Quick Takes

Programmer Craig Curtis set to exit Southern California Public Radio

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KPCC Program Director Craig Curtis is departing Southern California Public Radio after 12 years, according to a station memo posted online by LA Observed. Russ Stanton, KPCC vice president of content, said in the memo that Curtis “oversaw the transformation of KPCC’s programming from its music [and] news format into the 24/7 news and information programming we deliver today.” Curtis’s last day is Friday. Update: Curtis confirmed the news of his departure for Current, saying that the decision to leave was his and that it was “time for a change” at KPCC. “I feel good about where KPCC has come and where it’s headed, and I feel good about me heading out now,” he wrote in an email.

Quick Takes

Software update reveals FCC methodology for upcoming spectrum auctions

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The FCC has “quietly revealed” the methodology it will use for repacking television channels after upcoming spectrum auctions, reports TV Technology. The agency just released a new version of its OET-69 software, called TVStudy, which will perform interference analyses for repacking. OET-69 is based on the Longley-Rice signal propagation model — also known as the irregular terrain model — which TV Technology refers to as “an analog-era methodology that yielded shortcomings when applied after the DTV transition.” And according to Broadcasting & Cable, the National Association of Broadcasters this week expressed concern to the FCC over a proposed change to the Longley-Rice model, which the FCC may update to reflect 2010 Census population data. The NAB said that change at this point could  “create instability in the [auction] process that can only serve to undermine the auction that NAB and other industry players are working extremely hard to make work as Congress intended.”

Quick Takes

Ira Glass responds to charges that he’s trying to censor risqué podcast

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As one of the most popular podcasts of all time, Public Radio International’s This American Life has had to deal with its fair share of imitators and parodies over the years, and many other podcasts have appropriated the “This American…” moniker to draw attention to their own audio. On Feb. 5, SF Weekly spotlighted one such effort that was reportedly getting heat from Glass and his attorneys over trademark violation: This American Whore, a podcast covering sex workers’ issues, created in November 2012 by Siouxsie Q, a San Francisco sex worker. Siouxsie Q first tweeted on Feb.

Quick Takes

Stars turn out for red-carpet debut of Makers: Women Who Make America

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The gala premiere of Makers: Women Who Make America brought out A-list celebs Wednesday at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. The online/on-air project from PBS and AOL is building an archive of short interviews with dozens of influential women, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,  sex educator Dr. Ruth Westheimer, domestic doyenne Martha Stewart and media maven Oprah Winfrey. The broadcast documentary debuts Feb. 26 on PBS. Luminaries at the gala premiere included feminist activist Gloria Steinem, who inspired series creators Dyllan McGee, Betsy West and Peter Kunhardt to chronicle the influence of the women’s movement; NBC’s Katie Couric; Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates; actresses Kyra Sedgwick and Diahann Carroll and Murphy Brown Director Diane English.

Programs/Content

NPR targets younger listeners with four-city “radiotypes” campaign

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NPR has launched a three-month multimedia marketing campaign that aims to increase audience for stations in four markets around the country. The campaign runs the gamut of media, including billboards, social media and print, TV and digital ads. Participating stations are KERA in Dallas; WFYI in Indianapolis; KPBS in San Diego; and WMFE in Orlando, Fla. NPR chose the stations based on their opportunity to grow audience and their eagerness to work with the network, according to Emma Carrasco, chief marketing officer for NPR. They were also selected for geographic diversity.

Programs/Content

Jesse Thorn’s Bullseye moving to NPR

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More than six weeks after first announcing his arts-and-culture radio program’s exit from longtime distributor PRI, Jesse Thorn revealed the details of Bullseye’s new partnership on his Tumblr account Feb. 7. Beginning in April, the program will be distributed through NPR, with no break in carriage after the program’s relationship with PRI ends in late March.

Quick Takes

NPR’s Scott Simon to record pilot for mysterious new variety show

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Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, is holding a free taping of a pilot episode for an experimental radio variety show, Scott Simon’s Wonderful Town. The taping will take place Feb. 26 at the bar Bell House in Brooklyn, N.Y., where NPR’s pub trivia program Ask Me Another is recorded, and will feature comedian Jim Gaffigan, musician Julian Velard and other guests. Tickets are already sold out. NPR spokesperson Emerson Brown told Current the taping is “an experiment,” and that while Simon and the network’s programming staff are likely to tape one more event based on feedback from the Feb.

Quick Takes

Russell to exit PBS for COO post at PBS SoCal

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Andrew Russell, a veteran pubcasting executive with more than 18 years’ experience at both PBS and CPB, is moving to PBS SoCal in Orange County, Calif., as chief operating officer. “Andy brings vast experience in strategic programming content, new business development, and digital, interactive media for public TV and radio, making him the perfect person to help drive our growth and guide our strategic direction,” said PBS SoCal President Mel Rogers said in the announcement. Russell is currently PBS’s senior vice president for strategy and research. He manages audience and content research and strategy for national programming, as well as corporate strategy. Russell joined PBS in February 2007 as s.v.p. of PBS Ventures,  managing revenue-generating activities including partnerships, video sales, corporate underwriting and online sponsorship, Shop PBS, licensing and merchandising.

Quick Takes

Downton ratings second only to the Super Bowl

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Up against the ratings powerhouse that was Super Bowl XLVII — PBS’s Downton Abbey not only held its own, but came in second place for the night. PBS and WGBH cited Nielsen Overnight data in reporting that Downton drew a 4.4 household rating Feb. 3.  Average audience ratings for the first five episodes of Season 3 of the Masterpiece Classic miniseries have been 72 percent larger than the viewership of the first five episodes of Season 2, which aired last winter. Nielsen said the Super Bowl, which the Baltimore Ravens won over the San Francisco 49ers, was viewed by an estimated 108.4 million people, making it the third most-watched program in U.S. television history. Season 3 of Downton Abbey wraps up on Feb.

Quick Takes

Well-timed tweet on Super Bowl blackout earns PBS lots of digital attention

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PBS “struck social media gold” Sunday night when it tweeted during the Super Bowl’s half-hour power outage that viewers should switch to Downton Abbey instead, reports Paid Content, a site that covers online business models. The tweet read: “This might be a good time think about alternative programming. #SuperBowlBlackOut #WeHaveDowntonPBS.” Kevin Dando, PBS’s director of digital marketing and communications, told the site that the timing was perfect, because the weekly online Downton discussion was taking place. As soon as Dando tweeted the suggestion, “within seconds, we saw hundreds, then thousands, of retweets.”

Quick Takes

Budget cuts at Marketplace result in departure of another longtime reporter

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This post was updated at 4:50 p.m. on Feb. 4
Marketplace Senior Business Correspondent Bob Moon is leaving the American Public Media show after his position was eliminated in a budget-cutting move, according to a memo released to Current. Moon, a 12-year veteran with the public radio series covering business and finance news, has served as an occasional fill-in host for Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Money. Before joining the Los Angeles-based production in 2000, Moon covered international news for The Associated Press for 20 years; he also served as White House correspondent for the wire service’s broadcast division. In the Feb.

Quick Takes

Former OETA manager now will lead KRSC-TV in Claremore, Okla.

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Royal Aills, a former station manager of Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), is the new general manager of KRSC-TV at Rogers State University in Claremore, Okla. He begins work Feb. 18. He replaces Dan Schiedel, who is now executive director of OETA. Aills spent seven years at OETA, from 1988 through 2005.

Quick Takes

It’s Maryland vs. California pubcasters for Superbowl XLVII bets

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Public broadcasting stations are getting into the action with musical and tasty bets on Sunday’s Superbowl XLVII, which pits the Baltimore Ravens against the San Francisco 49ers. WTMD-FM in Towson, Md., has “thrown down the pigskin” to KALW-FM in San Francisco, in what GM Steve Yasko is calling “the biggest musical bet in football history!” If the Ravens win, KALW promises to play Baltimore bands at the end of local news programming for a week. If the 49ers are victorious, WTMD will air bands from the City by the Bay during its Live Lunch for one week. “Not only do we have the better football team,” Yasko brags, “we got the bigger, better Bay.”

Quick Takes

Amazon will become exclusive paid streaming home for Downton Abbey

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Amazon announced today it has struck a deal with PBS to make its online video streaming service, Prime Instant Video, the exclusive subscription streaming outlet for Downton Abbey. Beginning June 18, Prime Instant Video will be the only subscription streaming service where viewers will be able to watch Season 3 of the smash Masterpiece Classic program. The first and second seasons of the show are currently available on Amazon as well as on rival subscription streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, but will migrate exclusively to Prime on an unspecified date “later this year,” according to a press release from Amazon. Prime will also be the only paid streaming service to offer Season 4 and, if produced, Season 5 of the series. Downton Abbey is already the most popular TV series among Amazon Prime customers, according to Brad Beale, Amazon director of digital video content acquisition.

People

Former executive director of Oregon’s JPR sues over dismissal

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The former executive director of Oregon’s Jefferson Public Radio has filed a lawsuit against Southern Oregon University and the Oregon University System alleging blacklisting and breach of contract in his March 2012 dismissal, among other claims.

SOU dismissed longtime JPR chief Ron Kramer after a university audit found a conflict of interest between his roles as both head of JPR and as executive director of the JPR Foundation, a related nonprofit that had undertaken restoration of historic properties. Yet the university had previously approved of Kramer’s dual role, the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, SOU first proposed in February 2012 that Kramer should resign as executive director of the Foundation. Kramer then filed a grievance with the university, which it rejected, the lawsuit says. He filed another grievance in July, and a grievance committee of the university found that SOU President Mary Cullinan failed to comply with university policies in dismissing Kramer. The lawsuit also points out that Paul Westhelle, who replaced Kramer as executive director of JPR, is now serving in the same role with the JPR Foundation as well.

Quick Takes

Reacting to Drones complaint, ombudsman says links to underwriters “need to be made clear”

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PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler is weighing in on the controversy over an underwriter on Nova’s recent program, Rise of the Drones. Earlier this week, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) complained that the report was sponsored in part by Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the unmanned aircraft. In response, WGBH said it “fully adheres” to funding guidelines. Getler writes in his latest column that he’s received around 700 comments generated by the FAIR “Action Alert.” “In cases such as this one,” he writes, “it always seems to me that it is journalistically proper, and much less costly in the long run, to give transparency the benefit of the doubt — when common sense tells you there might be the perception of a conflict or question — than not to do so.”