Barrett Golding, producer of Hearing Voices, describes the ins and outs of public radio distribution in a two-part series for AIRblast, the newsletter of the Association of Independents in Radio. He talks with program directors and other producers about how they use Public Radio Exchange and the Public Radio Satellite Service’s Content Depot. Part I covers the basics–what are PRX and PRSS, and how do they work? Part II examines what types of programs are most likely to be acquired by p.d.s. and how producers are compensated (or not). Richard Paul, an indie producer who sells a lot of programs on PRX, advises his indie colleagues: “Producers should put a value on their show.

Comcast has won an important lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission that may threaten its ambitious broadband agenda, reports the Washington Post. In a unanimous decision (36-page PDF), three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that FCC doesn’t have authority to require Comcast, America’s largest broadband services provider, to treat all Internet traffic equally, a concept known as “net neutrality” (Wikipedia). The judges examined whether the FCC has authority over broadband services, categorized separately from phone, cable television and wireless; the FCC now has only “ancillary authority” over broadband. The ruling says in part: “The Commission may exercise this ‘ancillary’ authority only if it demonstrates that its action .

  Producers for public broadcasting — and developers for its websites — received 14 Peabody Awards, announced March 31, 2010 Regarding websites, the judges honored two in public media: Sesame Street’s (“prodigious adaptability . . . delightfully educational, interactive,” the Peabody announcement said) website NPR’s (“one of the great one-stop websites. And there’s music you can dance to”) website Peabodys went to six PBS programs — double the number won by any other organization: “Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About,” about the great New York choreographer, from WNET/American Masters, produced and directed by Judy Kinberg, with Susan Lacy, e.p.

This paper began with a simple question. A station manager wanted to compare the sizes of her station’s web audience with its radio and television audiences — an apple-to-apples comparison. When she saw the results, her reaction was “OMG, why is that web audience so small?!”

The masterminds of efforts such as NPR’s Bryant Park Project and Chicago Public Radio’s Vocalo know well the difficulties of cultivating new, younger and more diverse audiences for public radio. Now imagine giving it a go in one of the country’s most competitive media markets, Los Angeles. That is the assignment from CPB accepted by L.A. Public Media, a multiplatform service managed by Fresno-based Radio Bilingüe and tailored for younger listeners of color. Imagine further, eight months after taking the assignment and a $2 million grant, there’s still no FM channel to use. LAPM is preparing to launch in July, but probably online instead of on the air.

Paula Kerger wants public TV stations to know that the combination of flat station dues, dwindling resources and balanced budgets may be slowly strangling PBS’s ability to fund new-media innovation. “We can’t continue to go down this path,” the network president told her board March 26 [2010]. PBS’s member stations are strangling, too, and the network probably can’t count on them to contribute more in dues for fiscal year 2011, which starts in July. The board endorsed a balanced budget — to be sent to stations for comment — that relies on no increases in assessments for member services, program services or fundraising programming.The

PBS convened and CPB supported the PBS Quality Group’s evangelism for DTV quality in 2010 and 2011. The group, including tech specialists from stations, series producers and PBS, and consultants, held a series of workshops around the country, and members prepared these articles. Here are PDFs of the pieces published in Current. 1. Maintaining quality You can’t always ‘fix it in post.’ Station engineers, PBS join to identify best practices for DTV system. By Jim Kutzner, PBS. Published April 5, 2010. 2. HD image capture A welter of interacting choices. By Mark Schubin, production engineering consultant. Published May 3, 2010.

The MacArthur Foundation awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant for production of The Moth Radio Hour, a series of live story telling performances that debuted last year. Jake Shapiro, executive director of Public Radio Exchange, recently announced that PRX will begin releasing new episodes for public radio broadcasts next month. “The Moth Radio Hour is the realization of a ten-year long dream to bring The Moth to public radio,” said Lea Thau, executive and creative director of the New York-based nonprofit that stages popular story telling performances. “We have long felt that radio was the perfect medium for our stories to reach a wider audience, and we are grateful to the MacArthur Foundation for making this possible.”

Baltimore’s WEAA has begun piloting the Michael Eric Dyson Show, a midday talk show that is being reincarnated for a second try at pubradio syndication. CPB awarded $505,000 to WEAA last fall to create a new public radio home for Dyson after an earlier production by the African American Public Radio Consortium folded (Current, Oct. 13). After Dyson and the consortium parted ways, the group created a new program last fall, Upfront with Tony Cox, but it has suspended production to raise money, according to the show’s website. Dyson is a Georgetown University sociology professor, author and social critic who frequently appears on television talk shows.

Thanks to PBS’s History Detectives, Andrew Jackson’s mouth will be returned to his head. It’s part of an upcoming episode filmed on the USS Constitution, according to Military.com. Puzzled? Here’s a hint, a quote from the New York Times: “I believe in destiny, and I truly believe that somehow the mouth was meant to be held safe for these many years by the various members of a boating business family.” That should clear things up for you. Anyway, huzzah to the History Detectives team for the important find.

WYES in New Orleans is fretting over how the pending Louisiana Homemade Beer Law will affect its long-running International Beer T asting, a popular fundraiser that features home brews, according to the Times-Picayune. The bill would set limits on how much home-brewed beer can be transported from a household to beer tastings, and make the sale of homemade beer illegal. Randall Feldman, station manager, said he needs to know whether admission charged would be classified as a sale of home brew. Also, he noted, restrictions on amounts can be transported per household would result in a smaller festival. “I have many questions I want to follow up with,” he told the newspaper.

CBC Radio has canned Barbara Budd, co-host of As It Happens — radio that’s too cheeky to be Canadian. She leaves the nightly call-out news program April 30. “I would never, never, ever walk away from a show that I still truly love,” Budd told the Toronto Globe & Mail. As with NPR decisions that led to Bob Edwards’ departure from Morning Edition, the CBC is putting more reportorial folks in hosting jobs, Guy Dixon wrote in the Globe & Mail. “In a general sense, it’s true that with the evolution of the show, we are looking to put more of a focus on hosts who are also journalists,” a CBC spokesman told Dixon.

“New Muslim Cool: Engaging Stakeholders in the Filmmaking Process” is the latest Public Media 2.0 Field Report from the Center for Social Media at American University. The ongoing series of case studies, funded by the Ford Foundation’s Future of Public Media project, focuses on participatory and multiplatform work. “From development to production to distribution and outreach, all stages of this media project are characterized by a strong connection to the community portrayed in the film,” the Muslim hip-hop world, according to the report. Find out the challenges overcome and creative approaches used in the PBS film here (PDF).

Lonna Thompson will serve as interim president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations in the wake of Larry Sidman’s departure (Current, March 14). The Board of Trustees approved the appointment effective today. Thompson also will continue in her current role of executive veep and general counsel for APTS.

WPBS in Watertown, N.Y., got a jolt early last Saturday when a car crashed through one of its walls, reports Newzjunky.com, a northern New York news site. Fortunately, no one was inside the station. A 19-year-old was driving by the station at 4:27 a.m. when, he told police, he swerved to avoid a dog. The car veered into oncoming traffic, struck a curb, went airborne and landed in the side of the PBS affiliate’s building. Timothy Ames, director of technology and chief engineer at the station, told Current no word yet on costs to repair the damage. The driver was treated for a leg injury and charged with failure to keep right and driving at an unreasonable speed.