As some local pubcasters have started to forge paths toward models of public service developed through their own strategic planning or in collaboration with other stations, PBS has sought to bring more attention to their work, and progress, to date. Last year, it tapped Ted Krichels, former g.m. of Penn State Public Broadcasting, to lead its Sustainable Models Project, identifying models that other stations can replicate. Krichels completed that study last fall and recently joined CPB as senior v.p. for system development and media strategy. PBS released the 50-page “Public Media Models of the Future” report, written by Krichels and Stephen Holmes, PBS director of strategy, in November.

WCTE-Upper Cumberland PBS in Cookeville, Tenn., has appointed three new top executives. Avery Owens is director of advancement, responsible for managing all fundraising, underwriting, membership, marketing, auctions, special events and marketing. Owens, formerly WCTE’s sales manager, previously worked in sales and marketing for several local businesses, including the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. Desirée Duncan is director of content. She oversees all phases of WCTE’s content on the air and online. Duncan is also e.p. for WCTE’s flagship series, Live Green Tennessee, a collaborative production with PBS member stations statewide focusing on environmental work in local communities.

The PBS Board unanimously voted today to amend national program underwriting standards to require a higher level of review for food and beverage companies seeking to sponsor kids’ shows. Under the revision, President Paula Kerger told the board, “a potential sponsor for a PBS Kids series will be acceptable only if its product could be considered to make a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet.” The amendment will have “only a minimal impact on our funding mix,” Kerger said. Less than 1 percent of children’s content sponsors in fiscal 2013 will be affected, she noted. The recommendation came after months of review of current underwriting guidelines for children’s shows by PBS staff and the board’s corporate services advisory committee.

• PBS NewsHour unveiled a redesigned website Thursday, featuring responsive design, new navigation menus and an expanded digital editorial presence. The new site combines stories from the program’s weekday and weekend editions, as Current reported in July 2013. “This new site is designed to meet the demands of an expanding and more involved audience,” NewsHour Creative Director Travis Daub wrote in an introductory post, adding that the redesign is the most expansive in the website’s 18-year history. • Pittsburgh Public Media has applied to the FCC for permission to boost the wattage of WYZR-FM, the jazz station it launched in August 2013.

The FCC affirmed today that it plans to hold the spectrum incentive auction for television broadcasters in mid-2015 and will issue the awaited report and orders this spring. The announcement is in line with a December statement by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that delayed the original target date of holding the auction this year. Gary Epstein, the FCC’s Incentive Auction Taskforce Chairman, assured FCC commissioners at today’s open meeting that the auction will not take place until auction software is thoroughly tested and stakeholders are made aware of the process. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai emphasized the importance of outreach to ensure that broadcasters participate in the process and testing.

Minnesota Public Radio News will look for solutions to the world’s pressing problems at its first Top Coast Festival, a three-day conference bringing together more than a dozen academics and media personalities.

The FCC has granted nearly 500 low-power FM (LPFM) applications so far, according to Radio Survivor. Applicants include animal advocacy groups, schools, colleges, churches, tribal entities and arts organizations. Austin’s KLRU-TV is producing a documentary series about barbecue culture with local meat legend Aaron Franklin. Called BBQ With Franklin, the show will be based on KLRU’s web series of the same name, which the station launched in 2012 for PBS Digital Studios. The program will air in early 2015 and be made available through national distribution. KLRU has lined up digital-coupon outlet RetailMeNot as the show’s first sponsor.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced six grants totaling more than $2.5 million Wednesday as part of its Public Television Digital Transition Grant program. “These investments will help public television stations serving substantially rural communities make the transition to digital broadcasts,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Patrice Kunesh, who announced the grants in Bethel, Alaska. The FCC required all broadcasters to convert full-power transmitters to digital signals by June 2009, but stations have until 2015 to convert repeaters and low-power TV signals. The largest grant, $750,000, goes to the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority. The network will convert its television production studio in Charleston from analog to HD digital.

WCAI Cape and Islands NPR, the only public radio station for coastal communities in southern Massachusetts, has boosted its signal from 1,200 to 12,500 watts. WCAI Managing Director Mindy Todd noted in Tuesday’s announcement, “Now, more than 200,000 additional listeners — plus millions of fish in Cape Cod Bay, Nantucket Sound and the Atlantic Ocean — will have a clear signal and clear access to the region’s only locally-produced and locally-broadcast public radio station.” Starting Friday, CCTV Children’s Channel in Shanghai, China, is airing a special “Happy New Year” series marking the first time its hosts are interacting with Sesame Street‘s Muppets.

Washington, D.C., philanthropist and financier David M. Rubenstein has established a $1 million fund at WETA in suburban Arlington, Va., for producing programs about American culture, history and public affairs. Announcing the donation Tuesday, Rubenstein said he believes in “the power of public media to be a force for education, sharing the vibrant culture and rich history of this country.” Rubenstein is co-founder and co-c.e.o. of the Carlyle Group, a global private equity investment firm. He has been a station member since 1988, according to WETA spokesperson Mary Stewart. Sharon Rockefeller, WETA president, called the gift “truly inspiring.” She noted that Rubenstein’s investment “will meaningfully expand our ability to create programming of consequence and bring innovative, important ideas to life on behalf of the public.”

Two Los Angeles television stations, one commercial and the other public, will pilot the first television channel-sharing project in the country, CTIA — The Wireless Association announced today. The noncom KLCS, licensed to the L.A. Unified School District, and bilingual KJLA are voluntarily participating in the experiment. CTIA, an international organization representing the wireless communications industry, is supervising the initiative in conjunction with the Association of Public Television Stations. “APTS has been involved in the development of this pilot in support of our member station KLCS,” Lonna Thompson, APTS c.o.o., told Current. “We support this pilot project because we think it will provide valuable information to our member stations considering whether to engage in their own channel-sharing effort.”

Episode four of the new season of Portlandia, starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, will feature A Prairie Home Companion tailgating. The sketch is also being spun off into a series of four webisodes, which can be viewed online before the season premiere.  Season four of Portlandia premieres Feb. 27 at 10 p.m. on the Independent Film Channel. If an avid blogger can’t leave a comment on your website, he’ll write about it. That’s what tech-savvy journalist Doc Searls did when he encountered issues with a story from WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station. Radio personality Madeleine Brand returned to the airwaves yesterday with a new show, Press Play on KCRW-FM in Los Angeles.

The next CPB Board meeting, Feb. 10, will take directors on a field trip. While the morning session will be at headquarters in Washington, D.C., the board will head to WETA in suburban Arlington, Va., in the afternoon for a look inside PBS NewsHour. Also on the agenda: updates on diversity work, spectrum issues and American Graduate activities. If you thought ratings for the Season 4 premiere of Downton Abbey were high, wait until you read these numbers: PBS and WGBH announced Monday that the Jan. 5 Masterpiece episode had an average audience of 15.5 million viewers, 52 percent more than the 10.2 million average audience initially reported in Nielsen Fast National data.