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“I compare what I’m doing here to missionary work in the sense that the idea and knowledge of public radio isn’t well known in Guam,” says News Director Naina Rao.
The Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a strike if the current contract expires Thursday.
As managers grapple with how to cultivate young, diverse talent as public media leaders, questions of whether to compensate interns — and even what constitutes a legal internship — become more complicated.
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.
A Kickstarter campaign has given a boost to FOIA Machine, a project from employees of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting that streamlines the often cumbersome process of filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
Frontline‘s Arun Rath will join NPR in late September as host of Weekend All Things Considered, which is relocating to studios at NPR West in Culver City, Calif.
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.
In a new three-part Foyle’s War series on Masterpiece Mystery!, Chief Detective Superintendent Christopher Foyle comes out of retirement to work in the intelligence community, not the police force.
Mikel Ellcessor, general manager at Detroit’s WDET-FM, has resigned to take a position with Krista Tippett Public Productions.
Masterpiece announced today that Mr. Selfridge will return for a second season. The drama, starring Jeremy Piven as the American entrepreneur who founded Selfridge’s department store in London, reached nearly 15 million viewers over its eight-week run, averaging 4 million per episode. It also recently received a primetime Emmy Award nomination for music composition for a series.
Alicia Zuckerman, senior editor for enterprise reporting at WLRN, will fill in as interim news director while the Miami pubcaster searches for a replacement for Dan Grech, who was dismissed July 8. General Manager John Labonia announced the appointment Thursday in an email to staff. “Please be assured that the recent changes within the department will in no way have a negative impact on the direction, strategic plan or current operations of WLRN Miami Herald News,” he said, referencing the station’s decade-long reporting partnership with the newspaper. Zuckerman started her public media career at New York’s WNYC, where she reported and produced for NPR’s On the Media and later worked in the local newsroom covering arts and other beats. Her reports have been picked up by NPR newsmagazines as well as major series distributed by Public Radio International such as The World, Studio 360 and This American Life.
Primetime Emmy nominations are out this morning, and PBS scored 25 nods from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — 12 of which went to Downton Abbey on Masterpiece. Nominations for the hit Edwardian costume drama include those for lead actor Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham; lead actress Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley; and best drama series. Other category nominations for Downton include supporting actor (Jim Carter as Mr. Carson), supporting actress (Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham), writing (Julian Fellowes) and direction (Jeremy Webb). Also nominated are the Live from Lincoln Center production of “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel,” for special class program; Antiques Roadshow for reality program; the American Experience presentation “Death and the Civil War”; and American Masters for documentary or nonfiction series. A full list of the nominations is available at the Emmy website.