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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.

System/Policy

Incoming Republican chairs include ‘powerful friends’ of public broadcasting, says APTS president

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SAN DIEGO — Patrick Butler, public television’s chief advocate on Capitol Hill, wants to reassure broadcasters who are nervous about the incoming Republican majority, particularly on the powerful Senate side. In a speech at the annual American Public Television Fall Marketplace, Butler said that he “detected some anxiety in the public television industry that we will be going to hell in a handbasket now that Republicans control the entire Congress” after this month’s midterm elections. “I’ve come to San Diego to tell you that it ain’t necessarily so.”

Butler, president of the Association of Public Television Stations, reminded the crowd that GOP support for pubcasting goes back even to Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater — known as “Mr. Conservative” — who helped Joan Ganz Cooney, the niece of a friend, get the first $1 million to create Sesame Street in the 1960s. And even now, Butler noted, “public broadcasting does have powerful friends among Republicans in the Senate.”

One is Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, new chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His father was the first chair of the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Commission in the late ’60s, Butler said.

Programs/Content

PBS to test whether core series can bring in pledge dollars

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PBS has set the lineup for an upcoming fundraising test that will use a full week’s schedule of first-run National Program Service shows. Seventeen stations will take part in the experiment, running Nov. 28 through Dec. 5. PBS is trying to determine whether using core series, rather than pledge specials that veer from the regular lineup, will lead to a more stable member and donor base and perhaps even prompt more major gifts.

Tech

Public Radio Satellite System adopts new standard for audio levels

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The Public Radio Satellite System adopted standards Thursday intended to normalize audio levels among the programs it distributes to stations. PRSS adopted an audio measurement standard using a number to denote audio levels, instead of the longtime industry standard of peak meters. Decibel measurements provided by meters are largely subjective. The loudness unit adopted by PRSS is used by organizations around the world. Because PBS also uses it, joint licensees can now rely on a single standard, which will simplify operations, according to the PRSS working group that approved the change.

Programs/Content

APT offers MST3K episodes to public TV stations

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SAN DIEGO — Mystery Science Theater 3000 could be headed for public television. It’s one of some 75 shows that public TV programmers are previewing at distributor American Public Television’s annual Fall Marketplace, running here through Thursday. In the cult comedy series, janitor Joel Robinson (played by series creator Joel Hodgson) is forced to watch grade-Z movies on a remote space station as part of a psychological experiment devised by an evil scientist. Robinson creates robot pals Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot and Gypsy to watch with him, and they pass the time by making snarky yet erudite comments throughout each film. Their shadows are superimposed along the bottom of the screen so viewers see the movie while hearing their quips.

Programs/Content

Masterpiece expands hours with “gushing pipeline” of classics, mysteries

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Masterpiece will concentrate on bolstering its popular Classics and Mystery! strands with an boost in support from its main sponsor, Viking River Cruises. Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton is also working on developing a major new series. The WGBH icon program’s footprint will expand by 50 percent — around 20 hours — with additional episodes spread throughout the season. Extra hours will be scheduled Sundays at 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. Eastern time, before or after Masterpiece’s longtime 9 p.m. time slot.