• CPB has awarded multimedia journalism grants totaling more than $1.18 million to nine public media stations for education coverage aligning with its American Graduate dropout prevention initiative. “These grants will allow stations to report on the state of education locally, while contributing to the national conversation about solving the dropout crisis,” said Bruce Theriault, CPB radio s.v.p., in Wednesday’s announcement. Grants to three stations — WAMU, Washington, D.C.; WNED/WBFO, Buffalo, N.Y., and Wyoming Public Media — provide for reporters who will cover education topics full-time. Cleveland’s WCPN/ideastream will assign two reporters to education as part of a community engagement initiative and a multi-state data mapping project involving the Southern Education Desk Local Journalism Center and stations in Florida and Indiana.

The "Cosmonauts" share memories of their voyage onboard the first Spaceship of the Imagination: dealing with warlike production conditions, creating Saturn's rings and touching the space-age zeitgeist.

Houston Public Media unveiled a new website this week as part of its ongoing effort to converge its radio, TV and digital operations. The site launched March 1 alongside a six-month marketing campaign that combines billboard ads and direct mail, aiming  to raise awareness of the pubcaster’s multiple offerings under one brand. The website was developed by outside consultants and provides an online portal to HPM’s television and radio stations, including news/talk 88.7 FM and classical 91.7 FM, all owned  by the University of Houston. The Houston stations were managed separately until a 2011 reorganization that adopted  a converged pubcasting model along the lines of Cleveland’s ideastream and San Diego’s KPBS.

President Obama has maintained level CPB funding in his fiscal 2015 federal budget request, but recommends eliminating the Rural Digital program and consolidating Ready to Learn funding into other programs within the U.S. Department of Education, in a mixed blessing for pubcasters.

Former NPR newscaster Carl Kasell, whose “voice on your home answering machine” has been the ultimate prize on Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! for 16 years, is retiring, he announced today. But his famous voice will continue to answer those messages. After his final Wait Wait show this spring, Kasell will officially become Scorekeeper Emeritus, still creating the voice-mail greetings and occasionally appearing on the program, a co-production of NPR and Chicago Public Media. NPR is encouraging fans to leave Kasell farewell voice mails of their own at 1-888-Wait-Wait (1-888-924-8924; select Option 2). Kasell spent 30 years as the newscaster for NPR’s Morning Edition, from its premiere broadcast.

It’s a question that parents and teachers struggle to answer at home and in the classroom: how do we make math fun for kids? The creative minds at PBS Kids have spent the last few years devising a solution to that problem. With Ready to Learn funding provided through the Department of Education in 2010, PBS staff set their sights on creating two math-focused children’s shows. Their answer for the 3- to 5-year-old crowd was PEG + CAT, an animated series that debuted last fall.  Produced by Fred Rogers Company, PEG + CAT teaches measurement, shapes and patterns, skills that help the characters solve their real-life problems.

  Colorado Public Radio launches its as-of-yet unnamed weekly arts show today, premiering with an unlikely pairing of mediums — radio and dance. The inaugural episode leads with the first in a special series, Radio Dances, which explores how the medium of dance translates to radio. Producers in CPR’s multimedia arts bureau worked with dance companies, students and members of the public to create 30- to 60-second dance pieces that were choreographed with a radio audience in mind. The segment will be accompanied by an interview with This American Life’s Ira Glass, whose own treatment of live storytelling and dance served as the inspiration for Radio Dances.

A new frontier for the Public Insight Network.

Ira Rubenstein, a digital media executive with experience at Marvel and 20th Century Fox, is the new general manager of PBS Digital. He replaces Jason Seiken, who left PBS last October to accept a position with Telegraph Media in London. “The rapid growth and prevalence of digital technology offers PBS and local member stations a great opportunity to further connect with our audience,” PBS President Paula Kerger said in today’s announcement. She noted that Rubenstein’s track record and expertise will be “invaluable.” “How, when and where media is consumed continues to evolve at a breakneck pace,” Rubenstein said, “and it’s clear that PBS and local member stations have been committed to being leaders in the children’s digital space, original video development and using digital distribution methods to ensure that local and national content is available everywhere viewers want it.”

The Vermont Public Television Board adopted new open-meeting requirements Wednesday following two investigations into allegations of more than 20 improperly closed meetings. The investigations by the board’s audit committee and CPB temporarily halted the station’s eligibility to use about $667,000 of its fiscal 2014 Community Service Grant from CPB. The audit committee determined that each of the meetings in question “involved sensitive personnel matters and therefore was properly closed in accordance with CPB’s open meeting requirements.” The board oversees one employee, VPT President John King. The board erred when it did not provide explanations on VPT’s website following each meeting of why the sessions were closed, the committee found.

Two NPR alums are gunning for the afternoon listening sweet spot.

A big education initiative for low-income families comes into sharper focus.