Kentucky’s budget director warned several state last agencies Friday to plan for a possible 6 percent spending cut, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. But topping a list of those exempt from the reductions is Kentucky Educational Television. Others are public universities, K-12 schools, prosecutors, public defenders, Medicaid and mental health services. KET Executive Director Mac Wall told Current that its position on the list makes the point that if a station invests in local services such as education, its value to the community “goes up dramatically.” Its EncycloMedia site for teachers and students just surpassed five million hits since 2005, Wall noted.

Detroit Public Television is the Best-Managed Nonprofit in that city, as chosen by Crain’s Detroit Business. The publication cites DPT’s programming shift to five areas “critical to the region,” children/education, arts/culture, energy/environment, health/safety and jobs/leadership — while reducing its operational costs by $2.4 million. “With the way the media landscape has changed over the last few years, there’s more and more of a need for a station committed to public engagement and (local) public information,” Rich Homberg, president and general manager, told the paper. The station also closed out a $22 million capital campaign and brought in more than $1 million in new funding.

The American Society of News Editors is conducting a public discussion on news ethics in the evolving media ecosystem during its conference this week, “Journalism Ethics: Public Trust Through Public Engagement.” Topics include: Differences in how citizens and journalists view journalism values; when anyone can be a publisher, what distinguishes a journalist?; and new ways of partnering with the public. Some 25 editors, scholars, students and members of the public will interact at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism starting at 10 a.m. today. Follow along on the website’s streaming video, or on Twitter at hashtag #TalkEthics.

WKNO in Memphis is up and running in its new 44,000 square foot facility, reports the Commercial-Appeal. The sleek building houses two television studios, two closed-captioning suites, three radio studios and three editing suites. It’s nearly twice the size of WKNO’s former home, which has been on the south campus of the University of Memphis for 30 years.

The FCC yesterday okayed WGBH’s purchase of classical WCRB 99.5 FM from from Nassau Broadcasting Partners, the Boston Globe reports today. WGBH revealed in September it was bidding to buy the Waltham, Mass., station so it could convert 89.7 FM, with a mix of NPR programs, classical, and jazz shows, to an all-news talk format. Classical music will shift to 99.5 FM. The purchase puts WGBH-FM in direct competition with Boston NPR News powerhouse WBUR.

Ellen Goodman, a Rutgers law professor and Fellow at the Center for Social Media, submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on the development of a national broadband plan, according to the Center, at American University. Her thoughts reflect research the Center has been doing for its Future of Public Media project. In her comments (PDF), Goodman notes various current pubmedia activities using high-speed connections, and suggests that further progress will only happen “if public media systems become more diverse, open, networked, innovative, technologically sophisticated, and focused on a service mission to meet public needs where the market will not go.”

The Texas Tribune, an online nonprof news site based in Austin, launched Nov. 3 to cover “public policy, politics, government and other matters of statewide concern.” It received $1 million from its new chairman and co-founder, venture capitalist John Thornton, according to the Daily Texan at the University of Texas at Austin. The project will collaborate with the university on five election polls, and with the school’s Center for Politics and Governance for a lecture series and student internships. Here’s more about the project.

Journalism That Matters, an organization of “media innovators and stakeholders” that nurtures discussions on the emerging modern ecosystem of public media, is hosting the confab “Reimagining News and Community in the Pacific Northwest,” Jan. 7-10, 2010, at the University of Washington, Seattle. It’s the group’s first regional workshop since its founding in 2000, following nationally focused meetings in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Silicon Valley; and Washington, D.C. Participants have included reporters, editors, publishers, videographers, photographers, media educators, reformers and citizen journalists; audience members are from print, broadcast, and online media, both mainstream and entrepreneurial. The group’s founders are also a diverse bunch.

The longest running multimedia public-affairs series in the nation, “Chicago Matters,” is ending after 19 years, according to Chicago Tribune media reporter Phil Rosenthal. The series was a partnership among pubTV’s WTTW 11, Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Reporter newspaper to spotlight a major regional issue each year. It’s funded by the Chicago Community Trust. The group, citing the recession’s toll, said in a statement that it has “redirected $2.7 million towards basic human needs” and will stop funding “Chicago Matters” at the end of 2009. Last week the Trust announced a new program, “Community News Matters,” “to spur growth of new sources of quality local news.”

A new strategic plan worked up at Chicago Public Radio unexpectedly went public earlier this week when it was leaked to the Chicago Reader. The three-year plan (PDF) assesses the broadcaster’s strengths and weaknesses and puts forth general goals such as “Create modular, highly useful, adaptive and relevant content” and “Build a relationship engine” — i.e., help listeners customize which content they get from the station and on what platforms. Some of the plan’s blunter language addresses the progress, or lack thereof, of Vocalo, the ambitious web/radio hybrid that the station debuted in 2007. “As a website Vocalo must be seen as unsuccessful so far,” the report says.

As of Monday the fed’s DTV converter box coupon program is over, with nearly half the 64 million coupons unredeemed, reports Broadcasting & Cable. That translates to some $1.2 billion worth of the $40 coupons unused.

Jason Seiken, PBS senior vice president, interactive, is one of a slew of speakers at the New TeeVee Live ’09, Television Reinvented confab today in San Francisco. The annual meeting delves into the future of television as it morphs into “gaming consoles, browser-enabled TVs, startup set-top boxes, network DVRs, simple cables — it’s a battle to see who can bring the flexibility and variety of online video delivery to the comfort of your couch.” Seiken’s presentation is “Transforming a MSM Brand,” about PBS’s strategy to use online video and social media to revamp and revitalize its brand. Also attending: Kevin Dando, PBS director, education and online communications; and Tim Olson, v.p.

Fred Newman, sound effects man extraordinaire on American Public Media’s Prairie Home Companion, gave a demonstration of his craft Wednesday afternoon in Enid, Okla., reports the Enid News and Eagle. Newman was in town doing sound effects for The Wonderful Life of George Bailey, an adaptation of the film It’s a Wonderful Life as a radio drama at Enid Symphony Hall. Newman’s grandfather sparked his passion for sounds at an early age, he said. His grandfather placed a finger on Newman’s lips and told to listen to the sounds. “If the wind was blowing he would tell me to hear the whisper of the sound,” Newman told the crowd.

For the first time, pubTV stations may broadcast the 60-minute National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, D.C. According to partners WETA, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, the ceremony, which takes place Dec. 3, will be available starting Dec. 4 to run throughout the holiday season. It’s the 86th annual lighting. (2008 photo: National Park Service)

The crowds are arriving for APT’s Fall Marketplace, today through Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla. Lots of events, including a professional development seminar by Steve McGowan, senior vice president of research for the Discovery Channel, “Traditional Media’s Future When Facing the Rise of New Media.”