Quick Takes

Better programming would fix Pacifica, argues journalist

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A journalist and former employee of a Pacifica station diagnoses the network’s failure to attract listeners in an article in the Leftist Review. The election of President Barack Obama is in part to blame, writes Kellia Ramares-Watson, because it helped to mollify the network’s left-leaning audience. But she attributes much of the problem to programming. Stations, she writes, “need to stop their attempts to represent as many of the disparate groups in their audience as they can cram into 168 hours a week.” New York’s WBAI, she notes, aims to serve many audiences by programming hosts in monthly slots and narrowly targeting ethnic niches. The station faces severe layoffs due to chronic shortages of funds.

Quick Takes

Mobile donors want to contribute even more, survey of 20,000 reveals

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Nearly 85 percent of donors using mobile devices would like to be able to contribute more money using apps, according to a new survey of more than 20,000 users by the mGive Foundation, which advocates for mobile giving. Those donors would like to contribute $25 to $50 via text, up slightly (from 82 percent) in 2012. Currently, those donations are limited to $10. Respondents say they like using their mobile device to donate because it’s easy, convenient and gives them control. Also, they want more information from nonprofits via text, the survey found.

Quick Takes

iHeartRadio, personalized service from Clear Channel, picks up APM content

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American Public Media content is now available on iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s customizable digital radio service with more than 1,500 live stations playing pop, country, urban and rock music as well as talk programming and college radio. Several APM shows also are running on iHeartRadio Talk, the specialty channel that launched today. In addition to APM’s Marketplace, The Splendid Table and A Prairie Home Companion, iHeartRadioTalk includes programming such as ABC’s Good Morning America, HuffPost Live, Bloomberg News and Motley Fool Money. The beta version of iHeartRadio Talk provides iOS and Android access, with full mobile functionality coming this fall. Also beginning today, iHeartRadio’s live-streaming stations include MPR News; Classical MPR; The Current, which targets younger listeners; Classical South Florida; Wonderground Radio, for kids; Local Current, featuring Minnesota-based music; Radio Heartland, with acoustic, Americana and roots selections; and Classical MPR’s Choral Stream.

System/Policy

Indiana pubmedia stations to connect via high-speed fiber network

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A state-operated fiber network will soon link all Indiana pubcasters for the first time. Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS), a consortium of nine public stations, will piggyback on I-Light, the high-speed network for local, state, national and international research and educational institutions. Roger Rhodes, IPBS executive director, said many stations will connect within the next month; others will come online as they complete their last-mile connection to the fiber backbone. The connectivity will allow stations to share content in real time and help them explore consolidation of back-office functions. IPBS is also drawing up plans for a possible joint master control; five or six stations are “very interested” in that, Rhodes said.

People

Delmarva Public Radio selects Whitehair as general manager

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Dana Whitehair arrives this week as the new general manager for financially struggling Delmarva Public Radio in Salisbury, Md., whose licensee will be reassessing the station’s future in three years. Whitehair’s experience includes four years as g.m. of WNCW-FM at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, N.C. He also spent 17 years at University of Texas at Austin’s KUT, 11 of those as manager of technical services, and worked as a broadcast engineer at WXXI in Rochester, N.Y.

Most recently Whitehair was executive director of Foothills Connect Business & Technology Center, a nonprofit focused on expanding broadband service in western North Carolina. Salisbury University said in today’s announcement that WSDL in Ocean City, Md., and WSCL in Salisbury will soon move from their headquarters on campus to temporary facilities nearby. The university is building a new tower and replacing aging equipment. The SU Foundation will transfer licenses to the university, “where DPR is expected to form closer ties with SU academic programs,” the announcement said.