• The FCC released Monday the entire text of its Report and Order detailing rules for upcoming broadcast spectrum auctions; broadcasters had been awaiting its release since the FCC approved it May 15. One issue that the 484-page document addresses is how translators will be handled during spectrum channel repacking, which is of keen interest to public television stations that use them. The rules state that although the FCC is not offering special protection for translators, it will open a special filing window for displaced stations to select new channels and will amend its rules to expedite the process.
• Poet Maya Angelou was participating in the first biographical documentary about her for public television’s American Masters series in the days leading up to her death May 28, according to the AM website. “We look forward to her taking her rightful place in the American Masters series, albeit posthumously,” the filmmakers said in the post, which features a January photograph of Angelou with co-producer/directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack and director of photography Keith Walker.
• Friday marks the 40th year of finals for Scholastic Scrimmage, a popular academic quiz show on WLVT in Bethlehem, Pa. Teams from 28 high schools have been competing in elimination rounds that began in October, all shown on PBS 39, reports the local Morning Call.
• Hip-hop recording artist Chance the Rapper covered the theme song to PBS Kids’ long-running series Arthur at the Sasquatch Music Festival over Memorial Day weekend. The song, “Believe in Yourself,” was written by Judy Henderson and Jerry de Viliers Jr. and is performed for the show by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Chance’s cover was a hit online, picked up by outlets including Time and The Atlantic.
• NPR’s social media desk has been using Tumblr to publicly post its internal discussions about social media strategy. Capital New York spoke to team leader Melody Kramer about the Tumblr, who explains, “We’re public media. We really think that what we do should be visible and public.”
Arthur rocks!!!