Nice Above Fold - Page 431

  • PRX teams with Center for Investigative Reporting on Reveal series

    Public Radio Exchange is adding a new weekly show to its development slate —  Reveal, a joint production with the Center for Investigative Reporting. The hourlong series will be hosted by Al Letson of State of the Re:Union and feature investigative stories generated by CIR. The partners plan to develop relationships with other investigative organizations and news stations to bring in additional reporting. Reveal is scheduled to hit the air next year, so PRX and CIR are producing a pilot to be distributed to stations next week. Details about the reporting to be presented in the first show are under wraps, but CIR and PRX officials described it as an original national investigative piece dealing with veterans’ issues.
  • Susan Lacy to exit PBS for HBO; cites funding struggles

    This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. Susan Lacy, creator and e.p. of American Masters at WNET in New York, is leaving PBS for HBO, the New York Times is reporting. She will produce biographical films for the subscription cable channel’s documentary division Financing was often inadequate for American Masters projects, the Times noted, and Lacy found herself “having to find money to supplement the funding for each film,” she said. Money will not be a problem at HBO, she noted. “And I have to admit that was a big draw in taking this job.” In April 2012, American Masters suffered an 87.5 percent cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, receiving just $50,000.
  • Online PBS series takes a deeper look at video games

    PBS Digital Studios premiered Game/Show, an online series that considers video games from a cultural perspective, Aug. 27 on its YouTube channel.
  • CPB Inspector General's report recommends penalties for WJFF-FM

    A new report by the CPB Inspector General’s office released Sept. 12 and posted online today recommends that the corporation penalize WJFF-FM in Jeffersonville, N.Y., for failure to comply with various regulations dating to November 2011. The report was sparked by complaints to the IG’s office in March from several supporters of a canceled news and cultural magazine, Making Waves. After the public outcry over the cancellation, Winston Clark, g.m., resigned in April, and all but one board member quit soon after. The report determines that WJFF didn’t air quarterly announcements for open meetings; had no evidence that announcements of open meetings for its Community Advisory Board (CAB) or Board of Trustees were made at least seven days in advance; didn’t maintain CAB member attendance at meetings; didn’t always provide reasons for closing meetings to the public; and didn’t have written policies regarding open meetings and other transparency requirements.
  • Obama to nominate Scripps s.v.p. to CPB Board

    President Obama on Sept. 12 announced his intent to nominate David Arroyo to the CPB Board. Arroyo is s.v.p. for legal affairs at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he has worked since 2004. Previously he was an associate at the global law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He is also a former chair of the Board of Latino Justice (formerly the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) and in 2012 was recognized by the Imagen Foundation as one of the most influential Latinos in entertainment. Arroyo’s nomination, Obama’s sixth for the CPB governing body, requires Senate confirmation.
  • WNYC, Takeaway encourage stations to take it apart

    Public radio’s The Takeaway has more than doubled its carriage since cancellation of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and the show’s producers are working to add even more outlets by building news collaborations with station-based reporters and programmers.
  • Localism emphasis poses risk

    Of all the complex and potentially fateful decisions faced by public radio program directors as they navigate the emergence of multiplatform distribution, one of the most significant is the drive to “go local” and produce more local programs, especially news and information. This push signals a strategic shift for public radio, with potentially enormous consequences for growth or decline. Audience 2010, one of a series of landmark research reports on programming trends published in the previous decade, reported that much of the credit for the growth of public radio listenership could be traced to a shift “away from local production toward network production, away from music-based content toward news, information and entertainment.”
  • Public radio is stronger, and better, when stations invest in national shows

    Public radio has reached a moment with the feel of the bank scene from It's a Wonderful Life, as station managers worry that listeners will direct their financial support to national producers instead of them.
  • Pacifica relieves WPFW manager of duties, urges staff to keep quiet

    Pacifica has placed John Hughes, g.m. of WPFW in Washington, D.C., on paid administrative leave and appointed an outside consultant as interim g.m., according to a member of the Local Station Board.
  • Redefining public media for the future

    Public media is made up of hundreds of storefronts in communities large and small, each of which has a unique window into America, its people and their stories. These storefronts — local public TV and radio stations — have built public media’s greatest asset: our unique relationships with listeners and viewers, local businesses and governments, and anchor institutions in the arts, philanthropy, education and social welfare. Yet at Public Radio Capital we increasingly hear from public media executives facing competitive and financial challenges that threaten their stations’ economic foundations and thus their effectiveness. Let’s face it: The public media business model isn’t changing.
  • PBS programs win three at 2013 Creative Arts Emmys

    American Masters and Downton Abbey led the opening round of the annual Primetime Emmys Sept. 15 by claiming three Creative Arts Emmys for PBS. American Masters, a production of New York’s WNET, topped the category for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. Credit for the Emmy went to Susan Lacy, executive producer; Julie Sacks, supervising producer; Prudence Glass, series producer; and Jessica Levin, producer. The Emmy for direction in nonfiction programming was awarded to Robert Trachtenberg for his direction of the American Masters biography “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.” Downton Abbey, the hit British drama co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece, received the Emmy for music composition in a series.
  • The Key raises WXPN's profile as valued music curator

    With The Key, we’re able to better reflect the diversity of the Philadelphia music scene, give local bands a platform to showcase their music in multimedia formats and position XPN even more centrally in the market conversation around local music.