People

CPB Board recognizes retiring IG Konz

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The CPB Board today honored retiring CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz with a resolution of appreciation for his service in the post since 1998. Konz told the board he arrived 15 years ago thinking he’d stay for two years. “This has been a collegial, wonderful group of people to work with,” Konz said. “I am sure with the people I leave here and the new inspector general, the office will continue in good hands and continue to have a good relationship with CPB.” The independent office audits CPB grants, investigates complaints from citizens, promotes efficiency and works to deter fraud, waste and mismanagement in CPB programs and operations.

System/Policy

Kansas City pubTV buys Triple A music station

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A new kind of public media signal expansion will rock Kansas City, Mo., under a license transfer agreement announced April 19 by KCPT. The Missouri-based community licensee is purchasing KTBG-FM, a split-format NPR News and Triple A music station licensed to the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. KCPT will pay $1.1 million in cash to the university and provide $550,000 worth of in-kind services, according to Kliff Kuehl, KCPT c.e.o.

“I’m a big fan of the station and love what they’ve been doing,” Kuehl said. “We want to make it a place to go for live, local music, the arts and culture of the nonprofit community in the Kansas City area.”

KCPT’s plans for its new station include an $600,000 engineering project to boost the KTBG’s signal and reach. The station’s transmitter will be relocated to a site 20 miles closer to Kansas City.

People

Mhari Saito, award-winning reporter for Cleveland’s ideastream, dies at 41

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Mhari Saito, a reporter for Cleveland’s ideastream, died April 15 from a long battle with gastric cancer. She was 41. Saito began her career as an NPR stringer in Cambodia in the late ’90s before becoming an urban-affairs reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia. She moved to Cleveland with her family in 2003 and began working for ideastream in August 2005. While at ideastream, Saito reported on various topics, including the housing market, and contributed lighthearted local features.

Development

Public radio tattoos make a comeback

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The latest package of public radio fundraising premiums allows devout listeners to temporarily brand their passion for their favorite shows on their forearms — or elsewhere. A set of eight rub-on tattoos in colorful vintage designs tout the titles On the Media, Fresh Air, Morning Edition, All Things Considered and This American Life. They’re offered to stations by longtime pubcasting premium distributor VisABILITY in Lyons, Colo. The temporary tattoos are the second to be created for listeners who want to express their support for public radio through body art. Ira Glass, whose cleverness in creating pledge-drive premiums helped to build station carriage for This American Life when it was a new public radio series, first approached  VisABILITY owners Janice Gavan and John Burke about pubradio tattoos in 1998.

Programs/Content

KCETLink lays off 22 in reorganization, shifts priority to transmedia content

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KCETLink, the independent pubmedia organization created through merger six months ago between pubcaster KCET in Los Angeles and national satellite programmer Link TV, today announced 22 layoffs as a result of a reorganization. Spokesperson Ariel Carpenter told Current that the organization is not disclosing any additional information beyond the release and confirming the number of full-time job eliminations. Five vacant positions also are not being filled. The announcement also said that KCETLink would increasingly focus on “transmedia programming opportunities” for viewing on web and mobile devices. “These are challenging and transformational times that require us to make difficult financial and operational decisions for the continued health of the organization in order to create a public media organization that can grow in the 21st century,” Al Jerome, KCETLink’s c.e.o., said in the statement.

Quick Takes

Novel set in community radio station, Kilowatt, now out in paperback

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Kilowatt, a 2007 novel set in community radio station KVMR in Nevada City, Calif., is now available in paperback. The story revolves around two KVMR journalists investigating an energy company with a revolutionary process for generating clean, affordable electricity, reports the Union newspaper in Grass Valley, Calif. “The book Kilowatt itself — with some characters loosely based on KVMR personalities from the ’90s era — becomes a suspenseful page-turner as the two KVMR reporters go to Texas to track down possible corporate corruption and end up getting involved with ruthless Russian mobsters, Texas oil men and dedicated reformers,” according to the newspaper. Author Joe McHugh is a past member of the station’s board of directors, and producer/creator of a series of family stories, “The Telling Takes Us Home.” He’s appeared on Morning Edition and is “a longtime advocate of live radio theater in the old-time tradition,” the newspaper notes.

Programs/Content

Content co-op puts arts center stage

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Public television stations are ramping up production of local arts and culture programming through an initiative launched last September by WNET in New York and the Major Market Group, an affinity organization for stations serving the largest television markets.

People

After one Clash accuser drops lawsuit, four cases remain

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One of the five men who filed a civil complaint against Kevin Clash has withdrawn his lawsuit alleging sexual impropriety by the former Sesame Street puppeteer. On April 13, a plaintiff identified in court records as “D.O.” agreed to drop his lawsuit against Clash. Jeff Herman, one of the attorneys representing D.O. and four additional plaintiffs, said the decision was not the result of an out-of-court settlement. “My client decided to dismiss his lawsuit so that he can focus on his career,” Herman said in a statement. “[D.O.] originally filed to support the other victims and to stand up for himself.