Programs/Content

American Routes throws shindig for 15th anniversary

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Public radio’s American Routes is celebrating its 15th anniversary on the air with a dance and concert in New Orleans and a discount for stations adding the show. The April 19 concert at the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Bowl will feature the Treme Brass Band, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, Irma Thomas, Ivan Neville and other luminaries of the Louisiana and New Orleans music scenes. Sponsored by WWNO-FM in New Orleans, the fundraiser for the music program will be recorded and distributed to stations for broadcast during the week of July 4. Hosted by folklorist and anthropology professor Nick Spitzer, American Routes airs on 260 stations. It has faced challenges to maintain steady carriage as more stations adopt news/talk formats and has “won and lost” some battles in that effort, Spitzer told Current in an email.

Quick Takes

PubTV manager Pruess lands top spot at WQPT-TV in Moline, Ill.

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Veteran pubcaster Mary Pruess, who resigned her position as president and general manager of WNIT-TV in South Bend, Ind., in October 2012, takes over April 22 as director of WQPT-Quad Cities Public Television in Moline, Ill. “Mary’s expertise in public broadcasting and community outreach will further enhance WQPT’s outstanding level of service to the region,” said Joe Rives, vice president for Quad Cities and planning at Western Illinois University. Pruess spent a decade at WNIT, from 2002-2012. Previously, she served in several managerial positions at WHRO-TV in Norfolk, Va.; was deputy director of TRAC Media Services in Tucson; c.e.o. of the Public Television Programmers Association; program manager at KHUT-TV in Houston; and held various posts at KAET-TV in Phoenix. She replaces Rick Best, who retired in June 2012.

Programs/Content

KQED launches 11th season of ImageMakers and new spinoff show

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ImageMakers, the indie film showcase curated by San Francisco’s KQED TV, will debut the Oscar-winning film Curfew, May 12. Every year, KQED Program Director Scott Dwyer makes the film festival rounds and screens over 2,000 productions to curate a new season of ImageMakers, a series featuring short independent films from around the world. He rushed to buy broadcast rights to Shawn Christensen’s Curfew in January 2012, as soon as he watched it and well before the drama started gaining recognition. “In order to compete with places like Starz, Sundance Channel and HBO, I have to buy them really fast, before they start to win awards,” said Dwyer, whose film festival circuit includes the Aspen Shortsfest and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Dwyer, series creator and producer, conceived of ImageMakers in the late 1990s, when he realized that Masterpiece Theater was the only regular drama on PBS.

People

NPR’s Ina Jaffe wins national Gracie as outstanding correspondent

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Among national award winners, NPR’s Ina Jaffe was named outstanding reporter/correspondent. The Gracies honor programming created for, by or about women. The national Gracies will be awarded May 21 in Beverly Hills, Calif., and the winners in local, online, public and student markets will be honored June 26 in New York.

Quick Takes

And the pubradio brackets winner is . . .

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Despite some impressive social-media cheerleading by several worthy competitors, the winner of KPCC’s Public Radio Brackets is This American Life. More than participants 50,000 chose their fave programs and as one commenter noted, “This was the toughest decision I ever had to make as a voter.”

Quick Takes

Repacking complications loom following broadcast spectrum auctions

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Many broadcasters may be in for “unpleasant repacking surprises” following the FCC’s upcoming spectrum auctions, writes Washington, D.C., telecom lawyer Michael Berg on the TVNewsCheck media site. Stations on channels below 31 think they won’t be moved or reconfigured, but this will vary by market, he writes. And a station can be repacked even it it remains on its current channel. “It is important for television broadcasters to be aware of ongoing developments, and not to assume prematurely that repacking won’t affect your station,” Berg notes.

Development

Few ‘Magic Moments’ in March pledge

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Pledge results reported by public TV stations from recently concluded on-air fundraisers were down 20 percent to 25 percent from the March 2012 drive, according to Kristen Kuebler, director of station research for Arizona-based TRAC Media. For most stations, the March fund drive is typically the biggest of the year, and revenues generated from it influence budgeting for the next fiscal year. Stations reported to TRAC and PBS that audience response to the latest pledge shows was tepid at best. The top-performing show among TRAC’s client stations was Magic Moments: The Best of ’50s Pop, a program that was first released for public TV broadcasts in 2005. It brought in 8 percent of all pledges, below their strongest show from the March 2012 drive: a self-help special from motivational speaker Wayne Dyer, Wishes Fulfilled, that generated 11 percent of total dollars raised by TRAC stations.

People

Pat Perini, pubTV producer

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Patricia “Pat” Perini, a public television producer, director, writer and production executive for more than three decades, died Feb. 21 after a long battle with leukemia. She was 68.

People

Roger Ebert, film critic and pubTV icon, dead at 70

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Roger Ebert, the legendary film critic who got his television start on Chicago PBS station WTTW, died April 4 after a long battle with cancer. He was 70. “Everyone at WTTW is deeply saddened by the loss of Roger Ebert, whose courageous battle with cancer in recent years was an inspiration to us all,” WTTW President Dan Schmidt said in a statement.

Quick Takes

Google updates Currents aggregation app, signs licensing agreement with APM

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Google released updates to its Google Currents news-curation app March 20, including enhanced audio capabilities, and Minnesota-based American Public Media is taking advantage of them. The free app, currently available on Android platforms, has a structure similar to those offered by other digital news curators such as Flipboard and Pulse. Users subscribe to feeds from news outlets that appear as simple RSS lists or, if the provider has signed a licensing agreement with Google, as enhanced magazine-style content. Its latest updates include audio playlists and media bars with options to pause and skip tracks. More than 10 million users have installed Currents since its December 2011 launch.

Quick Takes

Louisville Public Media hits Kickstarter goal early for short fiction series

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Louisville Public Media topped its $4,000 Kickstarter campaign goal for Unbound, its new short fiction series, six days ahead of schedule. As of 4 p.m. April 3, the Kickstarter project had secured pledges totaling $4,153 from 141 backers. The campaign will conclude on April 8, so could secure additional pledges before it winds down. The first 10-episode season of Unbound is budgeted at cost $9,000. LPM sought $4,000 from Kickstarter backers and the remaining $5,000 from a sponsorship deal with Spalding University in Louisville.

Quick Takes

PubTV programmer Hernandez moving into new post at KQED

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Susie Hernandez, a past president of the Public Television Programmers Association, has accepted a newly created position at KQED in San Francisco as associate program director. Hernandez will work under veteran pubTV programmer Scott Dwyer. Most recently she was television program director at Arizona Public Media in Tucson, and previously worked at Independent Television Service in San Francisco in several capacities, including as director of broadcast for more than a decade. Hernandez begins work May 1.

Programs/Content

Public TV’s first TED Talks Education special tapes live this week

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TED, the nonprofit behind the high-profile conferences about ideas in technology, entertainment and design (as well as NPR’s new weekend series), and WNET will co-produce TED’s first original television show this spring. TED Talks Education will tape before a live audience Thursday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The New York City station is partnering with PBS and CPB for the hourlong program of short talks by education advocates on the theme of teaching and learning. TED Talks Education will air nationally May 7 on PBS as part of CPB’s American Graduate high-school dropout initiative. Musician John Legend will host.