Programs/Content

WGBH-FM clears more airtime for Boston Public Radio

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In a move to bolster its local news footprint and audience, Boston’s WGBH is adding a third hour to Boston Public Radio, which in April was the top-rated public radio midday show for its noon to 2 p.m. timeslot. Starting in September, Boston Public Radio will begin airing at 11 a.m. weekdays. Hosted by Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, the show made dramatic audience gains compared to last year. The 2.1 share it earned WGBH in April 2013 among listeners aged six and older grew to 3.7 by April 2014, surpassing public radio news competitor WBUR, according to research provided by WGBH. To make room for an expanded BPR, The Takeaway will move to an earlier timeslot, airing 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Diane Rehm Show, which is now airing at that time, will be dropped from the schedule.

Quick Takes

Thursday roundup: Netflix brings back Magic School Bus, John Moe’s new humor book

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• Netflix is reviving the ’90s PBS Kids cartoon The Magic School Bus, commissioning 26 episodes of an revamped series that will join its streaming lineup  in 2016. The Magic School Bus 360° will use computer-generated animation instead of following the original’s hand-drawn aesthetic, the New York Times reports. The on-demand TV service acquired rights to the program from Scholastic Media. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, told NYT that the original PBS show is the top educational offering on the streaming platform. He also hinted that Netflix may embark on future partnerships with Scholastic, the producer behind other popular PBS Kids shows such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and WordGirl. • John Moe, host of American Public Media’s Wits, released a humor book this week that imagines communications between famous pop-culture figures. Dear Luke, We Need to Talk, Darth and Other Pop Culture Correspondences, published through Random House, follows the lead of Moe’s “Pop Song Correspondences” column for the online humor site McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies. • Florida Public Broadcasting Service, the nonprofit association of 26 public television and radio stations, is customizing more than 85,000 digital learning materials from the PBS LearningMedia library to meet mandatory state standards.

Programs/Content

CPB backs new episodes of Hinojosa’s America By The Numbers

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded an $850,000 grant for eight new half-hour episodes of America By The Numbers, a series featuring journalist Maria Hinojosa that had a pilot run as a PBS election special. Programs in the series, which will air on PBS and the World Channel, will cover topics such as health disparities revealed by infant mortality rates, military service by residents of non-voting territories of the Pacific Islands and the effects of the domestic oil boom on Native American lands. “Consistent with the mission of public broadcasting – to give voice to the extraordinary diversity of this country – I am excited that PBS and the World Channel will premiere America by the Numbers,” said Maria Hinojosa, series host and project leader, in a statement. “This eight-part series is the first national TV program dedicated to documenting massive and historic demographic change in the US using hard data and powerful storytelling.”

America By The Numbers is a collaboration between Hinojosa’s Futuro Media Group and Boston’s WGBH. CPB backed the production through its Diversity and Innovation Fund, according to its June 5 grant announcement.

Programs/Content

Pubradio news stations join iTunes Radio lineup

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Expanding NPR’s footprint as the first news provider on Apple’s iTunes Radio, 42 member stations join the  lineup today. iTunes Radio, which is integrated into Apple’s iTunes software, already features a 24-hour stream of NPR content that includes national newscasts and stories from Morning Edition and All Things Considered. As of today, web streams of 42 stations are being offered to iTunes users, including: KPCC in Pasadena, Calif.; WBEZ, Chicago; KWMU, St. Louis; KUT in Austin, Texas; North Country Public Radio, Canton, N.Y.;  KQED, San Francisco; WNYC, New York; Minnesota Public Radio and Colorado’s Aspen Public Radio. The 42 stations on the inaugural launch make up about 55 percent of all member stations that provide online streams of their broadcasts, said Bob Kempf, NPR Digital Services general manager.

Programs/Content

This American Life departure highlights competitive challenge for pubradio satellite system

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The expanding portfolio of Public Radio Exchange, the Internet-based distribution platform, has prompted some public radio insiders to question whether NPR’s Public Radio Satellite System can adapt to stiffer competition for business from content producers. The latest program to move to PRX is the widely carried This American Life, whose producers announced May 28 that they would take over distribution of the show and rely on PRX to deliver weekly editions to stations. TAL will split from distributor Public Radio International July 1, ending a 17-year relationship. That announcement came on the heels of a May 7 decision by Chicago’s WFMT to move its 200 weekly hours of music and spoken-word programming to PRX. Other producers have told Steve Robinson, WFMT executive v.p., that they may be interested in following suit.

Programs/Content

University delays launch of GPB Radio service on Atlanta’s WRAS-FM

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A channel-sharing agreement between Georgia Public Broadcasting and Georgia State University’s student-run radio station WRAS-FM that had been set to start last week has been postponed to June 29. 
The station, also known as Album 88, has been entirely student-run for over 40 years. But in May, the university and GPB announced a partnership that would give GPB the station from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. The partnership, which originally had been scheduled to take effect June 1, was arranged without student input and met with opposition from Album 88 DJs, alumni and fans. The delay in implementing the partnership was announced after a May 30 meeting among members of the station’s student staff and GSU president Mark Becker. In a statement on the WRAS Facebook page, Georgia State said it decided to delay the transition to address issues brought up by students.

Quick Takes

Monday roundup: APTS, PBS, CPB criticize FCC auction rules; ‘Bob Ross Bar Crawl’ set

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• Pubcasting is not happy with the FCC’s spectrum auction report, with three of the system’s major organizations saying June 6 that the new rules violate the Public Broadcasting Act. “We are obliged to express our profound disappointment that the Commission has rejected one of public television’s most important policy goals in the auction process — our request that the Commission ensure that no community find itself without free access to public television service in the aftermath of the auction,” read a joint statement from the presidents of  the Association for Public Television Stations, CPB and PBS. • The second annual “Bob Ross Bar Crawl” will take place Sept. 30 in Chicago. Ross fan Jimmy Barrett got the idea for the event after holding a Halloween party in which two of his friends coincidentally both dressed as the Joy of Painting star. Attendees will ride a rented trolley around Chicago’s North Side, decked out in beards and Afro wigs, according to DNAInfo Chicago.

Quick Takes

WYPR staffers petition to join SAG-AFTRA union

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Editorial staffers at Baltimore’s WYPR are petitioning management for union representation, according to a June 6 release from broadcast union SAG-AFTRA, which seeks to represent them. A majority of editorial staff delivered a union petition to management June 3, and the National Labor Relations Board received a petition June 6, according to the release. Management has not yet acknowledged the petition. “We all believe in the value of public radio, as well as WYPR’s mission to produce high-quality journalism,” the release read. “We want to see the station improve and better serve listeners across the state.

System/Policy

In radio appearance, ‘Citizen Koch’ filmmakers allege self-censorship in public TV

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The filmmakers behind a new documentary briefly discussed their “deeply troubling” experience with public TV in an appearance on public radio’s On Point Wednesday. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal directed Citizen Koch, now hitting theaters after vying for grant funding and a broadcast commitment from PBS’s Independent Lens. The film examines the influence of wealthy conservatives such as David and Charles Koch on Republican politics. A May 2013 article by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer suggested that ITVS, Independent Lens’s producer, backed away from the film due to pressure from New York’s WNET, where David Koch sat on the board. Appearing on On Point, Lessin and Deal said ITVS asked them to remove content related to the Kochs from their film and to change the name.

System/Policy

CPB, RTL award $2.2 million for public TV school-readiness projects

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CPB and Ready to Learn, a U.S. Department of Education program supporting preschool learning, will provide $2.2 million in grants to 21 public television stations to create new or expand existing school-readiness projects. One of the new grants, announced June 3, will establish an Illinois Ready to Learn transmedia network with pubTV partners WILL in Champaign-Urbana, WSIU in Carbondale and WTVP in Peoria, to reach 12,000 educators and 13,000 school children. Partnering with community coalitions in central and southern Illinois, the effort will provide educational programs to three low-income communities, as well as offer professional development for educators. The stations received just over $105,000 for that work. Since 2011, pubTV stations nationwide have used Ready to Learn grants specifically to extend the educational benefits of PBS Kids content by providing interactive math and literacy programs and services to local communities.