The FCC fined Isothermal Community College, licensee of WNCW-FM in Spindale, N.C., $4,000 for improperly promoting an on-air raffle during a pledge drive. The agency had previously admonished Isothermal for WNCW’s promotion of a local music festival. [Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the FCC had fined Isothermal for the earlier violation.]

The FCC has delayed the DTV simulcasting requirements for New Mexico’s three PTV stations until May 2004. The stations are currently buying the necessary equipment to run their analog programs on their digital channels (PDF).

Public radio managers in Iowa are disputing a Board of Regents suggestion that their stations be replaced with a statewide network, reports the Associated Press.

What you don’t know about Nightly Business Report‘s Susie Gharib.

“Wandering and wandering, lost in the desert, alluding to Vietnam and cryptic codes as well as to the bones of Butch Cassidy, ‘Coyote Waits’ struggles to give flavorless love stories emphasis with lazy ranchero chords,” writes a New York Times reviewer. “Neither the murder nor the western expanse nor the intimations of mortality quicken the imagination.”

“Public radio is riding high,” writes devoted fan William Powers in the National Journal. “These days, my most powerful media experiences, the stuff I can’t forget, are public radio experiences.”

Ira Glass talks TV and much more with The Onion: “With a lot of shows, whatever my girlfriend is watching, that becomes my taste. I know everything that’s happening on Gilmore Girls.”

Joan Kroc’s gift to NPR ought to inspire other donors to step up rather than shy away, editorializes the Indianapolis Star.

Conservative columnist Brent Bozell informs us that NPR didn’t really need the $200 million gift from Joan “Mommy Peacebucks” Kroc. The Media Research Center also scoffs at the idea that Kroc saw NPR as “objective.”

Ken Stern, NPR’s executive v.p., tells the New York Daily News much of the income from Joan Kroc’s $200 million gift will fund programming. “We see moving from an era of limitations to an era of possibilities,” he says.

Kentucky’s Georgetown College sold public station WRVG-FM, as Current reported, but got a permit last week to start a low-power FM station, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.

PBS will add a public affairs show featuring Tucker Carlson, conservative cohost of CNN’s Crossfire, to its line-up by next June, reports Television Week and the Washington Post [scroll down].

In an Akron Beacon Journal article, a public radio g.m. worries that Joan Kroc’s $200 million gift to NPR might discourage potential donors from giving to their local stations. The Boston Globe sends NPR a wish list. And a San Diego Union-Tribune editorial praises NPR.

More coverage of Joan Kroc’s gift to NPR in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, New York Times and from NPR itself. (Some via Romenesko.) And John Gibson of Fox News asks, “Do you think this will teach NPR that they ought to be nicer about some things they don’t agree with, like burgers and fries and eating cows?”