System/Policy
California’s KVCR lays off 35 staffers as it scales back local production strategy
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“Going forward we generally want to mitigate production risk,” said interim GM Keith Birkfeld.
System/Policy
Readers share 2018 highlights and hopes for next year
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What made your 2018 special, and what’s your wish for 2019? Here’s what our readers said.
Programs/Content
For his WBEZ podcast, a storyteller shares the spotlight to profile people ‘in a big ole mess’
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“I’ve done plenty of talking about my own troubles,” Shannon Cason said on the debut episode of “The Trouble.” “But I want to talk to other people about theirs.”
System/Policy
‘Creative financing,’ local partnerships boost Rocky Mountain Public Media capital campaign
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The campaign is supporting RMPM’s new headquarters, with a planned opening by March 2020.
People
NYPR President Laura Walker to step down in June
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Walker cited “new opportunities” that prompted her to leave, including pursuing a university position and “starting her own venture.”
Programs/Content
Alaska station’s forums ‘break down walls’ between community members
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The winner of Current’s Local That Works contest, Alaska Public Media’s “Community in Unity” events tackled topics including racism, immigration and incarceration.
People
Radio pioneer Larry Josephson turns to creative community for support
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“I have to ask my friends for help so I can keep on working and … producing,” says the man known as the “sage of independent producers.”
People
Langner rises at Public Media Co., Terwelp to head Aspen Public Radio, and other comings and goings
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CEO Marc Hand will focus on PMC’s Public Media Venture Group.
Quick Takes
KEET leader says CPB is pressuring California station into merger
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David Gordon said KEET will work with CPB, PBS and members of Congress to save the station.
System/Policy
Emily Donahue leaves Austin’s KUT for public-relations post
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Formerly news director at the station, Donahue will join Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm.
System/Policy
OETA’s fundraising group asks court to intercede in disputes with station
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The OETA Foundation’s petition reveals acrimonious conflicts over everything from content production to management of CSGs.
About Current
We couldn’t have covered these top stories of 2018 without you
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And your year-end donation helps ensure that we can keep following harassment and workplace climate issues in 2019.
Rewind: The Roots of Public Media
‘The World Is Yours’: How the travelogue shaped early public broadcasting
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The globetrotting quality of public media is neither new nor politically neutral and has roots in the earliest days of American broadcasting.
System/Policy
If public radio’s smaller stations vanish, we all lose
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“The ice is melting beneath our feet with the current business model,” writes a station leader.
Quick Takes
WXXI to take over local alt-weekly
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Station President Norm Silverstein said the deal “helps WXXI to better serve our community.”
System/Policy
Public TV is best equipped to educate on channel repack, station GM tells lawmakers
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Bohdan Zachary of Milwaukee PBS testified in Congress Tuesday on the need for consumer education following the spectrum auction.
System/Policy
PBS Board adopts tiered pricing model for top sponsorships
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The board also heard that PBS’ old non–real-time satellite transponder will be turned off Jan. 2.
Quick Takes
New NPR tool provides richer data about podcast listening
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Remote Audio Data aims to help podcast creators and advertisers better understand their audiences.
Programs/Content
Creating ‘After Paradise,’ a public radio show for Northern California’s fire-ravaged communities
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How North State Public Radio’s exhausted news staff and a veteran public radio journalist conceived, birthed and launched a half-hour daily show within 72 hours.
Programs/Content
With generous help from volunteers, overextended California station creates local show about wildfire recovery
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After the regional Society of Professional Journalists put out a call for journalists to help North State Public Radio’s two-person newsroom, veteran host Tess Vigeland stepped in to direct the launch of “After Paradise,” a daily news show.