Ongoing talks with state and local officials and station members have prompted the Maine Public Broadcasting Network to delay the shutdown of two of its transmitters, set for Jan. 15, until Feb. 28. President Jim Dowe says the transmitters will continue operation as talks progress. The network has made staff cuts, salary reductions and other cutbacks in the wake of cuts in funding, including loss of a $400,000 federal rural development grant it has used for 14 years.

Robin Turnau will succeed Mark Vogelzang as president and c.e.o. of Vermont Public Radio, the network announced yesterday. Vogelzang received a “really terrific offer” to lead a national fundraising effort for public radio stations, he said yesterday during an interview on VPR’s Vermont Edition. Vogelzang, top executive since 1993, led VPR through a major service expansion. Turnau, v.p. of development since 2004, has been with VPR for 20 years.

Grassroots organizations targeting seniors, minority communities and persons with disabilities are receiving $8.4 million from the FCC (pdf) to assist those viewers with their DTV transition needs. The groups will sponsor seminars, help with the purchase and installation of converter boxes and staff call centers. Pubcasters receiving funds include WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester, N.Y. ($202,498) and Iowa Public Broadcasting Board ($223,516). The money is part of Congress’ $20 million appropriation last year for DTV conversion outreach.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy hosted an online discussion on Jan. 6 focusing on the outlook for nonprofit fund raising, grants and budgets. Participating were experts from New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. One trend: Some foundations are making gifts only to pre-existing partner organizations. And a prediction: Online fund raising will see a huge increase in 2009.

NTIA has reached its $1.34 billion limit for its digital converter box coupons, so new requests are being put on a waiting list, according to Meredith Baker, acting head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. There are currently more than 100,000 on the list, with thousands more each day. Those on the list probably won’t get the $40 coupons until after the Feb. 17 transition.

Democratic Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher is expected to introduce in the new Congress this week a DTV antenna subsidy bill. The legislation would subsidize rooftop anntennas for over-the-air viewers to receive digital reception after the transition in February. Boucher’s district includes rural viewers without cable access.

The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Multiple Service Television have asked the FCC to make more stations eligible to run an “analog nightlight” signal for 30 days past the Feb. 17 DTV transition. The nightlight enables stations to run public service programming about DTV, as well as emergency messages. The groups also suggests the commission allow underwriting for the nightlight similar to pubTV. The FCC must vote on implementation requirements for the nightlight service by Jan. 15.

iPod usage and the ubiquity of podcasts present both opportunities and threats to public radio, according to this overview of findings from the first annual Public Radio Technology Survey. More than 30,000 respondents nationwide participated in the study, making it the largest-ever survey of public radio listeners. Public Radio Program Directors, one of three pubcasting organizations to collaborate with Jacobs Media on the study, also posted this list of key findings.

With radio and TV clogged with shouting heads, with blogs and e-mail threads dominated by partisan invective, is there room in the media for the reasoned views of ordinary citizens? These models of high-minded political debate and conversation underlie a variety of public-media websites that have sprung up for the 2008 election cycle.

Pubcasting pioneer Joan Ganz Cooney and her husband are the second largest donors of 2008 on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list. Cooney and her financier husband pledged $1 billion to his Peter G. Peterson Foundation in New York, which focuses on issues including budget deficits, national and personal savings and the national debt.

Radio Moab, a Utah pubradio station powered by solar panels, boasts a somewhat rare title: A station run by volunteers. KZMU operates on about $100,000 annually with a few part-timers, none of which receive benefits. The s.m. once arrived at the station in a bath towel to cope with glitches in its 500-watt signal; the p.d. calls herself a “communitarian”; the music director is barefoot year-round and boasts several toe rings. A story in The Salt Lake Tribune captures the station’s distinctive charms.

The Center for Social Media has made suggestions to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team for advancing the “public media 2.0” agenda. In addition to working to increase broadband capacity, the center, part of American University’s School of Communication, advises that CPB be awarded stimulus funds “for digitally-savvy staffers to build social networks at local pubcasting stations.” Actions should be taken immediately, the center adds.

CUTFATT, the Coalition United to Terminate Financial Abuses of the Television Transition, is petitioning the FCC to change rules on digital TV patent licenses. The consumer advocacy group contends that manufacturers are overcharged for the technology, which raises the price on digital sets. CUTFATT wants the FCC to use a “patent-pool” system in which TV manufacturers would pay a flat rate of about $1 per set for the rights to all the necessary patents. Manufacturers in Europe and Asia are charged that fee. In the United States, the group says, manufacturers are charged $20 to $30 for the rights.

Support from new partner CPB is enabling the Patchwork Nation project to continue in 2009, past its original focus of the election year. The project examines the issues of concern and politics in 11 types of communities across the nation: Monied ’Burbs, Minority Central, Evangelical Epicenters, Tractor Country, Campus and Careers, Immigration Nation, Industrial Metropolis, Boom Towns, Service Worker Centers, Emptying Nests, and Military Bastions. The project’s other partners are the Knight Foundation and The Christian Science Monitor.

IdahoPTV says it needs six new digital translators to maintain coverage during and after the digital transition in February, reports Boise Weekly. More than 400,000 people in Idaho watch over-the-air signals; during a pubTVshow on DTV in November, some 2,600 viewers called in seeking advice. For IdahoPTV, buying more repeaters would need to be done through a privately-funded capital campaign. Peter Morrill, g.m., says broadcasters need opportunities from the FCC to apply for digital translator channels.