After automatic spending cuts required under the Budget Control Act of 2011 took effect March 1, CPB received confirmation that its 2013 appropriation was trimmed to $421.4 million, a 5 percent reduction in the original amount, $445 million. CPB, which had anticipated deeper cuts, revised its budget for the fiscal year, and notified stations of the changes in a March 4 memo. Local stations’ Community Service Grants will be slightly higher than those calculated last fall. “Reflecting our continued concern about the potential for additional budget actions in FY 2013,” CPB President Pat Harrison told station execs, CPB will base this fiscal year’s second Community Service Grant payments on an appropriation level of $421.4 million, which will incorporate a recalculation of the first CSG payment at $421.4 million.

To the Editors, I read Ben Mook’s Feb. 11 piece about the de-commercialization of classical radio with a mixture of sadness and muted happiness. The fact that the attrition has slowed is indeed a positive, but the stubborn misconception that classical music cannot be a successful commercial radio format is simply wrong and quite depressing. The problem lies not in the music — for, indeed, properly programmed classical music on the radio has been, and can be, commercially viable — but in the music-academy approach to presentation that dooms any attempt to draw in new listeners. Classical music can be day-parted and made accessible, probably more so than almost any other genre of music.

Former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise was honored for his work supporting public media’s educational service. Wise is president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a partner in CPB’s ongoing American Graduate project to reduce the drop-out rate among high school students. He also chairs the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Gov. Wise spent 10 years in the U.S. House before serving as West Virginia’s governor from 2001 to 2005. The CPB Thought Leader Award honors U.S. leaders who help pubcasters serve the public in the areas of education, journalism and the arts. “Governor Wise and the Alliance for Excellent Education are champions for public media’s American Graduate initiative and the educational services that public broadcasting stations provide to their communities,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and c.e.o.,

The board of directors of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters has dismissed NFCB President Maxie Jackson as of March 4. He had led the organization since January 2010. Neither Jackson nor Sue Matters, chair of the NFCB Board, would discuss the reasons for Jackson’s dismissal, due to terms of a severance agreement. NFCB Board Treasurer Janis Lane-Ewart is acting as interim president of the organization. The board plans to start a nationwide search for a new leader. “The board intends to continue with all the work that’s currently in motion,” said Matters, station manager of KWSO in Warm Springs, Ore.

For the first time, the famous theme song for public television’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is part of a commercial advertisement — with the blessing of Fred Rogers’ production company. The ad, “Can’t Wait to Meet You, Neighbour,” premiered in Canada during the Academy Awards broadcast last month, and currently promotes retailer Target’s arrival in the country. “Normally they would not entertain this,” said Livia Zufferli, director of marketing for Target Canada, referring to the Fred Rogers Co. in Pittsburgh. In addition to paying a licensing fee, Target Canada appealed to the nonprofit by touting its own philanthropic work in communities, she told the Globe and Mail.

NPR launched its new Generation Listen initiative in Austin, Texas, with a blowout bash March 11. The party, held in the midst of the South by Southwest Interactive conference, was part of the new ongoing effort to encourage listeners under the age of 30 to tune into public radio. Brian Stelter of the New York Times has a write-up of the event, which had Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! host Peter Sagal, TED Radio Hour host Guy Raz and author Neil Gaiman in attendance. Stelter reports the project was spearheaded by Danielle Deabler, NPR’s director of audience relations and new ventures, and that it took her two years to win corporate backing.

John Bredar, a senior executive producer at National Geographic Television, is the new head of national programming at major producing station WGBH in Boston. He succeeds current Vice President of National Programming Margaret Drain, who announced her retirement last year. WGBH President Jon Abbott said in the announcement today that Bredar “has a well-earned reputation for productions of the highest quality.” Bredar will oversee all primetime series produced in Boston and seen nationally on PBS, such as American Experience, Nova, Frontline, Masterpiece and Antiques Roadshow, as well as related content for digital media. Bredar joined Nat Geo in 1986 and has overseen development, production and post-production of more than 150 programs including 2005’s Arlington: Field of Honor, for which he won a Best Director Emmy.

This item has been updated and reposted with additional information Louisville Public Media turned to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com to solicit contributions for its new literary radio series Unbound, which will present short fiction read by authors. The inaugural 10-episode season of Unbound will cost $9,000 to produce, and LPM is asking the Kickstarter crowd to kick in $4,000, less than half of the budget. The remaining $5,000 is already covered by a sponsorship deal with the Bachelors and Masters Writing Programs at Spalding University in Louisville. LPM is promoting the show to Kickstarter backers as “awesome short stories read by memorable voices in new fiction.”

AUSTIN, Texas — When podcasting stars gathered March 11 at the South by Southwest Interactive conference to discuss the challenges facing their medium, the lack of diversity among creative talents in podcasting — especially the dearth of women in hosting roles — was cited among the most perplexing problems. A Feb. 26 editorial by Third Coast Audio Festival Director Julie Shapiro provided impetus for the discussion among a panel of four podcasters — each with ties to public media in the U.S. and Britain and one of whom was female.  In her commentary published last month by Transom, Shapiro questioned why only 20 of the top 100 iTunes podcasts are hosted by women.

Delays in conferring 501(c)3 status to startup nonprofit news organizations have stymied development of new models for producing community-based journalism, exacerbating the shortage of locally produced news coverage, according to a report released March 4 by the Nonprofit Working Group of the Council on Foundations. The group was created by the Council on Foundations with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to study the impact of the Internal Revenue Service’s approach to granting nonprofit status to media organizations. The report described the IRS’s methods of granting tax-exempt status as outdated and criticized the agency for hobbling efforts to establish new local newsrooms.

Public broadcaster Tavis Smiley is co-sponsoring a daylong symposium for discussion of issues of importance to the Latino community, modeled on his State of the Black Union gatherings. The April 6 event at Chicago State University, “Latino Nation: Beyond the Numbers,” is the first time that “such a diverse and representative group of Latinos discusses its broad agenda on a national stage,” said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the co-sponsoring William C. Velásquez Institute, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Smiley said that the “exponential growth” of the Latino community “demands that we re-examine the assumptions we hold to create new ideas and possibilities for a better, more united tomorrow.”

The Association of Public Television Stations handed out Champions of Public Broadcasting awards during its Public Media Summit in Washington, D.C., Feb 24–26, recognizing Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D) and Oregon Rep. Greg Walden (R). APTS also gave EDGE Awards to Twin Cities Public Television and New Jersey’s NJTV and recognized individuals with Advocacy Awards. Mikulski, who replaced recently deceased Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been an ardent defender of public broadcasting in the Senate and was a vocal defender of the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program before it was eliminated in 2011. As chair of the House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and the Internet, Walden has helped secure federal aid for public broadcasters to help defer costs related to spectrum legislation.

Public radio will be well-represented at the musical portion of the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, March 13–16. The NPR Music showcase March 13 will feature the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing new songs from their forthcoming album Mosquito, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mexican rockers Café Tacvba and others. Audio of the live set at 8 p.m. Eastern will be offered for station broadcast and distributed online; NPR Music will also offer a live video stream through its website and mobile apps. Café Tacvba will put in double duty and appear in a March 14 showcase arranged by NPR Music’s Alt.Latino