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The U.S. public wants more news coverage of climate change, surveys find

As hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heat waves have intensified over the past decade, public concern about climate change has grown dramatically. Today, 65% of the U.S. public is worried about the issue, up from 52% a decade ago, according to nationally representative surveys conducted by scientists at Yale University and George Mason University.

Programs/Content

American Graduate announces winners of spoken-word competition

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Judges and the public have selected five winners of American Graduate’s Raise Up hip-hop and spoken word competition, which asked students to share original poems about challenges that lead students to drop out of high school. The winners will perform their poems live Sunday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at an event hosted by Glynn Washington, host and e.p. of public radio’s Snap Judgment. Each winner will also receive a $5,000 scholarship from the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation. Raise Up is a partnership between CPB’s American Graduate initiative and San Francisco-based Youth Speaks, an organization that seeks to empower youth through writing and the spoken word. Their national competition was designed to give students a platform for joining the conversation about dropout rates.

People

David Candow, ‘host whisperer’ and public radio trainer, dies at 74

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David Candow, who was nicknamed “The Host Whisperer” for his work training hundreds of public radio hosts and journalists, died Thursday at his home in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He was 74. After a long career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Candow started a consulting business in 1995 and became known throughout U.S. public radio for his extensive work training journalists in writing, editing, interviewing and delivery. In 2008, the Washington Post described him as “a kind of Henry Higgins to broadcasting’s Eliza Doolittles.”
His death prompted an outpouring of remembrances throughout public radio from the hosts and reporters he helped over the years.

People

PRPD honors Oliver, JazzWeek recognizes community stations, and more awards in public media

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PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Craig Oliver, a public radio audience research consultant, received the Don Otto award for career contributions to the field. Oliver is the owner of Craig Oliver Consulting, which provides audience research and insight to Public Radio International, Greater Public, and several public radio stations. Oliver co-founded PRPD in 1987 and served as its first president. He was also president of the Radio Research Consortium, where he is now a board member. The Otto award is given annually by PRPD and Audience Research Analysis to recognize creative contributions to public radio.

Programs/Content

Eclectic24 goes from online to on-air in Santa Barbara

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An FM signal in Santa Barbara, Calif., recently acquired by KCRW, became the first broadcast home this week for Eclectic24, a previously web-only music stream produced by the Santa Monica–based station. KCRW broadcasts on two signals in the market and is using its former repeater at 106.9 FM as the first over-the-air outlet for Eclectic24. Since June, the station has also been simulcasting its Santa Monica station’s programming on 88.7 FM in Santa Barbara, which it purchased earlier this year. “We’ve never had the opportunity to do an all-music station in L.A., so when this opportunity came up, we grabbed it,” KCRW General Manager Jennifer Ferro said in an email. “It’s always a good thing to have so much programming to share.”

If it proves successful, Eclectic24 might appear on other signals, Ferro said.

Journalism

Tiny news team at Lakeland Public Television fills gap left by commercial TV

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Station managers who worry they can’t afford to do news and public affairs have only to look at Lakeland Public Television in Bemidji, Minn., for inspiration. Since 1998, the station has produced a full half-hour weeknight news program. It currently operates on a yearly budget of just $375,000 to $400,000. Lakeland News is “structured like a commercial newscast, without commercials,” said Bill Sanford, the station’s chief executive and director of engineering. It was conceived after the station secured funding to evaluate how to reinvent itself.