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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.

Programs/Content

Report: SiriusXM to end The Bob Edwards Show

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SiriusXM Radio will wind down The Bob Edwards Show next month, according to a Politico article published Friday. Citing unnamed sources, Politico reported that the show will end Sept. 26. Public Radio International distributes a weekly version of the show to public radio, and PRI spokeswoman Julia Yager said that program will continue. Edwards declined to comment to Current, and SiriusXM did not respond to a request for comment.

System/Policy

Alaska station cuts PD to offset university budget reduction

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KUAC-FM in Fairbanks, Alaska, laid off programming director Jerry Evans Friday as part of ongoing measures to cut spending. According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Evans was let go as part of a plan to offset $170,000 in funding cuts imposed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which operates the station. Evans’s duties will be absorbed by other employees. He had been with the pubcaster for six years. The university announced in July that it would cut funding to the station in light of a $12 million shortfall of its own.

System/Policy

CPB gives $2.5 million to Firelight Media diversity initiative

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Firelight Media, the documentary filmmaking nonprofit founded by Stanley Nelson, received a $2.55 million grant from CPB Aug. 20 to expand Producers’ Lab, a public television documentary mentorship project. Producers’ Lab recruits filmmakers and producers from underrepresented regions across the country to work with Nelson and Firelight Media to create documentaries that include a more diverse range of voices. The grant will allow the lab to add 30 to 40 more producers to the program over three years and expand its recruiting to all regions of the country. The program’s goal of adding more diversity to public TV’s airwaves was a main selling point for CPB, according to Joseph Tovares, senior vice president of diversity and innovation at CPB.

Programs/Content

Aereo takes another lump in search for legal legitimacy

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Internet TV service Aereo’s bid to find a workable business model suffered another legal setback Thursday, with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruling that a federal district court judge will determine whether the company qualifies as a cable operator. After losing a U.S. Supreme Court copyright fight in June to a group of commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, Aereo has tried to recast itself as a cable operator. Doing so would allow it to carry content if it pays networks for programming. Aereo initially launched as a subscription service, using banks of dime-sized antennas to capture broadcast signals and convert them into streaming video distributed over the Internet. Subscribers rented the antennas and could watch TV programs live or on demand via a device similar to a digital video recorder.

Programs/Content

Chicago/Midwest Emmys find broadcast home on WYCC

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This year’s Chicago/Midwest Emmy awards will be televised for the first time in 25 years by WYCC PBS Chicago. WYCC plans to cover the November 1 award ceremony with a two-hour live special and additional content streaming online. “We’re looking for this to actually be a very large, beautiful production, rivaling that of a national production,” said Paul Buckner, general manager at WYCC. According to Buckner, the station is working with the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the group that presents the annual regional Emmys, to find a host, presenters and live performers. The station plans to announce the host and performers Sept.

System/Policy

NLRB to resolve contested union election at Baltimore’s WYPR-FM

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A dispute over unionization at Baltimore’s WYPR will be resolved by the National Labor Relations Board. WYPR staff voted July 30 on whether to seek representation from broadcast union SAG-AFTRA. Nine voted in favor and 11 against, with seven votes contested by one of the parties, according to an NLRB official who requested anonymity when commenting on an ongoing proceeding. The NLRB will review the contested votes to determine their eligibility, with the vote recounted only if at least three of the contested votes are determined eligible. SAG-AFTRA can only enter the workplace with a majority vote.

System/Policy

WFYI expands to Terre Haute with rebroadcast deal

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Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media will expand to the Terre Haute, Ind., market next month through a rebroadcast deal with Indiana State University. Terre Haute–based Indiana State University owns a pair of signals in the city, WISU-FM 89.7 and WZIS-FM 90.7. Under the noncash deal announced Wednesday, the university will move the student station from WISU to WZIS, with the 13,500-watt WISU rebroadcasting WFYI’s news/talk programming starting in mid-September. WZIS, formerly WMHD-FM, was previously owned by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute and aired music programmed by students. Indiana State bought the 1,400-watt station in June for $16,465, according to FCC records.