“The sort of radio that seems to prevail is radio that has a very clear voice of its own,” says Garrison Keillor in an interview in the Buffalo News.

NPR announces its inaugural Holiday Craft Contest. The network’s own Mel Gibson Menorah is an early entry. (Via Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth.)

“You can make fun of me all you want, but it takes courage to be boring five nights a week,” the NewsHour‘s Jim Lehrer tells Stephen Colbert during an appearance on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. Lehrer also declared himself to be “bias free.” [Scroll down to stream a two-part video clip.]

Former Vice President Al Gore will headline the 2007 edition of the WNET/WLIW regional teachers’ convention. The New York pubTV stations’ second annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning, March 23-34, 2007, pins its theme to the 50th anniversary of Sputnik’s launch. Last year’s celebration drew nearly 7,000 area teachers.

A deal to be announced today by Verizon Wireless and YouTube will bring YouTube videos to cell phones, according to the New York Times. The service will offer a limited selection of YouTube fare and requires a $15 monthly subscription to Verizon’s VCast service.

WNET unveiled blogthirteen, which is devoted to coverage of media. It offers a daily briefing that compiles links to news and features on a wide range of media topics and a weekly column by President Bill Baker.

Christopher Kimball of America’s Test Kitchen offers some time-saving tips for cooks who are planning Thanksgiving menus. Mashed potatoes can be prepared ahead of time and reheated tomorrow, but instant mashed potatoes are out of the question, he tells Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep.

CPB is disappointed that fewer public radio stations are applying for grants to support conversion to digital broadcasting, reports Radio World. CPB is surveying stations to determine why they aren’t applying and is contacting them to let them know that the money is available.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday, CBS contends that Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl was an “unscripted, unauthorized and unintended long-distance shot of Ms. Jackson’s breast for nine-sixteenths of one second.” The Los Angeles Times reports that the network is challenging the FCC’s $550,000 fine for the incident, which was broadcast to an estimated audience of 90 million and was deemed indecent by the FCC.

Gather.com announced last week that it raised $10 million from Hearst, McGraw-Hill and other investors, reports Red Herring. (Current article about Gather.)

A psychology professor who has analyzed NPR’s “This I Believe” essays has found “that Southerners, men and people older than 65 were the most likely to talk about religion,” says a New York Times article about the series.

“Why is former MTV VJ Adam Curry better at building community than radio and television stations that depend on the community for their very existence?” asks a blogger at LostRemote. “Public broadcasting online should be the ultimate long tail of user-contributed content, with a natural geographical cross matrix linking the affinity groups.” (Via Technology360.)

“[I]t’s unfair and bad statistical analysis to blame news for the diminishment of classical and jazz music and, worse, for the diminishment of civic engagement in our culture,” writes Dennis Haarsager in his response to the National Endowment for the Arts study of classical music on public radio.

Last week’s Frontline documentary examining the downfall of former Spokane, Wash., Mayor Jim West prompted complaints of factual errors by the editor of Spokesman-Review, whose own journalistic ethics and investigative tactics came under scrutiny in the program. Frontline rebutted the newspaper’s criticism on its own discussion page. Producer Rachel Dretzin fielded questions about the documentary in an online chat.

Nielsen Media Research will begin offering video-on-demand ratings in December, the New York Times reports (via mediabistro). Rentrak, a company based in Portland, Ore., already tracks VOD viewing but it only releases data that cable companies approve. If VOD viewing habits hold steady through December, more than two billion on-demand programs will be watched this year, based on Rentrak data.