Curious about the broadcasting tower site above Mount Wilson, threatened this week by Los Angeles wildfires? Tower aficionado Scott Fybush has two pages (here and here), complete with photos, detailing what area stations have equipment atop the mile-high mountain–which turns out to be many area broadcasters. Fybush is a radio transmission tower expert, as well as part-time pubcaster on WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Latest on the fire: Broadcast engineers have begun returning to the mountain to assess equipment damage, according to Television Broadcast site.

NBC has ordered a two-hour pilot remake of the longtime Masterpiece staple “Prime Suspect,” reveals The Hollywood Reporter. The popular ITV show starring Helen Mirren ran on PBS from 1992 through 2006 (Current, Nov. 6, 2006). The new one will be co-produced by ITV and Universal Media studios. “We want to carefully choose a couple of iconic titles this year to reinvent, and our intention is to create another classic television show from this brilliant original format,” said Angela Bromstad, NBC and UMS president of primetime entertainment.

CPB is looking for:— A broadband grants consultant to assist stations applying to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service. Details here.— A PBCore 2.0 development project manager. The manager for the 12-month assignment will report directly to CPB’s veep of digital media strategy. Details here.

KPBS will create an interactive newsroom for multimedia and multi-platform projects with a $2.5 million gift announced today. The donation came from Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan, longtime supporters of the San Diego station. Right now reporters, writers, producers and support staff work throughout the building. “It was time we created a physical environment where all news and content producers can work collaboratively,” said Tom Karlo, KPBS general manager.

Laura Fedele and Jim O’Hara from WFUV in New York City have been working on that with their “independent, emerging music” online and HD Radio channel (TheAlternateSide.org) and will report on best practices and best pitfalls at a webinar Sept. 16 (3-4 p.m., Eastern) organized by Public Media Innovation. Capacity is limited, reservation required. Listeners’ computers must run Windows 2000, XP and newer versions or Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) or newer.

Firefighters have made “significant progress” in containing wildfires on Mt. Wilson, the Los Angeles Times is reporting, but “they are still concerned about the massive blaze’s fast-moving southeastern flank.” To protect the historic Mt. Wilson observatory and broadcast transmission facilities on the peak, fire crews have been dumping water and flame-resistant gel on the area. An AP story on NPR.org reports that 150 firefighters and engines were stationed at the peak last night to defend the towers. KPCC, one of six pubcasters with transmitters on the mountain, created this special website for wildfire coverage. The Pasadena-based news station has arranged for a backup transmitter with the help of KUSC-FM, which broadcasts from Mt.

A comment on WAMU about Sen. Ted Kennedy enjoying jokes about the notorious Chappaquiddick incident is generating a lot of press, particularly on conservative news sites. Edward Klein, biographer of the senator who died last week, told Diane Rehm’s guest host Katty Kay that one of Kennedy’s “favorite topics of humor was, indeed, Chappaquiddick.” He added as an explanation: “Not that he didn’t feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.” NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard writes about Kennedy coverage in her latest column, noting that of 23 NPR stories on Kennedy’s death, “only one mentioned the name Mary Jo Kopechne and 5 mentioned Chappaquiddick.”

The FCC has announced guidelines for special procedures to assist licensees impacted by the ongoing California wildfires (PDF).

The 20 stations comprising Florida Public Broadcasting Service have applied for a $22 million grant through stimulus funds from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, reports The Tampa Bay Business Journal. The funding would be used to build on the stations’ coverage of the state to create a broadband network linking schools, public safety and health care facilities and other critical institutions. The new high-speed network would link to Florida LambdaRail, which already connects research institutions. The grant should be awarded by September 2010.

The National Park Foundation is providing half a million dollars to establish a nationwide grant program to reach underserved visitors, it announced yesterday. The foundation said it was “inspired” to do so by Ken Burns’ documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, which premieres Sept. 27 on PBS. Thirty-five parks nationwide will use the funds to develop outreach strategies and engagement programs for folks who don’t usually visit the parks–primarily people of color, according to the foundation’s press release.

More cutbacks are on the way at WGBH, The Boston Globe reports, although station management declined to offer specifics. The station, which produces more than a third of PBS’s primetime lineup, continues to struggle. “We’re making a lot of difficult choices,’’ chief exec Jonathan C. Abbott told the paper. The paper points out the station has a nearly $7 million shortfall to correct; see Current’s Aug. 3 story for details on that. WGBH also had layoffs in December (Current, Dec. 22, 2008) amounting to 2 percent of its workforce.

“Right now the fire is the boss,” a supervisor for the U.S. Forest Service tells an LA Times correspondent in this report on fire fighters’ efforts to protect the communications center on Mt. Wilson. Meanwhile, KCET-TV in Los Angeles, one of six pubcasters with transmitters on the site, has distinguished itself among LA’s TV outlets by ramping up its news coverage of the wildfires in the Angeles National Forest, according to the blog LA Observed. Yesterday the station began airing reports on the fire every half hour; SoCal Connected, KCET’s local public affairs series, created a special website for wildfire news.

Greg Collard, news director at WFAE in Charlotte, released a little collard spleen this month about a couple of NPR veterans getting personal with stories: Margot Adler, with her elegy on storm damage to Central Park trees near her apartment in the West 90s, and Larry Abramson, with a piece about parents (like him) outfitting their kids’ dorm rooms. Collard concludes in the station’s blog: “NPR humor. Sometimes it’s hard to defend, especially when it’s so self-indulgent.”

The situation on Mt. Wilson, where six Los Angeles area pubcasting outlets have transmitters, is increasingly dire, according to the Los Angeles Times. Fire fighters were taken off the mountain this morning because it was too dangerous to have them working so close to the tower facilities. “There is a good chance the fire will hit Mt. Wilson today,” said Ray Dombroski, spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service. Pubcasting stations with towers in jeopardy include KOCE-TV in Orange County; KLCS-TV, which is owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District; Pacifica Radio’s KPFK; classical KUSC-FM; and, as previously reported, KPCC in Pasadena and KCET-TV.

PBS was honored with 13 Daytime Creative Arts Emmys, the most of any network, in ceremonies on Saturday night. Included are outstanding children’s animated show (WordWorld), preschool children’s series (Between the Lions) and lifestyle show (This Old House). Three shows not distributed by PBS but running on the network, BizKids, Equitrekking and Diary of a Foodie, also won honors. ABC won 10; Nickelodeon, eight; CBS, five; Food Network, three; and Cartoon Network and NBC, both two. The awards were presented at the the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and hosted by Alex Trebek. Here’s a full list of winners.