Pacifica’s transition to a listener-elected board of directors carried an unexpectedly high price tag, and network executives are exploring cheaper alternatives. Last year the radio network enshrined its democratic principles in bylaws that empowered its staff and members of stations to elect Local Station Boards. Those boards in turn vote for the network’s national board. The bylaws were a crowning achievement to activists who spent years wresting Pacifica from an unpopular board, which had begun appointing its own members and installed a top-down governance style. But the additional governance costs have shocked some Pacifica leaders, who ask whether the cash-strapped network can sustain them.

Microsoft is considering selling Slate, its online magazine, according to the Washington Post and New York Times. NPR partners with Slate to produce Day to Day, its midday newsmag.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved today a bill that would allow for more low-power FM stations.

Bob Edwards declined to tell the (White River Junction, Vt.) Valley News whether he’ll return to NPR after his book tour ends in two weeks. (Via Romenesko.)

After a $12,000 travel spree charged to the credit cards of public TV donors in North Carolina, a former temp for UNC-TV was arrested last weekend on charges of grand larceny and identity theft.

Contrary to reports in August’s Vanity Fair, Bob Edwards is not shrinking. A miscommunication led the glossy monthly to list the 6’4 Edwards as 5’7. The Washington Post’s Richard Leiby reports that NPR alerted him to the gaffe in an e-mail with the subject “Bob Edwards is not a midget.”

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation meets Thursday to consider Sen. John McCain’s low-power FM bill.

In a content analysis of WTTW’s flagship series Chicago Tonight, the activist group Chicago Media Action determined that more than half of the stories broadcast over three months dealt with sports and entertainment and that guests and commentators were predominantly white males.

Thomas Madigan, who produced an Emmy-winning PBS documentary, died at the age of 85, reports the New York Times. Madigan also oversaw corporate underwriting at several big public TV stations.

Democracy Now host Amy Goodman in Clamor Magazine, addressing the media’s reporting on the Iraq War: “And now that we know they got it wrong — and they know it — they’re still bringing on the same people, asking how did we get it wrong? What about letting someone who didn’t get it wrong speak?”

The Senate Commerce Committee will vote Tuesday on Sen. John McCain’s low-power FM bill, reports Radio World. McCain’s bill would remove most third-adjacent protections for full-power stations, allowing more LPFM stations to get on the air.

The Star-Telegram analyzes the press tour spin on why PBS gave a new show to CNN host Tucker Carlson. (Registration required.)

McSweeney’s presents “My Son’s Appearance on Fresh Air“. It’s good to know the specialized field of public radio satire is finding a ready outlet.

Susan Clampitt, former g.m. of WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C., has filed a $12 million lawsuit against American University over her dismissal, reports the Washington Times (second item). Clampitt came under fire for alleged problems of overspending and low morale at the station, as Current reported last year.

Tim Goodman, the TV critic who described PBS as the “worst-run media company in the world,” reflects on what it’s like to meet face-to-face with the media executives he lambasts in the San Francisco Chronicle. (PBS responded to Goodman’s “vitriol” in a letter to the editor published in May.)