Nice Above Fold - Page 392

  • Washington's WAMU aims to buy signal south of D.C.

    WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C., will enter the Fredericksburg, Va., market with the pending purchase of 8,000-watt WWED 89.5-FM. WAMU has proposed to buy WWED from the Educational Media Corp., a nonprofit Christian ministry based in Spotsylvania, Va. According to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC, WAMU licensee American University will pay $375,000 for WWED and a booster signal in Fredericksburg. WWED and sister station WWEM-FM in Lynchburg, Va., went dark as of Aug. 1, 2013, according to fredericksburg.com. The stations previously aired classical music. Educational Media Corp. is selling WWEM to North Carolina–based Pathway Christian Academy Inc. for $136,000.
  • Pubcasters win four UNITY Awards for commitment to cultural diversity

    Over half of this year’s RTDNA/UNITY Awards went to pubcasters, including a public TV station. WKAR-TV in East Lansing, Mich., won the award for small-market television for a documentary about racial tensions surrounding the 1975 trials of two Filipina Veterans Administration Hospital nurses. In the radio division, Seattle’s KUOW won among large-market entries with its report “Black in Seattle,” while Alabama Public Radio won the award for small-market stations with the  story “Remembering 1963,” produced as part of a civil rights radio project. Public Radio International picked up the award for network radio for its series Global Nation: Stories of a Changing America.
  • Tuesday roundup: Scher leaves KUOW amid programming changes; KCET mulls bandwidth sale

    Plus: Voice of San Diego sells sponsored content, and media consultants question NPR's digital strategy.
  • WRAS fans fighting GPB may have message for pubradio programmers

    The social media campaign is easy to dismiss, but public media can't ignore the demands of this young audience.
  • FCC staff reports fast clip for processing of LPFM apps

    FCC commissioners got an update Friday on the status of low-power FM applications, six months after the closing of the most recent LPFM application window. The FCC received 2,826 applications for low-power stations during the window, which ran from Oct. 17 to Nov. 15, 2013. As of April, FCC staff had granted permits to more than 1,200 of those applicants. They said Friday at a meeting of FCC commissioners that they expect to approve a total of 1,500 to 1,800 applications. Meanwhile, FCC staffers are working to sort through 6,350 pending applications for FM translators, which will help to guarantee maximum availability of spectrum for use by new LPFMs.
  • Alan Sack, pubTV direct-mail pioneer, dies at 87

    Sack introduced direct-mail marketing to the pubTV system beginning with WGBH, and his methods are still used in the system.
  • Monday roundup: Joe Bev plays Monty, actress speaks out for public media

    Plus: Miles O'Brien writes a harrowing account of his arm amputation, and a WRAS protester makes a pillow.
  • Pubcasters pick up 32 national Murrow Awards

    Public broadcasting outlets and nonprofit news organizations took 32 of the 98 national Edward R. Murrow Awards presented this year by the Radio Television Digital News Association to recognize the best in electronic journalism.  Chicago’s WBEZ and the Texas Tribune stood out among the field of public media winners announced June 11, taking top honors for overall excellence among  large-market radio stations and small online news organizations, respectively. KNAU in Flagstaff, Ariz., which like other local pubcasters rose to the national Murrows through RTDNA’s regional competitions, received three trophies in the division for small-market radio stations. It was the only public radio station to receive multiple trophies in divisions for local broadcasters.
  • With TV Takeover, TPT hands over broadcast keys to local arts groups

    To attract young viewers, Twin Cities Public Television is experimenting with a new kind of show: the “TV party.”
  • Erbe fires back at SPLC, defends immigration coverage

    The To the Contrary host wrote that the Southern Policy Law Center had published a "partisan distortion" of her views.
  • Friday roundup: KCRW breaks ground on new headquarters, Vme adds SuperLatina

    Plus: Kickstarter launches a journalism category, and Hillary Clinton faces off with Terry Gross.
  • WGBH-FM clears more airtime for Boston Public Radio

    In a move to bolster its local news footprint and audience, Boston’s WGBH is adding a third hour to Boston Public Radio, which in April was the top-rated public radio midday show for its noon to 2 p.m. timeslot. Starting in September, Boston Public Radio will begin airing at 11 a.m. weekdays. Hosted by Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, the show made dramatic audience gains compared to last year. The 2.1 share it earned WGBH in April 2013 among listeners aged six and older grew to 3.7 by April 2014, surpassing public radio news competitor WBUR, according to research provided by WGBH.
  • Thursday roundup: Netflix brings back Magic School Bus, John Moe's new humor book

    • Netflix is reviving the ’90s PBS Kids cartoon The Magic School Bus, commissioning 26 episodes of an revamped series that will join its streaming lineup  in 2016. The Magic School Bus 360° will use computer-generated animation instead of following the original’s hand-drawn aesthetic, the New York Times reports. The on-demand TV service acquired rights to the program from Scholastic Media. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, told NYT that the original PBS show is the top educational offering on the streaming platform. He also hinted that Netflix may embark on future partnerships with Scholastic, the producer behind other popular PBS Kids shows such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and WordGirl.
  • Indie podcast network Mule Radio shuts its doors

    Self-distributed public radio programs are among the podcasts finding new online homes after the network decided not to continue its business.
  • Scher resigns from KUOW-FM, St. Louis pubradio grows by two, and other comings and goings in pubmedia

    Steve Scher, who has worked at Seattle’s KUOW-FM since 1986, abruptly resigned June 6 to pursue other opportunities.