Nice Above Fold - Page 391
University licensee trims Arizona Public Media by $2M over five years
Arizona Public Media will lose $2 million in support from its university licensee over the next five years starting July 1. Over that time, the University of Arizona’s annual cash contribution to AZPM will fall 4 percent a year, from $2.6 million to $600,000. University leadership “is working with us to identify sources of new revenue,” General Manager Jack Gibson told Current. The university has weathered nearly $200 million in cuts since 2007 due to reduced state appropriations. Administrators “have turned up the heat wherever they could to recover working capital,” Gibson said. “They’ve looked hard at nonacademic units at the university,” including the dual licensee.Pacifica's WBAI seeks new home for transmitter
With its current location atop the Empire State Building threatened, Pacifica’s WBAI-FM in New York is looking to relocate its transmitter. In an FCC filing submitted Tuesday, Pacifica asked for permission to move its transmitter to the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square. Pacifica is also asking for a boost in power from 4,300 watts to 10,000 watts in order to maintain its current coverage area. In a June 19 report to Pacifica’s board, interim Executive Director Bernard Duncan said the Empire State Building’s management had returned two rent checks and that eviction from the location was imminent.University of Washington files to transfer KEXP license to friends group
The move comes as KEXP conducts a $15 million capital campaign for a new headquarters.
With 'Smartbinge,' WNYC aims to raise national profile for digital content
In an effort to position itself as a national brand in public radio, New York’s WNYC is launching an ad campaign likening its programs’ listeners to Netflix-style binge watchers. The Smartbinge campaign will consist of targeted digital ad buys and a landing page on WNYC.org to encourage listeners from around the country to listen to substantial amounts of WNYC programming. Other elements include Twitter hashtags, geotargeted Facebook ads, paid search results and sponsored blog posts. WNYC is spending around $200,000 on the campaign, working with creative and public-relations teams Cataldi Public Relations and Eyeballs. As WNYC increases digital offerings with streams and a mobile app, it has its sights set on an audience beyond New York.Peg + Cat + Sesame = Daytime Creative Emmys for PBS, topping networks
Longtime favorite Sesame Street took six statuettes, and the new PBS Kids animated series Peg + Cat, three.Berson honored for contribution to community radio, and other awards in public media
Ginny Berson received the Michael Bader Award honoring lifetime achievements in community radio.
Friday roundup: Hollywood Squares gets W.Va. treatment; dogs invade WBUR
• Peter Marshall, host of TV’s Hollywood Squares from 1966-81, is returning to his home state of West Virginia this week to tape four episodes of West Virginia Squares, reports the Charleston Daily Mail. The show will feature questions about state history and music, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting will produce and distribute to schools. Celebrities in this version are all from West Virginia, including Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet on Three’s Company. • Tom Ashbrook of NPR’s On Point and Here & Now co-hosts Jeremy Hobson and Robin Young of star in a short, old-timey movie from WBUR, “Silence is Golden.”TAL’s Alex Blumberg plans for-profit podcast network
Blumberg, e.p. of This American Life and co-host of Planet Money, envisions a sustainable future for narrative audio journalism.Expanded budget buoys plans for PBS's revamped development division
Betsy Gerdeman, who took over as senior vice president of PBS Development in February, is busy rebuilding that staff while focusing on three priorities for stations: planned giving, local corporate support and on-air fundraising. “I still have my station hat firmly on my head, and I hope I always will,” said Gerdeman, who has worked at KLRU and KLRN in San Antonio and WETA in Arlington, Va. “The success in this department comes from walking in the shoes of the stations we serve.” PBS trimmed its fundraising staff in June 2010, eliminating four staffers who specialized in station fundraising. Director of Station Development Services Valerie Pletcher joined in November 2010 to focus on informational and training needs and best practices; she left in April 2014.Sesame Street to add half-hour show for afternoons
PBS will also offer the half-hour show for mobile devices.Valerie Gunderson, WGBH budget director, dies at 59
Gunderson worked for WGBH for more than 25 years.Mike Foti, engineering exec at WGBH and OPB, dies at 63
Foti was WGBH's director of engineering for 14 years before joining OPB in 2013.WETA to create subsidiary for transfer of PBS NewsHour ownership
WETA’s board of trustees unanimously authorized the transfer, which does not involve any cash, at a June 17 meeting in Arlington, Va.Web videos from WVPB connect careers and education for middle-schoolers
WVPB-TV is returning to its roots as the Educational Broadcasting Authority of West Virginia as it shifts production priorities from local programming to digital content for teachers. When Scott Finn took over as executive director in February 2013, the board gave him a mandate to “specifically help pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade educators, parents and students,” he said. “That was clear when I was hired.” Finn has an educational background himself, having worked as a sixth-grade social studies and English teacher. So the Charleston-based station is cutting back longtime weekly shows Doctors on Call and The Law Works to occasional productions and focusing instead on new STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) interactive videos to help middle-schoolers think about future careers.Paula Sulinski, DPTV communications manager, dies at 59
Sulinski worked for the station's public-affairs division from 1976 to 1993.
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