The head of the theater program at private Mississippi College and a former United Nations World Food Program official, Judith Lewis, starts work Aug 1. as executive director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported yesterday. She succeeds Marie Antoon, who announced her retirement earlier this year and will continue to work with MPB for a transition month. Lewis is an associate professor of communications at the college in Clinton, near the state capital, Jackson. She retired about three yeares ago from the U.N. program; she was a regional director in eastern and southern Africa and has lived in Angola, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Africa, the newspaper said.

KCPT, the PBS affiliate in Kansas City, Mo., will host a one-hour forum with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke moderated by Jim Lehrer on July 26 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. That will translate into three nights of coverage on NewsHour followed by a one-hour special. TV critic Aaron Barnhart wrote in a Kansas City Star blog, “This is a coup for KCPT, the Kansas City public TV station that continues to outperform its 31st-largest-market stature. It will be choosing the members of the local audience, who will join online participants in a national dialogue about the Fed, its power, and the state of the economy following one of the biggest government economic interventions in history.”

Here’s some happy news: Milwaukee Public Television reports that more than half the country’s pubstations are picking up its HD feed of the city’s Great Circus Parade. That means some 52 percent of Americans from Boston all the way to Hawaii have a chance to watch, according to a station release.

Ira Glass, e.p. and host of This American Life, is this year’s recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award from CPB. Board member Lori Gilbert presented Glass with the honor today at the Public Radio Development and Marketing Conference in San Diego, saying the show “has created a new aesthetic for public radio, now emulated by a new generation of producers and reporters.” TAL debuted in 1995 and is currently broadcast on more than 500 pubradio stations to a weekly audience of 1.8 million listeners. CPB has given the Murrow Award since 1977 to “individuals who foster public radio’s quality and service and shape its direction.”

Free tickets to enter the Antiques Roadshow episode in Madison, Wisc., are selling for $200 online, local WKOW-TV is warning viewers. The producers track such sales and will cancel those tickets if it identifies sellers.

One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s numerous pubTV stations has dropped PBS membership in hopes of averting its sale. Hit by budget cuts like everything else in California’s public sector, San Mateo County Community College District gave KCSM-TV/FM a chance to cut costs, the San Mateo County Times reported yesterday. It is cutting six positions, five in TV and one in radio. Dropping PBS will save $400,000 a year, almost half of the $825,000 reduction planned. KCSM also plans to lease some spectrum to make money.

Minnesota Public Radio today is the latest pubcaster to unveil a new website look and structure. While it retains some news on its home page, MPR refers news junkies to NewsQ, “Minnesota’s online source for news that matters,” with links to five blogs and its Public Insight Network at top center. Sections related to MPR’s two music services get distinct coloring and emotional tones. The calm green-accented classical section has a heading asserting “it’s alive” and is decorated with minty sprigs up top (beech leaves?). There’s a lively red-and-yellow look for 89.3 The Current, MPR’s contemporary music channel.

Nine employees are laid off and two vacancies are gone, effective immediately, at WQED in Pittsburgh, according to a station statement. “This is a drastic action and a very painful day in the history of this station, in Pittsburgh and in this region that we serve when we have to respond to financial pressures by cutting staff,” said George L. Miles Jr., President and CEO of WQED Multimedia. The station has been waging a public-relations campaign for months to raise awareness of a possible $1.1 million budget cut if Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed budget passes. “We now have to confront the reality that these state monies may never be reinstated,” Miles said.

KQED employees are on furlough all week, “due to a downturn in the economy,” according to the station’s July member newsletter (PDF). TV, radio and Internet services won’t be interrupted, the statement said. The office reopens July 13.

Damian Mandola, cookbook author, restaurateur and host of the former PBS show Cucina Amore, is embroiled in a neighborhood dispute in Driftwood, Texas, that may have escalated into the death of four dogs, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Mandola said three Swiss Mountain Dogs belonging to his neighbor, Jeff Maddox, had entered Mandola’s yard recently and killed his poodle. Then June 30 Maddox’s dogs went missing; their bodies were found near Mandola’s property. The cause of death is impossible to determine due to damage from buzzards. Damian’s wife Trina Mandola said the family denies any involvement.

Part of WSRE-TV’s overhaul of local programming in Pensacola, Fla., includes cutting Robin Reshard, host of its Connecting the Community show. She’d been in the spot about two years. Station spokesperson Robin McArthur said reruns of the weekly show will air while the local programming schedule undergoes a “revamping” due to budget cuts. McArthur told Current in an e-mail: “Even in the midst of challenging times due to shrinking budgets and contributions, WSRE is optimistic there are ample opportunities for us to continue and even better the way we serve our local communities.”

The staff at WNED in Buffalo, N.Y., was stunned when the station received a $1.4 million bequest from Charles N. Hubbell. The classical music enthusiast had contributed for more than 25 years and left the station the money from his trust. It’s the largest legacy gift ever for the station. “We don’t know much about this quiet patron, but we are extremely grateful for his enormous generosity,” Donald K. Boswell, president and CEO, told The Buffalo News. Boswell announced Monday that WNED will honor its “quiet patron” by naming the Classical 94.5 FM broadcast booth the Charles N. Hubbell Studio.

Patricia Deal Cahill is President Obama’s nominee for a seat on the CPB Board. A White House press release details Cahill’s career in public radio, which began in 1969. She’s g.m. of KCUR-FM at University of Missouri-Kansas City and teaches broadcast management there. She was also g.m. of KMUW-FM at Wichita State University, served on the NPR Board and was president of Public Radio in Mid America. Cahill told Kansas City Star media writer Aaron Barnhart that it appears she will be the first active pubradio station manager named to the board.

Dean Wright has asked his outside advisors to cut costs by consolidating management of its two commercial and three public stations—creating a closeness that raises red flags for some pubcasters.

If all of the stations in the Benchmarks survey matched the performance of the top stations, public radio would gain $47.4 million in net membership revenue.