KCET President Al Jerome continues to explain the station’s Jan. 1 departure from the PBS system. In the latest interview, in today’s (Jan. 28) Santa Barbara Independent, he describes KCET’s exit and subsequent programming revamp like “changing the tires going 90 miles per hour.” He adds that he considers the new lineup “a damn good schedule.”

It’s Friday afternoon, and you deserve a video break. Today’s feature is brought to you by BestWeekEver.TV, which serves up an Electric Company episode from waaaay back, when actor Morgan Freeman played a vampire caught in Spiderman’s (very fake rope) web. (Actually, the “Kitten Attacking a Spider” video underneath is pretty good too … )

Producers for History Detectives and America Revealed on PBS are among new members of the Writers Guild of America, East, the union said today (Jan. 28). The Guild also welcomed nonfiction TV producers for Discovery Network and MTV. Guild President Michael Winship said in a statement: “As a writer for public television myself, I know how valuable Guild membership has been for my colleagues and me.” Winship is a former senior writer for Bill Moyers Journal.

California Watch, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting, today (Jan. 28) announced its new California Watch Media Network, which includes many of the state’s major news organizations. Participating outlets will receive stories and daily postings from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and collaborate with the center on news projects. The initial members are the San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Diego Union Tribune, Orange County Register, Bakersfield Californian, and the Fresno Bee. “This new network represents a step forward in terms of how we market and distribute our content,” said California Watch Editorial Director Mark Katches.

Robert D. Smith Jr., a longtime public broadcaster who was an early producer of Washington Week in Review and oversaw the creation of two Ohio public radio stations, died Jan. 20 in Oberlin, Ohio, after battling cancer. He was 81. His son, Stephen Smith, host and executive editor of American RadioWorks, told the Toledo Blade: “He really believed in the public purpose of public broadcasting, and so do I – the obligation to serve the audience with stuff that’s meaningful and of high quality and can’t be found elsewhere.” In 1967, as programming director at WETA, he produced the station’s new public affairs show, Washington Week in Review, which remains on the air as Washington Week.

A database of open channels, or “white spaces,” opening on the television spectrum for use by unlicensed devices, will be managed by nine companies, Television Broadcast reports today (Jan. 27). The companies, selected by the FCC, will oversee a database that will track white spaces within the TV spectrum and communicate those channels to unlicensed devices. It will be the sole source of interference protection for TV signals and wireless microphones, the industry publication said.

CPB and WGBH today (Jan. 27) announced a two-year, $754,000 project to help stations improve their fundraising capabilities. The Contributor Development Partnership will include the first-ever systemwide contributor data reference file to provide analyses of the best in pubTV fundraising. Michal Heiplik, former director of membership at HoustonPBS, will oversee the project. CPB is contributing $504,000, and WGBH, $250,000. Helping shape the initiative is a 12-member station advisory group: Don Derheim, KQED (Northern California); Becky Chinn, OPB (Oregon); Mary Kay Phelps, WETA (Washington, D.C.); Kelly McCullough, KAET (Arizona); David Preston, TPT (Minnesota); Ellen Sinkinson, WNET (New York); Anne Gleason, WTTW (Chicago); Jack Galmiche, KETC (St.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism, through the Gannett Foundation and the Green Park Foundation, has awarded 12 grants to journalists for travel and other reporting expenses to cover abuse of power, environmental degredation and corruption here as well as in Asia, Africa and South America. Recipients include reporters from newspapers, websites, specialized reporting centers and freelancers. Their topics are confidential until completed. The fund has supported investigative journalism by independent journalists since 1969.

Broadcasting and Cable reports that Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) is expected to reintroduce – possibly as early as today (Jan. 26) – a bill to authorize auctions to pay broadcasters for voluntarily giving up their spectrum for wireless broadband use. B and C notes that the bill “would make it clear that the reclamation needs to be truly voluntary.”

San Francisco Weekly reports that KUSF DJs, fans and Ross Mirkarimi, a San Francisco supervisor, rallied in front of City Hall yesterday (Jan. 25), chanting “Whose station?” “Our station!” and “Shame on USF!” A week ago University of San Francisco officials literally pulled the plug on the station, which has been around since 1977, and soon after announced it would be sold to classical music channel KDFC. KUSF would continue online. After the rally, Mirkarimi introduced a resolution urging the university to reconsider the sale of the station.

The Association for Public Television Stations has hired two GOP lobbyists from Quinn Gillespie and Associates to help fend off proposals for public broadcasting funding cuts, according to the Hill. Marc Lampkin was general counsel for John Boehner (Ohio) when the Speaker was House Republican Conference chairman; John Feehery managed communications for former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). “What I am facing here are 96 new members of Congress and 20 new senators that don’t know us yet,” said APTS Patrick Butler. “We read the papers like everyone else and we keep hearing about cuts to public television.

Idaho PTV g.m. Peter Morrill appeared before state legislators today (Jan. 25) to detail what would happen if the governor’s proposed 6.4 percent funding reduction is approved: Three IPTV positions would disappear, a $97,200 cut from last year would become permanent, and $1.3 million in capital replacements – including some mandated by federal law – could not be done.

The ITVS-supported doc “Waste Land,” by Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley, scored an Academy Award nomination today (Jan. 25) for feature documentary. Last month it received the International Documentary Association Pare Lorentz Award at the IDI Documentary Awards ceremonies. A full list of nominees here.

KLRU is inaugurating its new Austin City Limits theater with a big bash on Feb. 26 in Austin’s 2nd Street District. The 2nd St. Soundcheck event will culminate with the first ACL taping in its new, $2.5 million Moody Theater, named for the Moody Foundation backer of the massive project. First up: A 90-minute performance by the Steve Miller Band.

Eight/Arizona PBS is celebrating its 50th anniversary of going live on Jan. 30, 1961; by 1964 it had its first Emmy Award for 400 hours of local programming. Viewers are sharing their memories of the station, and there’s a cool retro video that includes its first moments of broadcast. Is your station or network marking an important anniversary this year? Let us know!