Rick Schneider, president of WPBT in Miami, will take over as executive vice president and chief operating officer at WETA in September, the Arlington, Va., station announced today. Schneider will step into the position being vacated by longtime WETA exec Joe Bruns, who announced his retirement in April. WETA President Sharon Rockefeller said in the announcement, “I have worked alongside him in public broadcasting’s national organizations, and I know firsthand that Rick’s strong management experience is matched by his true dedication to public media. He brings with him superb knowledge of the national public broadcasting landscape and the complexities of managing a major-market station, and he shares our profound commitment to public service.”

A journalist and former employee of a Pacifica station diagnoses the network’s failure to attract listeners in an article in the Leftist Review. The election of President Barack Obama is in part to blame, writes Kellia Ramares-Watson, because it helped to mollify the network’s left-leaning audience. But she attributes much of the problem to programming. Stations, she writes, “need to stop their attempts to represent as many of the disparate groups in their audience as they can cram into 168 hours a week.” New York’s WBAI, she notes, aims to serve many audiences by programming hosts in monthly slots and narrowly targeting ethnic niches.

Nearly 85 percent of donors using mobile devices would like to be able to contribute more money using apps, according to a new survey of more than 20,000 users by the mGive Foundation, which advocates for mobile giving. Those donors would like to contribute $25 to $50 via text, up slightly (from 82 percent) in 2012. Currently, those donations are limited to $10. Respondents say they like using their mobile device to donate because it’s easy, convenient and gives them control. Also, they want more information from nonprofits via text, the survey found. In a six-point increase over last year, 17.6 percent said they would like to receive surveys about the future of the organization;  32.8 percent, a 9 percent jump, wanted information about volunteering; and 18.6 percent, a 4 percent increase, wanted program information.

Boston's WBUR joined NPR and other news outlets in advocating for more leniency when it comes to indecency standards, citing its reporting of the Boston Marathon bombing as an example.

American Public Media content is now available on iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s customizable digital radio service with more than 1,500 live stations playing pop, country, urban and rock music as well as talk programming and college radio. Several APM shows also are running on iHeartRadio Talk, the specialty channel that launched today. In addition to APM’s Marketplace, The Splendid Table and A Prairie Home Companion, iHeartRadioTalk includes programming such as ABC’s Good Morning America, HuffPost Live, Bloomberg News and Motley Fool Money. The beta version of iHeartRadio Talk provides iOS and Android access, with full mobile functionality coming this fall.

A state-operated fiber network will soon link all Indiana pubcasters for the first time. Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS), a consortium of nine public stations, will piggyback on I-Light, the high-speed network for local, state, national and international research and educational institutions. Roger Rhodes, IPBS executive director, said many stations will connect within the next month; others will come online as they complete their last-mile connection to the fiber backbone. The connectivity will allow stations to share content in real time and help them explore consolidation of back-office functions. IPBS is also drawing up plans for a possible joint master control; five or six stations are “very interested” in that, Rhodes said.

A Kickstarter campaign has given a boost to FOIA Machine, a project from employees of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting that streamlines the often cumbersome process of filing Freedom of Information Act requests.

Dana Whitehair arrives this week as the new general manager for financially struggling Delmarva Public Radio in Salisbury, Md., whose licensee will be reassessing the station’s future in three years. Whitehair’s experience includes four years as g.m. of WNCW-FM at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, N.C. He also spent 17 years at University of Texas at Austin’s KUT, 11 of those as manager of technical services, and worked as a broadcast engineer at WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Most recently Whitehair was executive director of Foothills Connect Business & Technology Center, a nonprofit focused on expanding broadband service in western North Carolina.

Mikel Ellcessor, general manager at Detroit’s WDET-FM, has resigned to take a position with Krista Tippett Public Productions.

Masterpiece announced today that Mr. Selfridge will return for a second season. The drama, starring Jeremy Piven as the American entrepreneur who founded Selfridge’s department store in London, reached nearly 15 million viewers over its eight-week run, averaging 4 million per episode. It also recently received a primetime Emmy Award nomination for music composition for a series.

Alicia Zuckerman, senior editor for enterprise reporting at WLRN, will fill in as interim news director while the Miami pubcaster searches for a replacement for Dan Grech, who was dismissed July 8. General Manager John Labonia announced the appointment Thursday in an email to staff. “Please be assured that the recent changes within the department will in no way have a negative impact on the direction, strategic plan or current operations of WLRN Miami Herald News,” he said, referencing the station’s decade-long reporting partnership with the newspaper. Zuckerman started her public media career at New York’s WNYC, where she reported and produced for NPR’s On the Media and later worked in the local newsroom covering arts and other beats.

Primetime Emmy nominations are out this morning, and PBS scored 25 nods from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — 12 of which went to Downton Abbey on Masterpiece. Nominations for the hit Edwardian costume drama include those for lead actor Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham; lead actress Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley; and best drama series. Other category nominations for Downton include supporting actor (Jim Carter as Mr. Carson), supporting actress (Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham), writing (Julian Fellowes) and direction (Jeremy Webb). Also nominated are the Live from Lincoln Center production of “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel,” for special class program; Antiques Roadshow for reality program; the American Experience presentation “Death and the Civil War”; and American Masters for documentary or nonfiction series.