In a New York Times op-ed, Yale political scientist David Greenberg weighs the meaning of a revelation in the new PBS Watergate documentary — Nixon aide Jeb Magruder’s remark that he heard Nixon okay the Watergate break-in. As reprinted in the Charlotte Observer.

Conservative writer Rob Long writes in the L.A. Times why he donates to NPR though its programming drives him to shout back, spraying his dashboard with angry spittle.

A Venice Beach bike repairman told coworkers a recent pledge to KCRW scored him “a kick-ass tote bag,” “reports” the humor mag The Onion. (Last item under “News in Brief.”)

WNET’s Bill Baker decries the twin disasters of FCC deregulation and diminished support for pubcasters in an op-ed for the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper.

The new Broadway show Avenue Q, produced by former employees of Sesame Street, spoofs the kids’ show by dragging it “into a curse-filled world of Gen-X angst, unemployment and promiscuous, drunken sex,” writes Jake Tapper in The New York Times.

Public television producer John Schott has a weblog.

“We’ve changed our strategy from being an exporter of British programming into being a creator of global programs,” says Mark Young, president of BBC Worldwide Americas, in the L.A. Times.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is paying a hefty political price for ignoring populist concerns about big media, reports the Washington Post.

The team behind Day to Day, NPR’s new midday newsmagazine, hope the show will be “looser” and “more spontaneous” than other network fare, reports The Los Angeles Times. Day to Day debuts Monday, July 28.

Marketplace host David Brancaccio is leaving the show to co-host PBS’s Now with Bill Moyers. TV Barn has the PBS press release.

Religious broadcasters are among the entities bidding in the sale of Orange County public TV station KOCE, reports the Los Angeles Times.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich contemplates why liberals can’t get a foothold on talk show TV.

A new genre of makeover programs flourishes in Britain, reports the New York Times. “Their proliferation has led to criticisms that British television, once known for its quality and innovation, has deteriorated into a showcase for relatively inexpensive programs that cater to viewers’ lazier and meaner instincts.”

A new report discusses the future of WNCW-FM in Spindale, N.C., according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. In the report, administrators at Isothermal Community College, the station’s owner, tell their board that other broadcasters want to buy or manage WNCW. They also suggest changes to the station if the board decides not to sell. [Earlier coverage of WNCW in Current.]

Joe Hagan reports in the New York Observer that PBS talk host Charlie Rose rushed back to Manhattan when deposed New York Times Editor Howell Raines offered an interview. In the newsmaking interview, Raines came off about as poorly as Jayson Blair in HIS post-scandal debut.