Development

CPB financial report shows pubradio closing the gap with pubTV

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CPB recently released its Public Broadcasting Revenue report (PDF) for fiscal year 2012. Findings about the number of contributions, total contributions and the amount of cash business (direct revenue such as underwriting and payments for services, but not in-kind services) show that public radio’s fortunes have been rising as public television’s have been on the decline, to the point that they are close to intersecting in these areas.  

Programs/Content

Revised CPB policy could lead to ‘significant’ penalties for noncompliance

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As more local pubcasters fall out of compliance with CPB’s rules for transparency and open meetings, they put themselves at risk of new financial penalties from the corporation’s Inspector General. Under a policy that took effect early this year, the IG has more flexibility to recommend fines for station grantees that don’t meet CPB’s standards for releasing financial records, for example, or for providing adequate notice of board meetings. One station — Lakeshore Public Media of northwest Indiana — has already been fined $5,000 because it failed to document announcements of public meetings. Many other stations are vulnerable to such penalties, according to CPB officials, who have been advising local pubcasters about problems with compliance during appearances at public media conferences. According to data compiled by CPB, more than half of its radio and television grantees didn’t provide timely notices of public meetings in 2013 and 43 percent did not release their financial records.

Quick Takes

NPR urges FCC to help stations dislocated by spectrum auction

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NPR has asked the FCC to consider reimbursing broadcasters for the costs of any antenna relocations that may result from the upcoming auction of television broadcast spectrum. In a Nov. 4 comment filed with the commission, NPR pointed out that spectrum repacking may require broadcasters to upgrade towers, which in turn could temporarily dislocate radio antennas. “To avoid undue hardship to NCE and other radio stations as a result of the television spectrum reassignment, NPR urges the Commission to construe its statutory authority broadly and flexibly to assure cost reimbursement in all compelling cases such as these,” the network wrote. NPR can’t predict the costs or number of dislocations that may occur as a result of the auction, which is slated for next year, said Mike Riksen, v.p. for policy and representation.

People

Brisk pace of turnover among pubmedia’s top execs in 2013

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A new wind of change is blowing through public media organizations of all shapes and sizes, sweeping through executive offices as top managers opt to move on to their next jobs or retire. More than 50 public media outlets — from NPR to WKYU in Bowling Green, Ky. — are searching for a new chief executive or general manager or have completed such a search within the last ten months. Specialists in executive recruitment and outplacements say turnover in pubcasting’s top management jobs has accelerated sharply this year. According to Current’s analysis, 30 organizations went through similar changes during 2012.

Programs/Content

Downton Abbey once again helps generate big budget surplus for PBS

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PBS closed its books on fiscal 2013 with an extra $24.5 million — more than twice the $11 million surplus that bolstered its bottom line in FY12. Earnings generated by distribution deals for the hit drama Downton Abbey once again brought in much of the extra revenue, along with ancillary revenues from PBS Kids’ properties, short-term investment gains and reimbursements for overhead costs tied to grants. Molly Corbett Broad, chair of the PBS Board’s finance committee, announced the positive financial results Nov. 6 at a PBS Board meeting. The meeting, at PBS headquarters in Arlington, Va., was the first of the network’s new fiscal year and marked the beginning of a new board term for directors elected or re-elected to new terms. In addition to electing a chair and two vice chairs, directors were briefed on PBS’s expanded efforts to diversify its content, workforce and audience.

Houston Public Media

Houston Public Media eliminates eight full-time positions

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Houston Public Media announced Nov. 7 the layoffs of eight staffers as part of a reorganization to create more multiplatform arts coverage. Four of the eliminated staffers hosted locally programmed classical music on KUHA-FM, one of the broadcaster’s two radio stations. HPM will replace the local shows with American Public Media’s Classical 24 service, though it will continue to air weekly broadcasts from the Houston Symphony. HPM also laid off two technical staff and two membership assistants.

System/Policy

FCC hears from APTS, CPB, PBS on spectrum repacking expenses

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The Association of Public Television Stations, CPB and PBS on Monday filed comments with the FCC regarding issues related to the spectrum repacking that will follow incentive auctions clearing bandwidth for mobile devices. Responding to the commission’s request for comment on the process for assisting stations with the costs of spectrum repacking, the three organizations “strongly encourage the Commission to adopt reimbursement policies and procedures that ensure noncommercial educational television stations are made whole and held fully harmless in the repacking,” they said in the filing (complete document here). Broadcasters are concerned that costs of the transition may exceed the $1.75 billion Congress has set aside to reimburse them. The FCC requested comments in September on its Catalog of Eligible Expenses for spectrum repacking. The three pubcasting organizations said it’s too early to anticipate all of the costs that broadcasters will take on during the repacking.

Programs/Content

Foundation to sell 87-year old commercial classical radio station

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KDB in Santa Barbara, Calif., one of the few remaining commercial classical radio stations, has been put up for sale by the foundation that has been operating it at six-figure losses for several years. Directors of the Santa Barbara Foundation, which has owned the license to broadcast on 93.7 FM for the past decade,  voted unanimously to sell the station, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. The station broadcasts on a commercial frequency, but the foundation opted to retain Public Radio Capital, which specializes in signal expansion for noncommercial public radio stations, to broker the sale. “As much as we love KDB, it isn’t our core mission,” said Ron Gallo, foundation c.e.o., during a public meeting at which the sale was announced. The meeting was “attended by a who’s who of the South Coast arts scene,” according to the Independent’s news account, and the mood in the room was “tense.”

System/Policy

Row over ethical conflict prompts radio station manager to resign

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After a combative online exchange with CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan over a perceived conflict of interest between his political aspirations and his role as president of an NPR-affiliated public station, Marshall Miles of WHDD-FM/AM in Sharon, Conn., temporarily resigned from his pubcasting job Oct. 15. Miles, who until last week ran the station that calls itself “Robin Hood Radio,” recently decided to run for a seat on the Region One Board of Education, which oversees a largely rural district in northwestern Connecticut. After local critics complained that Miles’s candidacy conflicted with his work as a pubcasting manager, Kaplan agreed with them in an online column published Oct. 10.

Quick Takes

FCC extends deadline for LPFM applications

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The FCC has set a new deadline for applicants seeking licenses for low-power FM stations, agreeing to keep its filing window open until 6 p.m. Nov. 14. After the federal government resumed operations last week, several organizations that assist low-power FM radio stations appealed to the commission to extend its window for accepting LPFM applications. They sought to adjust the time frame to accommodate aspiring licensees who had been hindered in preparing their applications by the government shutdown. The FCC initially planned to accept LPFM applications Oct.

System/Policy

Pacifica seeks nonprofit to take over most operations of New York’s WBAI

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The Pacifica Foundation is seeking another nonprofit organization to help operate WBAI, its financially struggling station in New York. In a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued this week, the foundation specifies that it intends to retain ultimate control over WBAI programming under a Public Service Operating Agreement. It plans to employ two members of the station’s staff, one of whom would have managerial responsibilities and report solely to Pacifica. The RFP outlines costs that prospective co-operators would be expected to cover, including the two employees’ salaries, studio expenses and rent payments for its lease on the Empire State Building, where WBAI’s transmitter is located. Prospective co-operators must be willing to reimburse Pacifica for these expenses.

System/Policy

DOJ still harshing the mellow for pot dispensary sponsorships

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An Aug. 29 update of Department of Justice policies for enforcing marijuana laws did little to clarify whether public radio stations should air underwriting announcements for marijuana dispensaries, according to one communications attorney’s analysis. At least one station has aired spots for local dispensaries, while others have turned away interested underwriters. The hesitation stems in part from a lack of clarity surrounding the federal government’s enforcement of marijuana laws in states that have legalized medicinal or recreational use of the plant. In its Aug.

System/Policy

CPB appropriation arrives despite federal shutdown

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Public broadcasting’s federal subsidies were not caught up in the political stalemate that forced closure of the federal government Oct. 1. The U.S. Treasury delivered CPB’s $445 million fiscal 2014 appropriation that same day, as scheduled, while political leaders in Congress and the White House wrangled over tea party Republicans’ push to repeal the Affordable Health Care for America Act. CPB’s appropriation was forward-funded during the 2012 appropriations cycle. The federal budget that has been held up by a faction of GOP lawmakers will determine CPB’s funding for 2016.

Programs/Content

Expansion of classical radio belies format’s many challenges

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ATLANTA — Representatives of classical radio stations resolved last week to work toward creating a new organization to represent their format within public radio, a tactic to fight shrinking audiences and build a stronger case for classical radio. During sessions held Sept. 18 and 19 at the Public Radio Program Directors Association conference in Atlanta, station representatives examined research demonstrating that, while more public licensees are broadcasting classical music, listeners are also turning to digital platforms for classical. Arbitron’s most recent Public Radio Today study identified 188 noncommercial FM, AM, HD and streaming stations devoted to classical music, an increase from 178 in 2011. An additional 218 stations programmed classical for least 30 percent of their broadcast schedules in 2012.

System/Policy

CPB finds pubTV stations committed to keeping spectrum

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Anxiety among public TV executives about channel repacking after spectrum auctions outweighs their enthusiasm for selling bandwidth, CPB s.v.p. Mark Erstling told corporation directors during their Sept. 17 board meeting in Washington, D.C.

CPB has commissioned Booz & Co. to research the effect of spectrum policy issues on the pubTV system for a white paper CPB will release early in 2014. The outcome of the upcoming auction to clear broadcast bandwidth for use by mobile devices is as critical to the future of public media “as the original noncommercial set-aside of public spectrum and the Broadcasting Act of 1967,” Erstling told directors. CPB’s greatest concern is loss of universal access to local public TV services, Erstling said.

System/Policy

FCC approves transfer of KSPS to Friends organization

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The Friends of KSPS, the nonprofit fundraising arm of KSPS-TV, has taken over as licensee of the Spokane, Wash., pubcaster from the local school district. The FCC approved the transfer, which includes the broadcast license, transmitter, tower and equipment. It was finalized Sept. 1. As part of the transition, the Friends of KSPS Board appointed Gary Stokes general manager.