Baltimore public radio station WYPR bought WJTM-FM in Frederick, expanding its reach toward western Maryland, Radio & Records reported. Selling the Frederick outlet for a reported $1.2 million was a religious broadcaster, Joy Public Broadcasting. Both stations broadcast at 88.1 MHz.

PBS will carry the $7 million cost of Masterpiece Theatre for two years, President Pat Mitchell told TV critics during the winter press tour, but the network is perplexed and unhappy about it, according to Associated Press and Washington Post reports.

The Association of Independents in Radio Member Spotlight features sound artist and producer Aaron Ximm, Monday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. ET.

Elizabeth Campbell, founder of Washington’s WETA-FM/TV, died today of a respiratory ailment, Washingtonpost.com reported. She was 101. In a 1993 Current interview she pictured herself as a do-er who “didn’t have time for doubts.” More about Campbell can be found at WETA’s website.

Minnesota Public Radio will stop producing The Savvy Traveler March 26, according to the network. The show was unable to sell enough underwriting to support itself due to the travel industry’s post-9/11 downturn. Its spotty presence in major markets also weakened its appeal to potential backers. Savvy Traveler airs on 163 stations. [Show website.]

CPB and Target Analysis Group have released the second installment of the Public Radio Quarterly Index of Fundraising Performance.

The Knight Foundation has given PBS $200,000 to develop a proposal for a public affairs channel, the network announced. Contrary to this AP report, however, PBS told Current that the channel probably would be a DTV multicast channel to be aired by public TV stations, not a “cable channel,” as AP said. PBS President Pat Mitchell had said in June that public affairs and the arts were content options for new PBS channels. Current reported last year on the variety of multicast channels foreseen by stations.

“This may be the holiday season that satellite radio began to show its promise,” says the Washington Post.

A jazz host on WFPK-FM in Louisville, Ky., resigned rather than stifle her public criticism of the station’s decision to reduce jazz programming, reports the Courier-Journal.

Alabama Public Radio averted canceling big-name national shows by raising $20,000 in an emergency fund drive, reports the Associated Press.

NPR presents the first public demonstration of its Tomorrow Radio project at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The digital technology will allow radio broadcasters to transmit two separate channels on one frequency.

Milwaukee Public Schools is negotiating a contract with local group Radio for Milwaukee to run its public radio station, WYMS-FM.

“I want to use this show … to introduce Americans to each other,” says Tavis Smiley of his public TV show, debuting this week on more than 100 stations. [Show’s website.]

Conflict with General Manager Steve Spencer and other tensions prompted at least five employees to leave WYSO-FM in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in recent years, reports the Yellow Springs News.

Samuel Freedman in USA Today lauds the radio documentary form, “a rebellion against the numbing conformity of commercial radio” and a style that he says is enjoying its heyday.