A panel of experts in Britain recommended last month that the country begin switching off the analog radio airwaves around 2017 and transition to digital radio. Digital radio is slowly gaining interest internationally: Australia will roll out in May, and Germany will announce plans soon.

For those of you keeping score at home, please mark one more for, one more against moving the DTV transition date. Add the FCC chair to the “nay” list, those opposing the delay. FCC head Kevin Martin says pushing back the long-planned Feb. 17 date would be “confusing” for consumers. Meanwhile, on the “yay” side, FCC commish Jonathan Adelstein says it’s “just as well” the date changes because consumers can’t get through to the help lines anyway. Both made their comments at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Add police and fire chiefs to the growing list of folks weighing in on a possible delay of the DTV transition date, due to problems with the converter coupon program. The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials says if there is indeed a delay, it needs to exclude channels on spectrum to be used for public safety communications.

Minnesota Public Radio is locked in a dispute with city planners in its hometown of St. Paul over a proposed light-rail line that will run by the network’s headquarters. MPR says on its website that it fears the line “will cause irreparable harm” to its headquarters with excessive noise and vibrations near recording studios. If the city can’t provide a mitigation plan by March 1 that convinces MPR, the network said this week, the line should be moved. The city’s Metropolitan Council argues back on its website: “MPR should get on board with the Metropolitan Council, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Ramsey County and Hennepin County to help make this transit line a reality — not jeopardize its chances of winning federal funding that is essential for construction,” said planners.

Former FCCers William Kennard and Michael Powell support delaying the Feb. 17 DTV transition. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, the two say: “There is no reason to rush toward a fiasco when we can just as well take the time to make sure the change happens smoothly.”

Former National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman William R. Ferris’ idea for a Cabinet-level position to oversee the arts and humanities — including CPB, NPR and PBS — is generating excitement. An online petition now has more than 23,000 signatures. Music legend Quincy Jones is hot on the concept, and says he’s going to be speaking directly with President-elect Obama about it.

Alabama Public Television will cancel a long-running public affairs show and lay off other staffers as it aims to offset state budget cuts, reports the Huntsville Times. For the Record will go off the air next month after a 25-year run, and anchor Tim Lennox will be let go. Other layoffs were expected to be announced today. The state has reduced its contribution to APT’s budget by more than $3 million since fiscal year 2008, when it gave $11 million in support to the network.

KPCC in Pasadena, Calif., will open a news bureau in Washington, D.C., making it the first public radio station in the country to have a satellite office in the nation’s capital. The bureau will be staffed by KPCC’s Kitty Felde. Details at LA Observed. KPCC is owned by American Public Media Group, the parent company of American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio. In 2007, APMG sought to launch a news station in D.C.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop has released a report, Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning, detailing the “untapped potential” of education through devices such as iPods and cell phones. The report calls for new investments in R&D, establishing a digital teachers corps, creating a White House initiative on digital learning, and modifying classroom access. The report will be finalized next week.

Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration insists the digital transition can and should occur Feb. 17 as planned. Its Jan. 8 statement quoting Meredith Attwell Baker, acting NTIA head, appears to place at least some of the blame for the coupon shortage on consumers and Congress: “Since the program began in January 2008, NTIA has urged households to apply for coupons as soon as possible, so they can be fully prepared by February 17, 2009. We have been communicating with Congress throughout the Program and advised as early as November 6 that coupon demand may hit the $1.34 billion obligation limit by mid-January.”

John Podesta, transition team co-chair for President-elect Barack Obama, has delivered a letter to Congress advising the DTV transition be put off. Congress had set Feb. 17, so another law would need to pass to change the date. In his letter, Podesta calls government funding for the DTV converter box coupon program as well as educational efforts for consumers “woefully inadequate.” Transition officials estimate more than 5 million “unhonored requests” for the coupons by February. Podesta adds that Obama will include resources for assistance to viewers in the economic recovery package. In a statement Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says he supports “delaying the current date … until we can do it right.”

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Edward Markey, a longtime supporter of pubcasting, is shifting between subcommittees of the powerful House Energy and Commerce committee. He’s vacating his chair of Communications, Technology and the Internet to head up Energy and Environment. Replacing him will be Virgina Rep. Rick Boucher, an advocate for President-elect Barack Obama’s government funding for rural broadband. Boucher is currently sponsoring a bill to provide government subsidies for rooftop antennas to help viewers through the DTV transition.

PBS announced three new shows at the Television Critics Association press tour yesterday. Ken Burns’ film The Tenth Inning picks up where his 1994 Baseball left off and will air in Spring 2010. The producers of Carrier will bring another behind-the-scenes reality series to pubTV next year: Circus, which follows the Big Apple Circus around the country. Dinosaur Train, a new science show for preschoolers from The Jim Henson Company, follows the adventures of Buddy, a preschool-aged Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his family of Pteranodons. In other news, PBS said it will alter its filmed production of Ian McKellan’s King Lear on Great Performances so the King’s manhood is hidden from view.

The long-anticipated analog-to-digital signal switch may end up delayed. A spokesman for Massachusetts Dem. Rep. Ed Markey, chair of the House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, says that delaying the switch “certainly warrants further discussion and may be a wise choice” in the wake of problems with the converter coupon program. The Consumers Union requested the delay “until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals … ” According to Broadcasting & Cable, the Obama transition team may be open to the delay.

PBS head Paula Kerger says she is “disheartened” that the feds have come up short on money for DTV converter box coupons ahead of the Feb. 17 transition. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, handling the coupon program for the Commerce Department, created a waiting list for incoming requests as of Jan. 4 after hitting the $1.34 billion limit set by Congress. The NAB has also asked the FCC and Congress to assist with the coupon backlog.