNYC public affairs host Brian Lehrer will anchor pre-debate call-in shows that will air in New York as well as on WUSF in Tampa, Fla.; WMFE in Orlando, Fla.; WDET in Detroit; WFAE in Charlotte, N.C.; WOSU in Columbus, Ohio; WCPN in Cleveland; Wisconsin Public Radio; and New Hampshire Public Radio. The coverage will also feature a live chat with a video feed hosted on WNYC’s political site, ItsAFreeCountry.org. WNYC political reporter Anna Sale will participate in the chats. The impromptu Swing State network began with coverage of the party conventions.

Quick Takes

CPB’s pared-back FY13 business plan reflects loss of digital funds

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CPB’s business plan and operating budget for 2013, approved by the board at its September meeting, are now available online. The business plan assumes that CPB will be federally funded at the current level of $445 million. It also notes that the system is still struggling financially. “While we are seeing some reports of modest improvement in membership fundraising,” the plan notes, “the $250 million in state support that has been lost across the system over the last few years has not been restored. On the contrary, proposals at the state level to defund or reduce public broadcasting continue.”