FCC

FCC suggests exempting public radio from new online public file requirements

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The FCC is considering giving public radio stations at least two additional years — and maybe even a complete exemption — from a proposed agency regulation that could soon require other radio stations to start publishing public file records online, the agency said in a recent notice. “We recognize that some radio stations may face financial or other obstacles that could make the transition to an online public file more difficult,” said the FCC, in a notice of proposed rulemaking released December 18. “Accordingly, we believe that it is reasonable to commence the transition to an online public file for radio with stations with more resources while delaying, for some period of time, all mandatory online public file requirements for other stations.”

The online proposal is part of an agency effort to make key station records more easily accessible to the public. Under existing FCC rules, all broadcasters, commercial and noncommercial alike, are required to maintain publicly available files that disclose a variety of information about their operations, including details about their ownership. Commercial stations must also include information about political advertising sales in the public files.

Programs/Content

Political news from Michigan’s WKAR goes mobile with new app

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WKAR-TV in East Lansing, Mich., will make content from a weekly state politics and public affairs show available via a mobile app funded by a grant from the Investigative News Network. The scope of WKAR’s proposed app helped it stand out among a pool of 48 applicants, said Kevin Davis, c.e.o. and executive director of INN. “What made it unique was that the app was focused more on a program rather than on general content,” Davis said. “It was quite niche.” (Disclosure: Current is contracting with INN for web development services.)

The weekly show, Off the Record, has provided coverage of Michigan affairs for 43 years, aided in part by WKAR’s location near the state capital. The half-hour broadcast is supplemented by OTR Extra, a live webcast featuring additional discussions among the show’s guests.

People

Mike Starling’s farewell in verse to a career in public radio

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When the Public Radio Regional Organizations presented Mike Starling with its annual PRRO Award last month, the former director of NPR Labs shared a poem he’d written for his sendoff. The award recognizes behind-the-scenes “heroes” whose work advances public radio. Starling had worked in NPR’s technology divisions since 1989 until taking a buyout earlier this year. He’s now starting a low-power FM station in Cambridge, Md. The following are his remarks delivered at the Public Radio Super-Regional conference in Las Vegas Nov.

System/Policy

Spending bill in Congress keeps CPB funding intact

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CPB is set to receive its full requested appropriation in the spending bill nearing passage in Congress, which will fund the government through next September. The 1,603-page bill, already passed by the House of Representatives, includes the full $445 million appropriation for CPB in fiscal year 2017. CPB traditionally receives its appropriation two years in advance to help facilitate production pipelines. Ready to Learn will also receive its requested funding of $25.7 million if the bill passes as written. No critics of public media have surfaced to call for zeroing out CPB funding, said Patrick Butler, president of the Association of Public Television Stations and public TV’s chief lobbyist on the Hill.

System/Policy

FCC requests comments on details of spectrum auction rules

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After hearing statements of dissent from its two Republican commissioners, the FCC approved on a party-line vote Wednesday the release of a notice requesting comment on the nuts and bolts of the upcoming broadcast spectrum auction. The notice, which will be issued later this week, considers complex specifics of the auction of interest to broadcasters, such as calculations to determine opening bid prices and the process for reassigning television channels. It builds on the commission’s Incentive Auction Report and Order and Mobile Spectrum Holdings Order adopted in May, which set basic rules. Congress asked the commission to conduct the voluntary auction to clear bandwidth for mobile devices. Television broadcasters must decide whether to participate by selling off spectrum and dropping their licenses, selling a portion to share a channel with another station, switching from UHF to VHF, or not participating at all.

People

Independent Lens films take home honors, Midwest pubcasters receive Emmys, and more awards in public media

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INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION
Independent Lens took home four wins from the 30th annual IDA Documentary Awards. The public TV documentary series won the award for best curated series for the second year in a row, along with the Humanitas Documentary Award, ABCNews VideoSource award and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. The Humanitas Documentary Award recognizes films that, according to the IDA, explore what it means to be human when facing differences in “culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs” that create barriers between people. Thomas G. Miller’s film Limited Partnership, about the struggle of a legally married same-sex couple fighting for U.S. citizenship for one of the partners, won the award. The ABCNews VideoSource award honors films that make the best use of news footage.

People

Kartemquin Films co-founder Jerry Blumenthal dies at 78

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Jerry Blumenthal, a founding partner of Chicago documentary house Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters), died Nov. 13 after battling cancer. He was 78. “Jerry was my filmmaking partner for over four decades,” said Kartemquin co-founder Gordon Quinn in a statement. “His sense of story, people, politics, and art and artists, will be missed.