Downton Abbey gets a Sideways boost

Actor Paul Giamatti (John Adams, Sideways) is joining the cast of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic. He’ll play Harold, the “maverick, playboy” brother of Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, according to a Masterpiece announcement today. Gareth Neame, managing director of producer Carnival Films, said, “We can’t wait to see him work alongside Shirley MacLaine, who are both sure to upset the Granthams’ apple cart in this year’s finale.”

Downton’s Season 4 premieres Jan. 5, 2014.

KEET, KIXE in California trying collaboration; each has trouble with NFFS minimums

KEET-TV in Eureka, Calif., could lose its Community Service Grant as soon as September because it is not reaching its minimum non-federal financial support requirement, reports the local North Coast Journal in Humboldt County. Executive Director Ron Schoenherr told the newspaper that KEET has never raised its NFFS minimum of $800,000, in its 44 years of broadcasting. KEET has received waivers based on its rural location and limited resources until CPB policies tightened in 2010. In a letter to the station last fall, CPB told KEET it must show by June 30 that “it has significantly improved its long-term financial sustainability through a merger, consolidation, or collaboration.” In April, KEET’s board of directors passed a resolution to collaborate with KIXE in Redding; that station’s board approved a similar resolution in May.

Four more stations join NPR’s Facebook geotargeting project

NPR Digital Services has added four stations to its Local Stories Project, in which participants submit stories to be included on NPR’s Facebook page and geotargeted to Facebook users in their markets. The project launched a little over a year ago with KPLU in Tacoma, Wash., and has since expanded to include 18 stations. Stations submit online stories that are shared via NPR’s Facebook page but appear only in the News Feeds of users in each station’s market. In April the project drove 114,000 visits to station sites, according to NPR. The four new participants are WXPN in Philadelphia, KUER in Salt Lake City, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho and KALW in San Francisco.

CNN correspondent O’Leary joins Marketplace

A day after a shakeup of senior management at Marketplace, American Public Media announced that CNN’s Lizzie O’Leary would be joining the public radio business and economics show as host/correspondent. O’Leary will serve as the primary fill-in host for all the Marketplace programs. When not hosting, O’Leary will cover topics related to the intersection of “politics, policy and Wall Street,” APM said in its announcement.  Prior to joining Marketplace, O’Leary was the aviation and regulation correspondent at CNN. “As a longtime listener, I’m absolutely delighted to join Marketplace,” O’Leary said, in a statement. “Marketplace tells sharp, engaging stories about business and economics the best possible way: by making them about people. I’m thrilled to be part of the team that tells those stories.”

On Monday, J.J. Yore, a veteran producer and co-creator of Marketplace, was one of three senior executives let go in an organizational restructuring of the Minnesota-based company.

Pacifica misses CPB deadlines, holding up funding for stations

CPB has withheld financial support for the Pacifica Foundation’s five radio stations after the organization missed deadlines for fixing errors and shortcomings in its accounting and operations. The errors were discovered during a CPB audit last year that cited Pacifica for insufficient accounting practices, misreported revenues and failure to comply with CPB rules on open meetings and financial transparency. The withholding of CPB funding hits Pacifica at a precarious time as its stations struggle to raise enough money to pay rent and staff. WBAI, Pacifica’s New York station, fell short of its on-air fundraising goal in May by 45 percent, or $343,000. The station can’t cover its June payroll or rent for its antenna, according to a June 9 email by Berthold Reimers, g.m., to members of WBAI’s board.

NPR’s Rudin hopes to launch new show after leaving network

Shutdowns of a show and a reporting project at NPR have prompted the departure of “Political Junkie” Ken Rudin, who has worked at the network since 1991. Rudin appears weekly on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, which is ending production this month. He also served recently as editorial coordinator for StateImpact, a collaborative reporting project with stations that NPR is exiting. “With the combination of Talk of the Nation and StateImpact ending, there wasn’t really a place for me,” Rudin says. “It didn’t come as a surprise.” He will leave NPR at the end of September.

Salt Lake City’s KCPW cites program costs, duplication in canceling NPR programs

Salt Lake City pubcaster Wasatch Public Media, licensee of KCPW-FM, will drop all NPR programs June 24, a schedule change intended to save money and differentiate its service from other pubcasters in the market. “A lot of the decision just came down to sheer economics – NPR is just getting more and more expensive,” said Wasatch C.E.O. Ed Sweeney. “And, when you already have NPR in the market with other stations, it just gets harder and harder to set yourself apart when pitching to sponsors and underwriters.” The University of Utah’s KUER-FM is KCPW’s primary competitor for NPR news listeners. “We were just looking more and more alike, and you can’t stay in business doing that,” Sweeney said.

Pubcasters in Colorado join commercial stations for on-air wildfire relief fundraiser

Colorado public broadcasters are among stations uniting for a live on-air fundraiser Thursday for victims of recent destructive wildfires in the state. Denver stations Rocky Mountain PBS, Colorado Public Television and KUVO-FM, along with KUNC-FM in Greeley and KRCC-FM in Westcliffe, will participate in the “Red Cross 2013 Colorado Wildfires Fundraiser” statewide broadcast, along with six commercial stations. Donations will support Red Cross efforts to assist residents affected by the recent Black Forest fire, and other wildfires that may occur this year. Red Cross volunteers will take calls from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time at Rocky Mountain PBS’s studios in Denver.

Yore departs Marketplace as APM pares executive ranks

J.J. Yore, a veteran producer credited as a creator of the public radio show Marketplace, was one of three senior executives riffed June 17 from American Public Media, the Minnesota-based company that produces the series. Yore, who rose up through the production ranks to become v.p. and g.m. of the weeknightly business and economics show two years ago, will be succeeded by Deborah Clark, executive producer who steps up into the role of v.p.

APM also eliminated positions of Mary Pat Ladner, v.p. of marketing, and Kathy Golbuff, v.p. of underwriting. An APM spokesperson described the restructuring as a move to eliminate layers of management and organize the company around an “Audiences First” strategy. Clark has worked for Marketplace over two stints since 1995, and APM expects her to move the show forward “business as usual,” Mardi Larson, spokesperson, wrote in an email confirming the layoffs. “We thank J.J. for his valuable and lasting contributions to our company’s mission and audience service, and we wish him well in his next career opportunity.” Yore’s departure is the third set of job cuts to hit Marketplace’s staff since last July.

PBS unveils plans for New York-based NewsHour Weekend

PBS President Paula Kerger today told pubTV execs that PBS NewsHour Weekend, a 30-minute broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays, will premiere Sept. 7 from WNET in New York City. Kerger called it “an exciting step forward for PBS NewsHour,” the longtime weekday public affairs show produced at WETA-TV in Arlington, Va. The New York Times first revealed PBS’s plans for the show in March, quoting unnamed public television employees. According to today’s release, Linda Winslow, NewsHour’s executive producer since 2005, will oversee both programs. Marc Rosenwasser, former e.p. of Need to Know, WNET’s recently canceled Friday night newsmag, will serve as executive producer of the new weekend show.

Ford grant will support PRI’s immigration initiative

The Ford Foundation has awarded Public Radio International a two-year, $500,000 grant to support Global Nation, a project that will cover social-justice issues affecting immigrants to the U.S. and their children. Launched last year, Global Nation uses partnerships with ethnic media, independent producers and local public radio stations to find social-justice stories affecting immigrants. The resulting stories air on PRI’s The World. The initiative was initially supported by the Rita Allen Foundation. Using the Ford support, PRI will expand the initiative’s reach with enterprise reporting and an online community of people and civic organizations concerned about immigration issues.