Nice Above Fold - Page 395
Aviators distributor scrutinizing show after revelations of apparent product placement
The public TV program The Aviators has come under increased scrutiny from its distributor after Current revealed apparent product placement in the show’s on-air segments. Executive Producer Anthony Nalli removed a sponsorship page from the program’s website earlier this month after Current inquired about promises that sponsors could “expertly integrate their brands directly into the content of the show in a subtle, non-invasive and very effective manner.” Other pages on the site made similar offers. Nalli said the matter was a misunderstanding over wording. “I used the language of advertising, not of public television,” Nalli said. He noted that the program follows pubTV and FCC rules against product placement.Students opposing WRAS deal get new support
College Broadcasters Inc. and the Student Press Law Center are speaking out against a channel-sharing agreement that gave Georgia Public Broadcasting control of Georgia State University’s 88.5 WRAS-FM during daytime hours. Under the agreement announced May 6, GPB will program the station with news from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. The student organization that until recently controlled all programming will take over nighttime hours. The announcement surprised and disappointed the station’s student hosts, who set up a website to protest the agreement. In letters to the University administration, CBI and SPLC expressed support for the students and denounced the deal, which was made without notifying the programmers.Public Radio International launches podcast network SoundWorks
SoundWorks launched Thursday with four podcasts, and PRI plans to add more in coming weeks.
Winslow of NewsHour sees need for greater investment in public TV's news programming
The final installment of our interview with Linda Winslow, outgoing executive producer of the PBS NewsHour.Thursday roundup: Snap Judgment aims for Hollywood; WNYC's Rookies offer radio pointers
Plus: First Look backs press-freedom groups.Yore tapped as new g.m. of Washington, D.C.'s WAMU
JJ Yore, co-creator of public radio’s Marketplace and a former v.p. and executive producer with American Public Media, will step into a station leadership role Aug. 1 as g.m. of WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C. “It feels great to be coming back to Washington,” said Yore, who lived and worked in the area before heading west to start Marketplace. “WAMU is a station I have been close to and listened to since the mid-80s. I was listening to Diane Rehm before she had a national show. I feel like this is a culture I understand deeply.” Yore served as v.p. and g.m.
Chuck Furman, founding program manager of WGVU, dies at 73
Furman helped launch WGVU-TV in Grand Rapids, Mich., and served as its assistant g.m. in charge of community relations for 25 years.Wednesday roundup: PBS ombuds criticizes network's treatment of Current; Poynter looks toward reinvention
Plus: A WXXI totebag tweets, and a Network Operations Center opens in Florida.PIC names executive director, KCETLink reorganizes execs, and more comings and goings in public media
Pacific Islanders in Communications, part of the National Minority Consortia, has promoted Leanne Ferrer to executive director and announced two additional appointments. Ferrer, a filmmaker who joined PIC in 2008 and created PIC’s first series, Pacific Heartbeat, steps up from her job as program director. PIC also promoted Amber McClure from content coordinator to digital engagement manager and hired Cheryl Hirasa to direct program development and content strategy. The changes were announced May 1. Ferrer previously worked for Disney Films and PBS Hawaii. In her new role, McClure, who joined PIC in 2010, will manage all social media and PIC’s newly redesigned website, as well as focus on partnerships with stations.NPR will cancel 'Tell Me More', eliminate 28 jobs to balance budget
An updated version of this article was posted May 28. NPR announced today that it will cancel Tell Me More, its weekday midday show with an emphasis on news and issues relating to people of color, effective Aug. 1. The network will also eliminate 28 jobs in its newsroom and library, eight of which are currently unfilled. “Today we are announcing changes in the newsroom to ensure we remain a leader in a dynamic and intensely competitive news environment, while living within NPR’s budget,” said Margaret Low Smith, NPR’s senior v.p. for news, in a memo to staff. Smith said the restructuring aims in part to meet a mandate for NPR to balance its budget by fiscal year 2015.Show asking The Really Big Questions brings Dean Olsher back to radio
Most people don’t take time to discuss what makes us human, but this public radio show wants listeners to stop and think.With help from WFMT, complete archives of Studs Terkel find new life online
The WFMT Radio Network is preparing to release the complete digitized radio archives of Pulitzer Prize–winning oral historian Studs Terkel online by early 2015.Tuesday roundup: TPR volunteer invents story to meet Greene; NPR compiles commencement speeches
Plus: The New York Times profiles Sandra Tsing Loh, and public media still matter to the director of the Peabody Awards.Milwaukee pubcasters go deep on problem of imprisonment of black males
A community forum in Milwaukee Tuesday will cap a seven-month reporting project by two of the city's public broadcasters on their county’s astronomically high rate of incarceration among black males.PBS's live-action Odd Squad aims to ‘make math relevant’ for kids
PBS Kids will expand the footprint of its math-focused programs with Odd Squad, a live-action TV series for school-aged children. The new show, which follows the fall 2013 debut of Peg + Cat, a preschool series presenting math concepts, will debut Nov. 26. Creators Tim McKeon and Adam Peltzman, who previously collaborated as television writers on another PBS Kids series for school-aged children, The Electric Company, are producing Odd Squad through Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment and the Fred Rogers Company (which also produces Peg + Cat and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood for PBS). Odd Squad stars sleuths Olive and Otto, members of a detective agency who use math concepts to solve unusual mysteries around their town.
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