Quick Takes

Susan Lacy to exit PBS for HBO; cites funding struggles

By |

This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. Susan Lacy, creator and e.p. of American Masters at WNET in New York, is leaving PBS for HBO, the New York Times is reporting. She will produce biographical films for the subscription cable channel’s documentary division
Financing was often inadequate for American Masters projects, the Times noted, and Lacy found herself “having to find money to supplement the funding for each film,” she said. Money will not be a problem at HBO, she noted. “And I have to admit that was a big draw in taking this job.”
In April 2012, American Masters suffered an 87.5 percent cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, receiving just $50,000.

Quick Takes

CPB Inspector General’s report recommends penalties for WJFF-FM

By |

A new report by the CPB Inspector General’s office released Sept. 12 and posted online today recommends that the corporation penalize WJFF-FM in Jeffersonville, N.Y., for failure to comply with various regulations dating to November 2011. The report was sparked by complaints to the IG’s office in March from several supporters of a canceled news and cultural magazine, Making Waves. After the public outcry over the cancellation, Winston Clark, g.m., resigned in April, and all but one board member quit soon after. The report determines that WJFF didn’t air quarterly announcements for open meetings; had no evidence that announcements of open meetings for its Community Advisory Board (CAB) or Board of Trustees were made at least seven days in advance; didn’t maintain CAB member attendance at meetings; didn’t always provide reasons for closing meetings to the public; and didn’t have written policies regarding open meetings and other transparency requirements.

Quick Takes

Obama to nominate Scripps s.v.p. to CPB Board

By |

President Obama on Sept. 12 announced his intent to nominate David Arroyo to the CPB Board. Arroyo is s.v.p. for legal affairs at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he has worked since 2004. Previously he was an associate at the global law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He is also a former chair of the Board of Latino Justice (formerly the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) and in 2012 was recognized by the Imagen Foundation as one of the most influential Latinos in entertainment. Arroyo’s nomination, Obama’s sixth for the CPB governing body, requires Senate confirmation.

Programs/Content

Localism emphasis poses risk

By |

Of all the complex and potentially fateful decisions faced by public radio program directors as they navigate the emergence of multiplatform distribution, one of the most significant is the drive to “go local” and produce more local programs, especially news and information. This push signals a strategic shift for public radio, with potentially enormous consequences for growth or decline. Audience 2010, one of a series of landmark research reports on programming trends published in the previous decade, reported that much of the credit for the growth of public radio listenership could be traced to a shift “away from local production toward network production, away from music-based content toward news, information and entertainment.” That shift was extraordinarily successful, representing two decades of impressive audience expansion and financial growth at a time when other parts of the radio industry struggled. Now, it appears that program decision-makers are changing course. But why would dozens of stations move off the path that worked so well and choose another approach that, viewed through the lens of audience research, would seem to be both more costly and less powerful in attracting listenership?