A Star Tribune review of Studio 360 calls PRI “public radio’s equivalent of HBO in terms of turning out cutting-edge programming.”

Astronomers have named asteroid #26858 “Misterrogers” in honor of the late children’s TV host, reports NEPA News. (Via randomWalks.) PBS will distribute a live broadcast of Rogers’ memorial service May 3.

The Jewish Action Taskforce has rescheduled protests against NPR’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They will take place at NPR’s D.C. headquarters and at member stations May 14.

The Miami Herald has agreed to produce news segments for the city’s WLRN-FM, reports the Herald.

“What he reminds me of is that quirky, kind of odd friend you had in high school but never wanted to admit you knew,” says a This American Life fan of host Ira Glass, in a St. Paul Pioneer Press article. “But now you think, ‘Gee, I wish I had gotten to know him better.’ “

Police arrested Minnesota Public Radio talk show host Katherine Lanpher April 12 on suspicion of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident, report local media.

The FCC has given public TV stations an extra six months to simulcast half of their analog programming on their digital channels. The original deadline for the 50 percent simulcast requirement was May 1.

Tom Shales blasts commercial coverage of the Iraqi war while praising PBS’s Bill Moyers and NPR’s Bob Edwards in his TelevisionWeek column.

Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen talks with The Rake. “[W]hen I hear Ira Glass at public radio conventions sort of light into the audience saying, ‘You’ve become conservative, you accept mediocrity,’ I say hear, hear,” he says.

NPR’s Carl Kasell will marry psychotherapist Mary Ann Foster May 24, reports the Washington Post. Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! host Peter Sagal will officiate. (Last item.)

NPR’s Anne Garrels tells colleague Susan Stamberg that, after Iraq, she might not cover another war. “I can’t do it to my husband again,” she says. (Via Romenesko.)

Amy Goodman in Newsday on her work as host of Democracy Now!: “I have what most journalists look for — independence.”

NPR’s Bob Edwards shared some forthright opinions with a Kentucky audience earlier this month. “The rise of cable TV and the Internet were supposed to democratize the media and give us many voices and numerous points of view,” he said. “Instead, market forces and deregulation have clobbered diversity.”

All Things Considered host Michele Norris tells Journalismjobs.com that producing the show each day “is a miracle on the order of loaves and fishes.”

“As educational as magnetic,” says Los Angeles Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg. “Intimate, eye-opening and completely fascinating,” raves Salon’s Joyce Millman. “Brilliantly disguised as just another reality show . . .  the very best TV show of 2002,” gushes Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star. TV critics seem reluctant to hold back praise for 1900 House, Frontier House and 1940s House, the “living history” series brought to PBS by WNET’s Beth Hoppe and the British production company Wall to Wall Television. Since 1900 House debuted in June 2000, viewers, too, have marveled at how ordinary families face life without the technological and social conveniences of the 21st century.