Robert A. Woods, 80, a retired founding partner in the communications law firm of Schwartz, Woods & Miller, died Dec. 22 [2011] following a long illness. The firm handled FCC and other matters for numerous public broadcasting stations as well as for common carriers and commercial broadcasters. Woods served as outside general counsel for the National Association of Educational Broadcasters in its later years. In cities where there were no suitable TV channels reserved for noncommercial use, Woods went into battle. In Rochester, N.Y., he helped the founders of WXXI-TV win the license for Channel 21 over seven applicants from commercial TV.

NPR and the Association of Independents in Radio unveiled a new payment structure for news reports Jan. 1, raising rates 7.5 percent for station-based and indie radio producers, effective immediately. NPR adopted a three-tiered compensation system and established standard rates for tape syncs. “NPR’s decision to increase rates, which comes at a time of tight budgets, is intended to reflect our commitment to the vital network of station-based and independent reporters whose contributions enhance our programming every day,” NPR interim news chief Margaret Low Smith said in an email. Reaching agreement took nearly a year of negotiations with AIR and internal consultations at NPR, according to AIR President Sue Schardt.

Potential bidders for pubcaster KCSM-TV in San Mateo, Calif., put up for auction by its college licensee, include both religious broadcasters and names well known in public media. Daystar Television, a growing religious network that has bought pubTV channels in Dallas and Waco, Texas, and bid for them in Orlando, Fla., and Orange County, Calif., was on the attendance list for the San Mateo Community College District’s pre-bid meeting Jan. 10. Also on the list were former WNET exec Ken Devine of Independent Public Media, a nonprofit that aims to preserve spectrum for public media (Current, Oct. 17);  Ken Ikeda and Marc Hand of Public Media Company, an affiliate of Public Radio Capital; Booker Wade, head of the Minority Television Project and non-PBS pubTV station KMTP in San Francisco; and a rep for Stewart Cheifet Productions, which created Computer Chronicles, a show that ran on public TV for 20 years, ending in 2002.

WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., has acquired a downtown movie house, The Little Theatre, it announced Dec. 19. The art-deco theater, founded in 1929 as part of a “little theatre” movement promoting alternatives to Hollywood’s mass-audience movies, still specializes in indie and foreign films, including anime and docs. In recent decades it was expanded from one to five screens, and to 940 seats, and it became a nonprofit. “The Little,” as it’s known locally, screens more than 100 films a year and hosts several annual community film festivals. It also houses a 70-seat cafe. The merger, effective this month, “strengthens WXXI’s roots in the cultural life of the community, while helping to assure the future of Rochester’s independent film house,” said WXXI President Norm Silverstein in a statement.

If this is Tuesday, it must be history. At least, that’s what PBS hopes viewers think as the service moves forward with plans to identify specific program genres with days of the week. “People have had difficulty navigating through our schedule,” Kerger told TV critics gathered in Pasadena, Calif., for the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, where PBS previewed content Jan. 4 and 5. “Being able to build destination nights and really build programs that link well together on a single night seems to be working out quite well.” PBS says its move of Nova from Tuesday to Wednesday, its new science destination, has encouraged it to create more theme nights.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has proposed zeroing out the state’s $7.2 million in state funding for Virginia’s public television and radio stations and their educational telecommunications services for the next two years. Pubcasters hope to convince McDonnell to restore some funds by arguing for the value of the educational services they provide. The state’s system does more for public schools than pubTV in many states. WHRO in Norfolk/Hampton Roads, for example, has created 22 online high-school courses that are available to schools for much lower annual fees than the roughly $5,000 per-student charges of commercial vendors, according to Bert Schmidt, WHRO’s president.

A unique local-national hybrid talk show on Southern Oregon Public TV proves that a passion for bridging philosophical divides and a (sometimes shaky) Skype connection can lead to Immense Possibilities. The Jan. 10 [2012] episode of the half-hour weekly roundtable introduced four local activists, two from the Tea Party on the right and two from the Occupy movement on the left. They found common ground on the air and are now working together on the ground. Funders, too, have pitched in. As the show starts its second season, it has already brought in nearly $50,000, close to what SOPTV sees in an entire pledge drive.

NPR National Correspondent Alex P. Kellogg has left the network after 14 months on the job, he told the Journal-isms blog on Monday (Jan. 16). “We’re parting ways amicably,” Kellogg said. The blog noted that Kellogg is “one of NPR’s two black male on-air journalists.” The Harvard-educated Kellogg had previously reported for the Wall Street Journal and Detroit Free Press. While at NPR he reported on topics including deportations, interracial marriage and the racial gap in homeownership.

Audience numbers for news WESA-FM, the former WDUQ jazz/news station in Pittsburgh, have dropped 50 percent since June 2011, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, from a 1.6 Arbitron share that June to a .8 share in December. “It’s not surprising there’s some audience loss because of the jazz loss,” pubradio consultant John Sutton told the paper. “What is surprising: Usually when you streamline your format, you see an increase in listening among the remaining listeners. And that hasn’t happened yet.” Tammy Terwelp, WESA director of content and programming, said she considers the downturn typical for a new format, and the low December number doesn’t concern her.

The governor of South Dakota is criticizing an NPR investigative report on foster care for Native American children in the state, according to the Daily Republic in Mitchell. The yearlong project, “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families” ran as a three-part series by NPR investigative correspondent Laura Sullivan on Morning Edition and All Things Considered in October 2011. Sullivan found that nearly 700 Native American children in South Dakota are removed from their homes every year, and that the vast majority of those children are placed into nonnative homes or group homes. According to the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, Native children must be placed with their relatives or tribes.

Nominees for the 62nd annual American Cinema Editors’ Eddie Awards include several public TV include Downton Abbey from Masterpiece Classic and Freedom Riders from American Experience. The Eddies honor excellence in film editing. Here’s a full list of nominees.

Some new Ford cars will let their drivers shout “hourly news!” or “topics!” and choose public radio programming either on their local stations or through a smartphone streaming audio from the Internet. Bringing in webcasts and on-demand streaming gives drivers a vastly greater range of listening options and could make it even easier for them to hear public radio without help from their local stations. That ability is already within reach for drivers who have a smartphone and a cable or adapter to connect it to a car stereo. But coupling a smartphone with the new NPR app to Ford’s SYNC AppLink system may help popularize web audio listening, a scenario that dismays some pubradio station leaders.

Independent Lens has unveiled its winter/spring 2012 season, which includes two films on the “short-list” for Academy Award nominations: Hell and Back Again, about the human costs of war, and We Were Here, a look at the early days of the AIDS crisis in San Francisco. Here’s a full rundown of the 2012 offerings, to be hosted by actress Mary Louise Parker. This season, the program moves to Thursday nights on most PBS member stations.

Downton Abbey, the PBS hit from Masterpiece Classic, received the Golden Globe for best mini-series or motion picture made for television in ceremonies Sunday night (Jan. 15) in Hollywood. Downton had received four nominations. A complete list of winners and nominees is here.