Surprise, surprise: Pubcasters may have another federal funding crisis on their hands. President Bush’s $2.77 trillion budget for 2007, released earlier today, cuts CPB’s 2007 appropriation from $400 million to $346.5 million and includes none of the $65 million pubcasters requested for digital transition and satellite system funding. It also would slightly cut Ready to Learn funding, from $24.5 million in 2006 to $24 million for 2007, and includes no money for either Ready to Teach ($11 million in 2006) or the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program ($22 million in 2006), a valuable grant source both for hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pubcasters and for smaller stations still completing digital build-outs.

Public radio consultant John Sutton rounds up some mixed thoughts. Among them: “A key question for program directors today — ‘Is the program I have on the air right now better than any of the programs sitting on the listener’s iPod?'”

A fire destroyed the studio equipment of KOOP-FM in Austin, Texas, Saturday, knocking the station off the air temporarily. KOOP’s building suffered damage in another fire only a month ago. (See video of the fire on the website of Austin’s News8 TV station.)

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on War News Radio, the show about the Iraq War produced by students at Swarthmore College. “Getting in touch with Iraqis has not been the insurmountable challenge it seemed to be at the start,” a student says. “You run into more brick walls trying to get someone in the U.S. military to talk to you.” (Another story from the AP.)

A $1.35 million CPB grant will fund a project by pubTV stations in upstate New York to link via fiber optic cable, allowing them to share programming without relying on the satellite system. “We’ve got our own high-speed network between stations now. Geography is down to zero,” Robert Daino, president of WCNY in Syracuse, told the Associated Press (via Newsday).

Beginning today (Feb. 1), selected interviews from WHYY’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross will be available via Comcast’s on demand service in greater Philadephia, southern New Jersey and Deleware. “. . .Fresh Air ON DEMAND marries Gross’ audio interviews with scrolling pictures of the celebrities and streaming facts about their lives, work and careers,” said WHYY President Bill Marrazzo. Interviews with Johnny Cash, Jane Fonda, Ray Charles, Dan Aykroyd and George Clooney are available in February. (reg. required; station site)

CPB announced production funding today for 20 of the 35 finalists in its America at a Crossroads initiative of 9/11-related films [RFP and lists of finalists]. Washington’s WETA will package eight of the 20 as a series, CPB said.

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill will change its name Feb. 17, adding the words “and National Journal.” The National Journal, an elite (subscriptions cost $1,800 a year) chronicler of the federal government, may someday share stories with the PBS program but will start as a partnership in marketing and fundraising, the New York Times reported today. Two National Journal advertisers, Boeing and Chevron, will join the program.

To make up for Congress’s 1 percent rescission from this year’s appropriation, the CPB Board juggled its budget Friday, moving $2.8 million to the Community Service Grant pool. The money comes from the “system support” part of CPB’s budget, which also assist stations, covering some satellite and copyright costs.

The Palm Beach Post reports that the Florida Board of Education wants a $1 million cut from the proposed sale of WXEL-TV/FM.

Former KCRW commentator Sandra Tsing Loh weighs in on the Chris Douridas affair: “[I]f there is a silver lining for Douridas, it’s that at least Ruth Seymour is not avowing his mentally (sic) instability directly to the press, and that she does not consider him, as she did me, a public danger.” (Current‘s coverage of Loh’s 2004 firing from the station.)

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler endorses viewers’ requests that PBS return Now to its original half-hour format, and agrees that programmers should evaluate the recent spate of Christian-themed PBS programs. “Is religious content being elevated these days? If so, why is that happening?”

NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin lays bare the “dibs” system by which the network’s programs claim interviews with authors and musicians. Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday, argues that the setup is unfair to weekly shows such as his.

Former Pacifica host Marc Cooper delivers a tirade against his former employer and points out that Greg Guma, recently hired as the network’s executive director, has endorsed arguments that the widely accepted account of what happened on 9/11 is untrue. “Look forward, if you can, to more programming and fund-raising that would be better suited for a UFO cult than for a serious or credible political and cultural opposition,” Cooper writes. Meanwhile, the g.m. of Pacifica’s KPFA-FM in Berkeley has resigned. In a letter on KPFA’s website, he says, “This past year has provided me with a memorable introduction to KPFA/Pacifica’s complex and challenging environment.”

Showtime has ordered six episodes of a television version of public radio’s This American Life to air this fall at the earliest. The new gig doesn’t endanger the radio version of TAL, promises Ira Glass, host and e.p. The show’s website features a brief announcement of the news.