Development

Sharp staff cuts at Pacifica’s WBAI aim to save station

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Pacifica has laid off the entire news department of WBAI-FM and almost all paid staff effective Monday in an effort to keep the cash-strapped New York outlet solvent. Pacifica Interim Executive Director Summer Reese made the announcement on WBAI’s air Friday afternoon. Reese told listeners that she had arrived at the station by cab directly from negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents WBAI staff. “We have not been able to fully recover  . .

Quick Takes

Pacifica’s WBAI lays off news staff, most on-air talent

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This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. Pacifica’s WBAI-FM is laying off its entire news department and almost all paid staff effective Monday as the cash-strapped New York outlet  fights to stay solvent. Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese made the announcement on-air on Friday afternoon. Reese told the audience that she came to the station by cab directly from negotiations with the SAG-AFTRA union. “We have not been able to fully recover, not only from the hurricane, but from many years of financial stress at this radio station,” Reese said, on Friday.

Programs/Content

Head programmer looking for “PBS twist” in scripted drama on Civil War

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PBS is commissioning a second scripted drama, Chief Programming Executive Beth Hoppe told Current at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour this week in Los Angeles. The latest script request is for a Civil War period piece, Hoppe said. “We’re really focusing on things that have historical accuracy and untold stories at their core, as we try to select what to bet on in the drama space,” she noted. “The Civil War is territory that PBS has a great track record for, so it’s a matter of finding that PBS twist.” She declined to discuss further details. In May, Variety reported that PBS had ordered a pilot script for Alta California, set in the 1800s and centering on an arranged marriage between two families, one Mexican-Californian and the other European American.

Quick Takes

PBS looking strong among younger viewers, entertainment news site reports

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PBS is the only broadcast network that is “dramatically up” in viewers 18 to 34 years old, as well as up in total viewers and holding steady in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic,  reports The Wrap, a digital news organization covering entertainment and media. Perhaps one explanation could be that PBS is putting as much content as possible online on YouTube, Netflix and Amazon. “It seems to act as a marketing tool for us to drive more television tune-in,” said Jason Seikin, PBS’s digital guru.

Quick Takes

Penn State pubcaster WPSU part of university media rebranding effort

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Penn State Public Broadcasting is now Penn State Public Media, its licensee announced today. “We will continue to operate as a broadcasting service but have expanded to online content development and we wanted our name to reflect that,” said Kate Domico, executive director of public media at the university, which includes WPSU-TV/FM.

Gwen Ifill

NewsHour promotes Ifill and Woodruff to helm show, as TV’s first female co-anchor team

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The PBS NewsHour  is reassigning its senior journalists to new roles by tapping Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff as co-anchors and managing editors of the weeknightly broadcasts. The change, announced today during the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles, drops the system of rotating anchor duties among six different NewsHour journalists. It takes effect next month. Jim Lehrer, longtime anchor and co-owner of the show through MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, retains the title of executive editor, but Ifill and Woodruff will lead editorial and strategic planning of PBS’s flagship news show. “Gwen and Judy have been the heart and soul of NewsHour for years,” said Linda Winslow, executive producer, “so it’s wonderful to formalize these new roles and give them an opportunity to provide even more input on the content and direction of the show.”

Quick Takes

NPR and Threadless launch T-shirt challenge

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Threadless, a online company that sells T-shirts with designs voted on by users, is calling for artists to submit designs inspired by NPR and public radio. “We’re all huge fans of NPR and the content they bring to the ears of so many people,” said Threadless CEO Jake Nickell in an NPR press release. “With all of the avid NPR listeners over here at Threadless, the idea of a collaboration between NPR and the Threadless community just made so much sense.”

Artists have until August 26 to submit creations for the “My Sound World” challenge, one of several themed challenges that the website hosts. Once submissions close, users will have one week to vote on the designs. The winner will receive a $2,000 cash prize, a limited-edition alarm clock with an NPR-inspired design by pop artist Peter Max, an autographed copy of the book This is NPR, a $500 Threadless gift code and a private tour of NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The design that the community chooses will be sold online and at the NPR Store.

Quick Takes

WBUR sells AM repeater on Cape Cod to Portuguese language broadcaster

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WBUR licensee Boston University agreed Monday to sell its AM repeater in Yarmouth, Mass., to Langer Broadcasting Group LLC. WBUR entered into the agreement to sell WBUR-AM 1240 to Langer, which plans to flip the station from news to a Portuguese-language format to serve local Portuguese and Brazilian communities. The deal is pending FCC approval, and the sale price was not released. WBUR-AM was the first station on Cape Cod and has been transmitting since 1940. WBUR bought the signal in 1997.

Programs/Content

Grant to Frontline will create its first desk, to oversee news collaborations

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Frontline is spending $1.5 million to bolster its ability to manage its news collaborations, which are growing in number as well as importance. Raney Aronson, deputy executive producer, said the investigative showcase will establish a four-person collaboration desk through a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Philadelphia-based Wyncote Foundation. She tapped Frontline’s series budget for matching funds for the desk, which will also concentrate on transmedia efforts. “The way we do journalism has changed,” Aronson told Current. “Frontline is no longer simply a documentary series on a Tuesday night.” More than half of the films and online reports produced by Frontline are done in collaboration with kindred organizations such as the New York Times, NPR, the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica and, more recently, Spanish-language network Univision.

Quick Takes

PBS becoming more topical under programmer Hoppe, AP notes

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In anticipation of PBS’s appearance this week at the annual Television Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., The Associated Press distributed a July 29 story looking at PBS Chief Programmer Beth Hoppe’s ongoing work to cast it as network instead of a public service. As writer David Bauder notes, “There’s a difference between waiting to see what work producers will offer you and actively going out with some of your own ideas.” Hoppe has done that, as well as “tried to make PBS more topical,” with an examination of guns in America that ran a month after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting; and programs on the Boston Marathon bombing, the meteorite that exploded over Russia in February and the devastation of Superstorm Sandy. PBS’s presentations at the TCA press tour take place today, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Quick Takes

Alabama network will drop Public Radio International shows

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Alabama Public Radio will eliminate Public Radio International shows from its schedule, dropping This American Life and The World, reports Tuscaloosanews.com. Director Elizabeth Brock said the decision was based in part on budget concerns. APR will fill the gaps left in its schedule by adding Radiolab and an additional hour of All Things Considered.

Programs/Content

Crowd at WPT kids’ event gets a welcome from the White House

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Michelle Obama is kicking off a special event hosted by Wisconsin Public Television this morning. Appearing in a pre-recorded video, the first lady is welcoming children and parents to the network’s 15th annual PBS Kids Get Up and Go! Day. The event promotes family-friendly ideas on how to stay active, healthy and enjoy the outdoors. “Hi everyone!

Programs/Content

New Orleans PDP station WLAE ends PBS membership

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WLAE in New Orleans dropped PBS programming as of Aug. 1. General Manager Ron Yager told Current that the decision to forego PBS membership saves the station around $130,000 annually, allowing it to invest in local productions. As an overlap station, WLAE’s lineup of network fare had been limited by its use of the PBS Program Differentiation Plan (PDP). The primary PBS station in the market, community-licensed WYES, continues to air the full national schedule, although for the next month fans of the PBS NewsHour may have trouble finding the weeknightly broadcast.