Programs/Content

With Sparticl, TPT hopes to make STEM learning fun

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Twin Cities Public Television launched Sparticl, a new STEM-focused sharing website geared toward middle-school students, Oct. 1 with support from a major corporate sponsor. Manufacturing company 3M backed more than two years of research and development of the site prior to its launch early this month. Sparticl curates links to articles, videos and games built around Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related themes, ranging from the environment to nutrition to outer space. Links are geared toward an audience of seventh- through ninth-graders.

Programs/Content

On The Longest Shortest Time, Hillary Frank finds solace in stories of other parents

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Pubradio producer Hillary Frank channeled her experiences during a difficult pregnancy into parenting podcast The Longest Shortest Time, which recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and landed a series of high-profile sponsors. Frank is a contributor to This American Life, Marketplace and other programs, and has written three novels for young adults. She began producing and self-distributing her podcast in 2010 while caring for her infant daughter, whose “sunny-side up” reversal in the womb rendered her mother unable to walk for months after giving birth. “I just felt like I couldn’t be the mom that I wanted to be,” she said of her convalescence and recovery. “What I really wanted was to connect with other moms.”

Frank wanted to counter what she described as the “black and white” philosophy of most parenting books.

Quick Takes

After lawsuit from Colorado Public Radio, TPT drops Open Air name

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Following legal pressure from another public media outlet, Twin Cities Public Television is rebranding its younger-viewer outreach initiative five months after its initial launch. Andi McDaniel, manager of TPT’s Open Air project, announced Oct. 15 on the project blog that the network would be changing the name, citing “the fact that there are other public media brethren entities using the name” as one of the reasons behind the change. In July, Colorado Public Radio filed a trademark infringement and violation suit against TPT in federal court over use of “Open Air,” which is also the name of a Denver-area Triple-A music station that CPR has operated since 2011. McDaniel also wrote that the Open Air name became less useful for the brand “as our work progressed and we gained focus,” and that TPT began brainstorming a new name in August.

People

Chicago Public Media employees petition to unionize

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A majority of staff members at Chicago Public Media signed a petition requesting union representation and presented it to CPM interim C.E.O. Alison Scholly Sept. 25, according to the broadcast union SAG-AFTRA, which seeks to represent staffers through its Chicago chapter.

Programs/Content

New PRI.org highlights network’s focus on global news

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Public Radio International has revamped its website to absorb the web presence of PRI’s The World, reflecting the network’s aim to develop a higher profile in international news. The new site gives greater prominence to international news from The World and other PRI programs. The World “is increasingly, for us, a journalism brand,” said Michael Skoler, PRI’s v.p. of interactive media. Previously, The World had its own website at TheWorld.org. It now redirects to PRI.org. PRI has combined the previously separate staff and resources for the two sites.

Quick Takes

Jim Henson’s daughter donates Elmo, Bert, Ernie and other Muppets to Smithsonian

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Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, donated 21 Muppet puppets and props to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on Sept. 24, reports USA Today. The latest band of furry Muppets to move to the Smithsonian includes early iterations of longtime Sesame Street fixtures Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Grover, Cookie Monster and Count Von Count. They’ll join up with their buddies Kermit the Frog and Oscar the Grouch, who are already members of the Smithsonian’s Jim Henson Collection. Miss Piggy is also joining the collection.

People

Betty Cope, WVIZ founding g.m., dies at 87

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Betty Cope, the founding general manager of Cleveland’s pubTV station and one of the first women to ascend into television broadcast management, died Sept. 14 at her home in Bainbridge, Ohio. She was 87.

People

Susan Farmer, Rhode Island politician and pubTV exec, dies at 71

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Susan Farmer, longtime president of Rhode Island’s only pubTV network, died Sept. 16 after a 12-year battle with cancer. She was 71. Farmer broke down barriers in Rhode Island by becoming the state’s first female secretary of state in 1982. After losing a bid for lieutenant governor in 1986, she was offered the position of president of Providence’s WSBE (now branded as Rhode Island PBS) the following year.