The host of Vermont Public Radio’s Jazz with George Thomas is stepping away from the mic after more than 11 years. Thomas has announced he is retiring from VPR, with his final show in late June. “It has been an honor and I am grateful to have been able to share jazz with VPR’s avid, curious and astute listeners, who often suggested artists, songs and albums to play,” Thomas said. The show is heard from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern Monday through Thursday and Friday nights until midnight. Jazz music “will continue to have a presence in the VPR programming line-up, but the details have yet to be finalized,” the station said.

PBS scored five nods in the 28th annual Television Critics Association Awards, announced Wednesday (June 6) in Los Angeles. Masterpiece’s Downton Abbey and Sherlock are going head-to-head in the movies, mini-series and specials category. Frontline was nominated in news and information; Sesame Street, in youth programming; and Downton again in program of the year. Details and a full list of nominees at Deadline.com.

The state Educational Broadcasting Authority has ordered West Virginia Public Broadcasting to develop a strategic financial plan by July 31, according to the Charleston Gazette. Authority members also called for a formal review of network Executive Director Dennis Adkins’ job performance. The newspaper said that as of April 30, contributions to the network are down 7 percent from the same time last year, and corporate underwriting is down 8 percent from 2011 and 36 percent from 2008. Mike Meador, finance director at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said the agency also has been told by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s administration to expect a 5 percent cut in its state appropriations next year, amounting to about $300,000.

The June 5 live webcast of the heavenly transit of Venus by pubstations WPBT2 in Miami, Las Vegas PBS and KNPB in Reno, was an “astronomical success,” the stations said, attracting more than 436,000 viewers worldwide from as far away as Australia and Japan. Viewers chatted with Bill Dishong, series producer for WPBT2’s Star Gazers, during the rare celestial event, during which Venus moved across the path of the sun, from 6 to 11 p.m. Eastern. The webcast was initially planned to originate at KNPB, but the transit wasn’t visible there due to weather conditions. Las Vegas PBS, contacted at the last minute, agreed to host the event.

Randy Feldman, president and g.m. of pubstation WYES in New Orleans since 1990, will step down at the end of the year, reports New Orleans CityBusiness magazine. Feldman announced his retirement to WYES board members Monday (June 4) and said he wanted to focus on his personal life. He said he plans on finishing up private fundraising for the $2.5-million second phase of a capital campaign for construction of a new $7 million, 20,000-square-foot station facility. “This is as good a time as any,” Feldman said. “We’ll have funding and other things in place and then someone can take it home from there.”

The Super Bowl is over. The boys of summer have just taken the field. And March Madness has only recently subsided. That can only mean one thing to a public media development professional. It’s budget time! Many see this process as a battle more intense, more contentious, than any faced by athletes. Development professionals are asked year after year to bring in more money while spending less. Many chief financial officers are dealing with staggering declines in state, corporate and foundation support. As a result, some CFOs are trying to protect net revenue for the short term by drastically cutting — or even eliminating — their efforts to acquire new members through direct mail.

John McCarroll, executive director of the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), will retire by the end of the year, he told the authority’s board this week. McCarroll arrived at OETA in 2003 from KLRU-TV, the PBS station in Austin, Texas. His accomplishments include completion of the $12 million digital conversion of the Oklahoma Network, which included replacement of 18 transmitters; a new OETA studio; and two regional Emmy Awards for his work on OETA projects. Dr. James W. Utterback, chairman of the OETA board, said it will form a search committee for McCarroll’s replacement.

J-Lab has posted an overview of university news websites, with information culled from its meeting last week with three dozen site editors and founders. The schools are becoming incubators for entrepreneurial news startups, according to J-Lab. “The degree to which student production of news stories for these startups is fully integrated in the curricula is still a nut that needs to be cracked,” notes J-Lab Executive Director Jan Schaffer. “But there is no question that students involved in these initiatives are learning not only how to produce stories on a faster turnaround than most classroom assignments, they are also getting firsthand experience in how to operate a news business.”

A mediator will start talks this week between representatives of Jefferson Public Radio and the Oregon University System, which holds the broadcaster’s license, in an effort to settle a dispute over JPR’s leadership structure. Retired federal judge Terry Lukens begins mediation talks tomorrow, according to the Mail Tribune. The university system terminated the contract of JPR Executive Director Ron Kramer in March (Current, April 9). A university audit advised that Kramer’s dual roles as head of the radio station and of a separate fundraising nonprofit had created a conflict of interest. The audit also said that JPR’s fundraising efforts were at odds with the university’s.

WPBT2’s Star Gazers, in partnership with KNPB, will live-stream today’s historic transit of Venus from Reno, Nev., starting at 6 p.m. Eastern. The stations, based in Miami and Reno, have previously partnered on other celestial events. During the transit, Venus will pass directly between the Earth and the sun. This will be the last transit of Venus to occur in this lifetime. Viewers can join the conversation here. Bill Dishong, series producer, will provide commentary, and Star Gazers host Marlene Hidalgo will answer questions from the online audience as the transit unfolds.

Radio producer Paul Bartishevich, head of Finger Lakes Productions International, died June 1 at his home in Trumansburg, N.Y., of an apparent heart attack. He was 53. FLPI produced and distributed daily radio programming to NPR affiliates nationwide as well as more than 120 countries and territories via the Voice of America and American Forces Radio. Popular titles, which reflected Bartishevich’s interest in science, nature and technology, included Bird Watch, Nature Watch, Animal Instincts, Ocean Report, Our Ocean World, EnvironMinute and Microbeworld. In 1998, FLPI founded and launched the Radio Voyager Network (RVN), which became the first English-language commercial radio network to broadcast throughout Europe.

Following reports of corruption, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan has terminated $20 million in funding for to develop a Pakistani version of Sesame Street, according to the Associated Press, citing a report in Pakistan Today. The USAID money was funding the Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, a local group working on the program with Sesame Workshop. Embassy spokesman Robert Raines confirmed that the funding was terminated but declined to provide details. Pakistan Today, citing unnamed sources close to the project, said “lack of proper planning, mismanagement and financial irregularities have all been rampant throughout the project, leading to an initial delay of a year and a half and finally the suspension of aid.”

The publisher and editor of Newspaper Tree, a nonprofit newsroom in El Paso, Texas, have been fired “as a result of internal disputes,” leaving just one employee, an investigative reporter, according to El Paso Inc. Newspaper Tree is one of several nonprofit news organizations that have been waiting for more than a year for federal approval of their 501(c)3 status (Current, May 14). It is currently offline due to that delay. Publisher Louie Gilot and editor Reyes Mata III were fired late in May. Investigative reporter Debbie Nathan remains. Newspaper Tree Board President Richard Pineda, an associate communication professor in University of Texas at El Paso, confirmed that Gilot and Mata are no longer employed, but declined to discuss details.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta presented a diary to Vietnam’s defense minister in Hanoi Monday (June 4) from the body of a North Vietnamese soldier killed in a 1966 firefight near Quang Ngai that had been provided to the Defense Department by the pubTV program History Detectives. The diary contains several entries and a photo of two young women, according to PBS. “I’m pleased that History Detectives could, through Secretary Panetta, be part of a continuing process of reconciliation between our nations,” said Wes Cowan, lead investigator for the show. “The diary and photograph are small reminders that the combatants who were lost on both sides were not simply warriors, but real people who will forever be remembered by their loved ones.”