Neal Conan’s first foray out of the studio in 11 years took him very far from the studio indeed — all the way to Greenland, where he documented climate change for public radio’s Burn: An Energy Journal. The former Talk of the Nation host contributed to “Rising Seas,” the sixth installment of the ongoing series reporting on energy issues. Conan hadn’t reported from the field since 2002, when he took the TOTN hosting job. He left NPR in June, when TOTN was canceled. Burn host Alex Chadwick, who previously anchored NPR’s Day to Day, enlisted Conan after TOTN ended.

American Public Television is presenting an exclusive look at the taping of Season 6 of Doc Martin in a pledge special set to be released Thanksgiving Day. Doc Martin: Revealed goes behind the scenes with actors and producers from the series to discuss the characters, the location of Port Isaac, the unique Cornish accent and the challenges of shooting a television series in all sorts of weather. More than 60 licensees have signed on to air the special, which is available as a 90-minute pledge event with pitches by cast members or as a one-hour pledge program suitable for stations to localize or run as-is.

St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Beacon, a nonprofit news site, have negotiated a merger agreement that will be taken up by the University of Missouri System’s Board of Curators at its next meeting in November.

This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. Ray Suarez, chief national correspondent for PBS NewsHour, is resigning after 14 years with the program, effective Oct. 25. Executive Producer Linda Winslow told the staff in a memo late this afternoon that Suarez is leaving to “pursue several other ventures,” including writing a book. The news comes three days after NewsHour founders Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil announced they intended to transfer ownership of the program to presenting station and producing partner WETA in Arlington, Va. “At the NewsHour, Ray has been a member of the Senior Correspondent team that has helped us cover an enormous array of topics (he even added football to his repertory this week) and story developments over the years,” Winslow wrote in the memo, adding: “My Inbox is filled with rave reviews of his performances written by delighted station executives around the PBS universe.”

According to a report released Thursday by CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan, the president of Robin Hood Radio must choose between running the station or running for a spot on the local school board. Marshall Miles is president and co-founder of Sharon, Conn.-based Robin Hood Radio, which operates WHDD-FM and an FM and AM repeater. Miles is campaigning for election to the Region One Board of Education in Sharon in November. Four complaints filed with CPB questioned whether Miles was unfairly using his station to further his campaign. Miles also runs a separate political blog focused on that Board of Education that was the target of an FCC investigation in 2012.

NRK, the Norwegian public broadcasting network, is at it again. “In its latest experiment with live coverage of mundane events,” The Associated Press reports, the network will air five hours of an attempt to break the world’s record for knitting. Yes, five solid hours of knitting. This, from the network that brought viewers five days straight of the “action” on a Norwegian cruise ship as it slowly wound its way along the coastline. The Nov. 1 needlework extravaganza will open with a four-hour documentary on how “the wool off a sheep’s back turns into a sweater,” according to the AP.

NPR Digital has altered the latest version of its Composer software used by stations for tracking playlists and scheduling programs. Composer 2.0, which replaced the earlier Composer Pro product, rolled out in beta this spring. The changes respond to feedback from classical-music stations, who said the new version, as well as its predecessor, didn’t fit their needs. The software couldn’t accurately track scheduling of symphonies and extended performance credits, according to St. John Flynn, p.d. of Classical 91.7/Houston Public Media and president of the Association of Music Personnel in Radio. Composer’s developers plan to adapt the software by revamping the user interface for classical music and adding new playlist entry fields, said Stephanie Miller, director of station relations for NPR Digital Services.

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. 29 update, the DOJ said it would likely not interfere with state enforcement as long as states “implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana.”

Classical music is a big part of the cultural fabric of Bloomington. But WFIU wasn’t aiming to eliminate local music programming.

CPB has granted KEET-TV in Eureka, Calif., a waiver to receive its fiscal 2014 Community Service Grant despite its failure to raise the required minimum in non-federal financial support (NFFS), according to Karen Barnes, the station’s director of programming and content, writing in the local Times-Standard. The station, one of the smallest in the pubcasting system, has never met its mandated NFFS, and has received waivers based on its rural location and limited resources. CPB tightened its CSG policies in 2010. “CPB issued a waiver for KEET again this year but put the station on notice,” Barnes wrote. “KEET must demonstrate a significant increase in NFFS in order to receive federal funds in the future.” 

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.

Leaders of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, the company behind the PBS NewsHour, are negotiating to transfer ownership to co-producer WETA in Arlington, Va., according to an internal letter sent Tuesday to staffers. Program founders and original co-anchors Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil wrote that their reasons for relinquishing ownership at this time include “the probability of increasing our fundraising abilities” for the weeknightly news magazine. The New York Times reported in June that the program was in financial trouble and had received infusions of cash from PBS several times over the past year. Currently, Lehrer and MacNeil share ownership with Liberty Media, which acquired a majority interest in MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (MLP) 18 years ago.