KPBS in San Diego is again inviting viewers to recommend ideas for its expanding lineup of local programs, after backing two shows from last year’s crop of suggestions. Through its Explore Local Content Initiative, KPBS supported development of two of the 52 shows that viewers suggested in 2012 for seed funding: Savor San Diego, a cooking show; and A Growing Passion, about eco-friendly local agriculture and horticulture. Both premiered last month as part of the station’s “Explore San Diego” block from 8 t0 10 p.m. Thursdays. “It’s our goal to increase the amount of local programming on KPBS-TV, and this seemed like a great way to discover new community producers,” said Nancy Worlie, station spokesperson.

A "transformational gift" from an anonymous donor through KCPT will create a digital news center in Kansas City, Mo., as well as provide support for PBS NewsHour through the PBS Foundation.

Source: CPB

James L. Loper, a founder of Los Angeles’s KCET and founding chairman of PBS, died in his home in Pasadena, Calif., July 8 at the age of 81. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., today introduced his Ready to Compete Act to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Frontline and PRI’s The World reporter Arun Rath will join NPR in late September to host Weekend All Things Considered, which is relocating to NPR’s Los Angeles studios. Rath currently covers national security and military justice for Frontline, where he has worked since 2005. He wrote and produced three films for the doc series, with the most recent looking into war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. Marines in Iraq. Rath also reports on music for the PBS series Sound Tracks. Before joining Frontline, Rath worked as a producer for NPR’s On the Media and was a senior editor for Public Radio International’s Studio 360.

NPR and American Public Media are partnering with a new mobile app that curates talk radio and podcasts according to listener taste. Swell, which launched June 27, is the latest venture to bring digital radio programs to listeners through digital rather than terrestrial means.

Los Angeles radio station KCRW is offering special programming and music downloads in conjunction with the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City, July 9–13. DJ Raul Campos, host of a weeknight show on KCRW, will broadcast from New York July 11 and 12, bringing “the sights and sounds of New York” to his listeners. The LAMC, he said, “is where it’s at” for people who enjoy Latin alternative music. The LAMC has grown since it started 14 years ago, according to Campos. “It’s getting bigger, stronger, more diverse,” he said. The conference offers panels and concerts with established and up-and-coming artists representing different genres and countries.

American University's J-Lab analyzes the nation’s first formal merger of a public broadcasting network with a nonprofit news startup.

ATLANTA — DEI, the membership organization that supports development and fundraising work at public radio stations, has changed its name to Greater Public. President Doug Eichten announced the change during the opening session of the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, which runs through Saturday at the downtown Omni Hotel. “[T]he nature and pace of change in the media landscape now is so dramatic that we believe our industry is at a true inflection point,” Eichten said. “Greater Public is committed to providing new levels of leadership and resources for public media organizations to move forward.” The new name signals Greater Public’s intention to broaden its membership to include more public television stations and to develop collaborations among different types of public-service media organizations, including nonprofit news outlets.

Dan Grech was dismissed as news director for the reporting partnership between the Miami Herald and WLRN-FM on Monday. WLRN General Manager John Labonia told staffers and other pubcasters in an email that Grech “is no longer with WLRN Miami Herald News, effective immediately. A national search will be conducted to identify a replacement.” Labonia is away from WLRN this week and could not be reached for comment. Grech joined the station as news director in February 2010. Previously, he spent a year as the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton, where he taught “The New Age of Audio Journalism,” the university’s first audio production course.

Sputnik Kilambi, a veteran international radio reporter who helped co-found Free Speech Radio News, died July 7 in Paris after a battle with liver cancer. She was 55.

The vehicle donation process that plays out from the donor’s first phone call to the check’s arrival at the station is opaque and can involve a number of for-profit and nonprofit companies that take 20 percent or more of the sale price in fees.

Three North Carolina radio stations that serve African-American listeners are collaborating to create a statewide jazz service and drive-time news and public affairs programs in a bid to boost audience while sharing costs and resources. The National Federation of Community Broadcasters is facilitating the project, which includes WFSS in Fayetteville, WNCU in Durham and WSNC in Winston-Salem. The stations currently air dual formats of jazz with news/talk during drive time, and all are licensed to historically black schools — Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University and Winston-Salem State University. “We’re all located on HBCU [historically black colleges and universities] campuses, and we have very similar offerings,” says Elvin Jenkins, g.m.