The “Circus” came to town today (Aug. 5) courtesy of PBS at the ongoing TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles. The six-part series from the folks who brought you “Carrier” premieres in November. We get the feeling that PBS provided the only upside-down balancing gentleman onstage in the entire Press Tour. Because if PBS didn’t do it, who would? (PBS photo, Jake Landis)

For our RSS subscribers, don’t miss the story just posted on current.org on KCET’s possible departure from PBS as of Jan. 1, 2011. The move could leave the network without a station committed to air the bulk of its schedule in the nation’s second-largest media market. And it would be the first departure of a major-market member in the network’s history.

After negotiating with PBS for eight months over a proposal to reduce its dues and reconfigure pubTV in the Los Angeles market, the city’s bigget public station announced this week that it may drop out of the network by Jan. 1. If KCET proceeds with that option, PBS would be left without a station committed to carrying its primetime and children’s schedules in the nation’s second-largest media market. It would be the first departure of a major-market member in the network’s  history. KCET President Al Jerome told Current that he’d prefer to remain with PBS, but says — if the network doesn’t budge — he has unanimous backing from the station’s board of directors to forgo the PBS brand and the icon series of its National Program Service.

A roomful of TV talent assembled Wednesday (Aug. 4) at a panel and reception for PBS’s “Pioneers of Television” at the TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles. Generating the star wattage was, in front, Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek and Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West. Back row, Mission Impossible‘s Martin Landau, Mike Connors of Mannix and Linda Evans of Dynasty. (PBS photo, Jake Landis)

In a random attack in the Chinatown neighborhood near NPR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, an NPR intern was stabbed in the neck yesterday morning by a young woman who appeared to be in a hypnotic trance, WJLA News reports. Several good samaritans came to the rescue of Annie Ropeick, a Boston University junior who is interning at NPR this summer, and one man tackled the suspect and held her down until police arrived. Ropeick, whose family lives in the D.C. region, is recovering at Howard University Hospital. “The entire staff is shocked and deeply concerned, and we are maintaining close contact with the family,” NPR said in a statement.

The already twisty-turny tale of UNC-TV turning over documents to a North Carolina General Assembly committee (Current, July 26) is becoming even more of a pretzel. Laura Leslie of WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill, who’s keeping close tabs on the ever-evolving mess of UNC-TV, Alcoa dams, and the state’s reporter shield law, reports several very puzzling developments: — Local commercial TV station WRAL — whose CEO, Jim Goodmon, vociferously opposed UNC-TV’s decision, on July 27 filed a public records request of its own for the same documents from the station. Then Wednesday (Aug. 4) it withdrew the request, citing … you guessed it, the state’s reporter shield law, which Goodmon had insisted protected UNC-TV.

It was semi-retired NPR newscaster Carl Kasell, not gazillion-dollar controversialist Howard Stern who was elected by web users to the National Radio Hall of Fame this week. Kasell also bested MoneyTalk host Bob Brinker and country deejay Bob Kinsley in the category of nationally active broadcasters. Kasell is still active — keeping score on Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! while serving as NPR’s ambassador on the pubradio meet-n-greet circuit. Westwood One will distribute a two-hour Hall of Fame induction broadcast Nov. 6. Urban radio tycoon Cathy Hughes and the late Memphis recording pioneer Sam Phillips are among the other inductees.

PBS’s long-discussed arts website goes online Aug. 23, President Paula Kerger announced at the TCA Press Tour today (Aug. 4) in Los Angeles, reports USA Today. Visitors will be able to watch national PBS programming and shows previously run by their local stations. Last year PBS received a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the website. PBS also continues work on its upcoming once-weekly evening of arts programming for broadcast. (PBS image: Kerger onstage at Press Tour)

Who’s to blame for the “11th hour scramble” on behalf of Long Island’s WLIU? The New York Daily News quotes anonymous sources who criticize general manager Wally Smith as a procrastinator who didn’t pursue prospective donors aggressively enough. Smith says the newspaper’s sources are “out of the loop.” Link to earlier coverage.

The spotlight shines on PBS today (Aug. 4) and Thursday at the ongoing Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. PBS President Paula Kerger faces the press this morning; no doubt the Los Angeles Times’ story today on KCET’s woes will generate questions. (Much more on KCET coming soon from Current.) At 2 p.m. LA time, PBS assembles a panel of stars of yesteryear to celebrate its Pioneers of Television doc. On stage will be Mike Connors, a.k.a. detective Joe Mannix; Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West and Black Sheep Squadron; Linda Evans of Dynasty; Martin Landau, a TV veteran of everything from a Twilight Zone in 1959 to Entourage in 2008; and Nichelle Nichols, who broke racial barriers with her role as Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek.

Peconic Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that mounted a successful bid to purchase WLIU from Long Island University last fall, is struggling to meet its payments. The New York Daily News reports that the new licensee must raise $500,000 by the end of August. If deep-pocketed donors don’t step forward soon, the station will drop all local programming, PPB President Wally Smith tells the Daily News. Under a sales contract announced in October 2009, PPB bought WLIU for $2.425 million in cash and in-kind services and agreed to absorb the cost of moving its studio and transmitter.

Sorry, pubcasters, NPR has lost the Great White House Briefing Room Front-Center Chair Scramble of 2010. To review: Legendary newswoman Helen Thomas resigned on June 7. NPR applied for the much-coveted chair. Two progressive online groups began petitions to persuade the White House Correspondents Association to give the chair to NPR. Then NPR denied knowing anything about the petitions. And now, finally, the decision: The Associated Press gets Thomas’s chair, Fox News moves to fill AP’s old front-row seat, and NPR takes Fox’s second-row seat. That’s next to Bloomberg, for anyone still erasing and updating their seating chart.

One of the legacies inspired by the late broadcast journalist’s career is the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, now seeking contenders for the ninth year. Boston’s WBUR will award the $5,000 prize to the journalist, age 35 or younger (as of June 30, 2010) who’s principally responsible for a news story or segment “of significance and quality  . . . that celebrates the new generation of journalists in public radio” (that aired the 12 months before that date on a CPB-qualified pubradio station.) One entry per journalist. Entry deadline: Sept. 17. Details here.

Alexis Rapo, formerly of Disney-ABC, began work today (Aug. 2) as vice president, broadband and interactive media, for WGBH, the Boston station announced. She’ll take the lead in shaping WGBH’s digital product and service strategy, including new formats and platforms. Rapo is credited with the creation of several “industry first” technical innovations at ABC, the station statement said, including first network to offer episodes on iTunes (in 2005), and first to stream ad-supported full episodes online (May 2006). She won an Emmy in 2006 for interactive television and programming.

The Miami Herald and WLRN-FM have joined American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, the citizen journalism system for tapping audience members as sources. The Herald, an editorial partner with WLRN’s newsroom since 2000, is the first major daily newspaper to join the web-powered sourcing system. The partners plan to tailor their network for Spanish-speaking audiences. “Our participation in the Public Insight Network will be personalized to the communities we serve, and will include a bilingual user interface to ensure we’re interacting with all of our readers and listeners,” says Rick Hirsch, senior editor of multimedia for the Herald.