The Supreme Court has denied the American Family Association’s request for a review of a lower-court decision that upheld the FCC’s point system. (PDF, p. 4, see “04-539.”) AFA had argued that the point system, which settles competing applications from noncommercial broadcasters for frequencies, unfairly favored pubcasters over religious broadcasters.

The New York Times covers Tavis Smiley’s departure from NPR. “We would argue that there’s more to be done, but his show was evidence that we were accomplishing it,” says David Umansky, NPR’s interim v.p. for communcations.

The Boston Globe profiles Peter Fiedler, interim g.m. at WBUR-FM.

Tavis Smiley will leave his NPR show Dec. 16. In an e-mail to stations, he appears to blame NPR for failing “to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio, but simply don’t know it exists or what it offers.”

Milwaukee’s school board voted unanimously last week to outsource management of WYMS, their noncommercial station, to local nonprofit Radio For Milwaukee.

“The common thread for us is secrets, that sense of revelation,” says Kitchen Sister Nikki Silva in a New York Times profile.

A Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist draws a distinction between the “corporate” nature of Minnesota Public Radio and the “small, funky and extremely local” stations in the state that are banding together to raise their profile against MPR’s.

“Just how many conservatives does it take to balance out one wily progressive?” asks the Village Voice as it observes Bill Moyers’ departure from public TV. “And now that Moyers is gone, do they really need all this firepower to balance out . . . David Brancaccio?”

Vic Sussman, a longtime journalist and recently senior editor of Marketplace, died yesterday at the age of 65. The Washington Post remembers his curiosity and restlessness.

FCC Auction 37 has closed, with WGBH in Boston apparently the only pubcaster to emerge as a top bidder. The station is in line to pay more than $3.9 million for an FM signal on Cape Cod.

The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz profiles NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin and also notes the growing audience of the network’s On the Media (last item). (Via Romenesko.)

KPBS in San Diego begins broadcasting to Calexico, Calif., today on a newly acquired FM frequency. Calexico and the surrounding area formerly lacked an English-language public radio service, one of few such regions in the country.

FCC FM Auction 37 rolls on, and Boston’s WGBH has the high bid of nearly $4 million on a channel in Brewster, Mass. Most other pubcasters have been knocked out of the bidding. Meanwhile, at least two pubcasters — WKGC in Panama City, Fla., and Unalaska Community Broadcasting in Unalaska, Alaska — are likely to get AM stations in FCC AM Auction 84. Forms are due Jan. 18.

Radio for Milwaukee, a nonprofit, is expected to get approval from Milwaukee’s school board to manage the school system’s noncommercial FM station, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Two bidders in FCC Auction 37 are considering starting a public radio station in Marfa, Texas, reports the Odessa American.