An NPR decision to change staffing arrangements for its western bureau chief has drawn objections from public radio station news directors and journalists. Two chiefs now share the job from two different cities–Kate Concannon in Seattle and Alisa Joyce-Barba from San Diego. NPR plans to hire a full-time bureau chief to work from its NPR West studios in Culver City, Calif. Public radio news consultant Michael Marcotte, a longtime advocate of expanding the bureau chief system, says the change will undercut the local/national news reporting relationships that NPR President Vivian Schiller says she wants to strengthen. “The bureau chiefs are the unsung heroes, the key linkages in the network-station editorial relationship, a relationship that must be tended and nourished,” he writes.

NPR and APT both won James Beard Foundation Awards on Monday, known as “the Oscars of the food industry.” The Kojo Nnamdi Show won for broadcast media; host is Nnamdi, producers are Tara Boyle, Michael Martinez, Ingalisa Schrobsdorff, Brendan Sweeney and Diane Vogel. For television show, on location, the winner is Chefs A’Field, “King of Alaska” (click on Episodes, then Episode 2) from presenting station KCTS in Seattle. Now in its fourth season, host is Rick Moonen, producers are Heidi Hanson and Chris Warner. WGBH is presenting station for Food Trip with Todd English, which won for television special; producers are English, Matt Cohen, Joel Coblenz and Gina Gargano.

The FCC on Monday released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) asking for comment on rules governing construction, marking and lighting of antenna structures. The FCC hopes the revisions will improve compliance and allow the agency to better enforce the regs. The proposed rules would also remove outdated and complicated requirements without compromising the FCC’s responsibility to prevent antenna structures from being hazards to air navigation. A petition filed by the PCIA — The Wireless Infrastructure Association back on Sept. 12, 2006, led to the proposal; it’s being eyed now as part of an FCC biennial review of rules.

No, “Mornings with NPR” is not a new show, it’s the name of an aspiring cartoonist’s tribute blog to her fave pubradio show. Alex Olanow says two of her more enthusiastic fans are Morning Edition hosts Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne, who once sent her a goody bag full of show swag: mugs, hats and, of course, that proverbial tote bag.

The Tyee, a British Columbian news and culture website, is reporting that a leaked survey of CBC journos tells “a mind-boggling tale of institutional incompetence. It’s a surprisingly amusing story, with great literary potential …” The main hubbub seems to be over the Hub, a layer of middle management that picks stories for cross-platform use. It’s part of an effort to integrate national radio and local TV so one reporter can serve both. Nearly half of the journalists insist it’s stopping them from getting a good story on the air, and, furthermore, they insist the Hub is a bunch of people “not qualified to be called junior reporters.”

Good news from Wyoming Public Radio: It reached its spring pledge goal of $250,000 in just 56 hours of on-air fundraising, according to a statement from licensee University of Wyoming. Jon Schwartz, g.m., said the station’s membership drives are consistently among the shortest in the country.

An Oregon Public Broadcasting contractor was found dead last weekend at its Stacker Butte, Wash., tower. Station spokesperson Becky Chinn told the Yakima Herald that his death appears to have been unrelated to his installation and maintenance work. She had no information on his age or hometown because he was not an employee. An autopsy is pending.

Muppets Studio won four Webby Awards — a major coup for its hilarious “Queen and the Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody” — NPR.org won two, and one each for PBS, Frontline/World and Sesame Street in the honors for online excellence announced today. (OK, so technically Muppets Studio isn’t really a pubcaster, but those furry ones are definitely related to their Sesame Street cousins so we’ll claim ’em.) Each category had two winners, one voted on by judges including domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and media maven Arianna Huffington, and the other, People’s Voice, selected by voters around the world. NPR’s awards came for Best Practices (People’s Voice) and Radio Podcasts (People’s Voice).

In the beginning, there was CBS Reports. Then came Bill Moyers. It was 1976. Executive Producer Howard Stringer wanted to show the world that the hour documentary was still viable despite the gaggle of magazine-style news shows pushing their way to the screen. Accountants had discovered there was profit in the magazine format and wise men in good-looking suits informed us we were behind the times. Howard held a staff meeting to solicit ways to best exploit the talents of this man from Texas. A hand went up. “Can we send him for speech lessons? Who will take us seriously when they hear that country accent?

Such hires push a hot-button issue: Public broadcasting’s commitment to diversify its largely white male corps of decision-makers.

Several pubcasting shows and people scored Sigma Delta Chi awards for excellence in 2009 journalism. The honors, presented since 1932, are awarded by the Society for Professional Journalists. From Frontline World, the winner for documentaries (network, syndication, service or program service) is “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground.” For feature reporting top 100 market or network syndication, the prize went to “California’s Three Strikes Law: 15 Years of Controversy,” by Ina Jaffe, Philip Bruce and Amy Walter of NPR. Mary Kay Magistad was named for “Created in China” from Public Radio International’s the World, for top 100 market or network syndication. And for public service in radio journalism, 101+ market or network syndication, it’s “A Community Victimized in the Shadows” by WSHU’s Charles Lane, Naomi Starobin and Katie Davis.

Claus Meyer (right) of the Create channel’s New Scandinavian Cooking has earned the No. 1 spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy competition for his Noma in Denmark. It’s judged by famous chefs, food critics, restaurateurs and “well traveled gourmands,” according to APT. Noma’s specialty is modern Nordic cuisine, the same dishes that he helps create for the show with host Andreas Viestad and fellow chef Sara LaFountain. Other Create winners: Coming in second was Spain’s four-time winner El Bulli, featured on Spain … On the Road Again; and New York’s longtime fave Le Bernadin at 15th place. Behind-the-scene shots of Le Bernadin are featured in Ripert’s cooking series Avec Eric, which explores inspiration for dishes served at his famed eatery.

For our RSS readers: The latest top story from Current. With PBS under increasing budgetary pressure, President Paula Kerger recently turned to Smithsonian Institution fundraiser Brian Reddington for the important new post of senior v.p. of development and executive director of the PBS Foundation. In January, when she told the PBS Board of Reddington’s selection, she said he was a friend of hers. Kerger did not mention that she, her husband and Reddington owned a condominium together in New York City from September 2003 to September 2006. PBS hired Reddington without engaging a search firm or advertising the opening, the network said last week in a statement responding to many but not all of Current’s questions.

The Boston Herald is reporting that WGBH is one of several nonprofits that have fallen behind in its voluntary payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to help pay for city services. A Boston official told the paper that WGBH’s contributions were “minimal, and their agreement lapsed when they moved into their new building” in 2007. WGBH spokesperson Jeanne Hopkins said, “We have provided PILOTs in the past, and we absolutely intend to do so again. We certainly understand the pressure the city is under and we want to do our part. … We will work with the city to determine an appropriate payment for WGBH.”

Dick Daly, senior consultant at Buffalo’s WNED, is retiring after more than 50 years in broadcasting, the station has announced. Daly has been with WNED since 1987, when he was hired as radio veep, overseeing classical music station WNED-FM and news station WEBR-AM (later WNED-AM). In 1993 he became senior v.p. of broadcasting, which put television operations under his guidance. Daly’s broadcasting career began in 1957 in Minnesota as a reporter, news director, and news editor. In 1967, he was an accredited correspondent reporting on the Vietnam War for NBC affiliate WDSM in Duluth, Minn. Daly moved to Minnesota Public Radio in 1973.