WYPR’s local Morning Edition host Nathan Sterner in Baltimore (Balmer, to you natives) might be the only pubcaster out there with a theme song for his headlines blog. He’s run it a few times on the air to promote the blog, where he links to station segments as well as stories from other local media. Baltimore filmmaker Chris LaMartina composed the song and quite deftly rhymed “Sterner” with “back burner.”

ThirTeam, the aptly named softball team from Thirteen/WNET.org, is on a roll, reveling in three consecutive wins — 13-6, 15-8, 9-8. The players are current and former employees of the New York City station. “It’s allowed us to stay connected with each other,” said Joe Basile, director of program rights and clearances, who has been playing for ThirTeam since it formed in 2004. A few team members and their departments, from left: Manny Santiago, network technologies; Austin Traina, tech support; Christine O’Brien, schedule operations; Ryan DeWitt, research; Dean Li, local corporate marketing; and Basile. (Image: WNET.org)

A new NPR app for iPhone users launched last night. “[W]ith the NPR Music app for the iPhone, we have another crucial new vehicle for sharing music with our audience,” writes Anya Grundmann, e.p. of the multi-genre music website, on the Inside NPR blog. The app’s launch coincides with release of Apple’s newest iPhone, but the software also works on 3GS iPhones and the iPod Touch. It has multitasking capabilities that allow users to listen to audio while doing other things with their iPhones. A New York Times feature on the growing popularity of NPR Music, pegged to the app release, reports that traffic to the website hit 1.7 million unique users in May.

Who should control the private monies raised to support West Virginia Public Broadcasting? Not the administration of Governor Joe Manchin, according to editorial writers for the Charleston Gazette. In an editorial published yesterday, the newspaper questions why private donations and CPB grant monies have been transferred from the pubcasting network’s sister foundation into state accounts and says the state legislative auditor, who has called for greater regulation of pubcasting monies, has it all wrong. “Frankly, we think it’s great for public radio and public TV–the realm of Beethoven symphonies and Masterpiece Theater–to be partly independent, free from politics. It would be dismal for them to be regular state agencies like the Division of Motor Vehicles of Division of Highways.”

“Move on, Big Bird,” insists a New York Post headline. It cites problems such as WNET’s recent federal investigation, then launches into a more broad attack. “Once upon a time, the network’s slogan was: ‘If PBS doesn’t do it, who will?’ These days, the answer’s obvious: CNN, Fox, A&E . . .” It also asks, “Why the hell is government still in the TV business, anyway? And on such a grand scale?” and concludes that “public broadcasting is an anachronism.”

The slashing has begun at WTVI in Charlotte, N.C., after Mecklenburg County cut its support from nearly $860,000 to just $95,000, according to the Charlotte Observer. “We cannot continue the business model next year we had this year, and it will be painful,” Elsie Garner, WTVI’s president, told the station’s board Wednesday (June 23). The board approved a $3.2 million budget for the fiscal year beginning in July, a 13 percent reduction from the current fiscal year. Probably two or three jobs will be eliminated from the 16 full timers at the station. WTVI has dropped its contract with Nielsen, about $60,000 annually.

Four pubcasters are among 20 fellows announced today (June 23) for the 2010 Knight-McCormick Leadership Institute hosted by the Knight Digital Media Center at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Participating will be Holly Kernan, news director at San Francisco-based KALW public radio; Christine Montgomery, managing editor of PBS.org; Michael Skoler, vice president of interactive media for Public Radio International; and Matt Thompson, editorial product manager at National Public Radio. The announcement called the program “a unique, six-month curriculum ‘tailored’ to meet their individual needs as primary digital news leaders in their organizations.”

Lois Bent, a longtime voice on Yellowstone Public Radio, died June 15 after an 18-month fight against cancer. She was 55. According to an obituary on the station site, Bent started her career at YPR/KEMC as a volunteer in the late 1970s. She began a classical program in 1983, also as a volunteer, and was hired as operations manager in 1986. Bent was named interim general manger in 2005 and remained in that position until her medical leave of absence began in January 2009. Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices, an indie radio collective, recalls his friend who, as he put it, “passed on into that great audio control room in the sky.”

Chicago’s WTTW has created the John Callaway Excellence in Online Journalism Fellowship, the station will announce on this evening’s Chicago Tonight (June 23). The fellowship is named for the founding host of the longtime pubaffairs program who died last June 23 (Current, July 6, 2009), exactly 10 years to the day after his final show. The fellowship will be funded through donations from family, friends and WTTW viewers, according to a statement from the station. It’s open to graduate students at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Each quarter, a young journalist will work with TV producers and web staff to create original and supplemental content for the Chicago Tonight website.

Among items on the agenda at the CPB meeting wrapping up today (June 23) in Los Angeles are reports on pubTV collaboration projects in the L.A. market, as well as four stations in Alaska. The meeting is at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, which, notes CPB Digital Strategy veep Rob Bole, monograms each guest’s pillowcase (above).

John Edward Dewar Ball, who oversaw development of PBS’s first satellite-based programming delivery system and was an early supporter of closed captioning, has died at age 77. He was recruited by PBS in 1971 to design and oversee the implementation of the satellite system. “The successful completion of the system led other U.S. television networks to move to communication satellites for reaching their affiliates,” notes TV Technology, which just reported his March 25 death. Ball received an Emmy for his work. While working on that project in 1971, Ball attended a demonstration of closed captioning, then called “subtitling for the deaf,” at Washington’s Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University).

The Media Access Group at WGBH is providing audio descriptions of Walt Disney World for visitors with vision loss. A new palm-sized wireless Assistive Technology Device developed by Disney provides information about outdoor areas, from architectural elements to the location of restrooms. The environmental descriptions were written by Renée Ruthel, one of WGBH’s describers. Visitors can hear descriptions of key visual elements, including action and scenery, for more than 50 attractions; amplified audio for most theater attractions; and closed captioning in pre-show areas where television displays narrate the upcoming experience. (Image: WGBH)

The first reactions from consumers are rolling in from ongoing tests of mobile DTV in and around Washington, D.C., according to a statement from the Open Mobile Video Coalition. The coalition is analyzing some 2,800 comments from more than 150 “hands-on” users of new mobile devices capturing television programming. Just under 50 percent of viewing respondents say they watch one or two times a day on the device, and around 30 percent watch three or more times a day. Around 63 percent of viewing is taking place “on the go,” compared with 44 percent at work or at school, and 33 percent at home.

PBS’s Chief Technology Officer John McCoskey is among speakers at the Federal Communication Commission’s upcoming broadcast engineering forum (PDF). The June 25 meeting from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern will tackle topics including cellularization of broadcast architecture, metholologies for repacking the TV band, improvements in VHF reception, and advancements in compression technology. If you can’t attend the meeting at FCC headquarters in Washington, catch it live online or submit questions via email (broadbandoutreach@fcc.gov) or Twitter using hashtag #brdcstforum.

Three years after Latino activists bitterly criticized Ken Burns’s The War for omitting interviews with Hispanic soldiers and sailors, CPB and PBS concluded negotiations to create a Diversity and Innovation Fund to seed new productions, Current reported. PBS issued this RFP on its website. CPB/PBS Diversity and Innovation Fund Request for Proposals Weekly, Primetime Television Series Objective This RFP, the first from the Diversity and Innovation Fund, is designed to solicit proposals to provide the NPS with a new, weekly, primetime series – content that will expand viewership and usage, reaching an adult audience on-air and online that reflects the diversity of the 40-64 year old US population.