Media Life ranked public radio’s Marketplace among its “Best of the Best.”

JJ Sutherland, creator of NPR’s upcoming midday newsmag Day to Day, discusses the show’s development at Transom.org.

KUSC-FM in Los Angeles has outsourced its underwriting sales to media behemoth Clear Channel, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Chicago Tribune critic Steve Johnson looks at what one year of competition from Louis Rukeyser on CNBC has done for Wall Street Week with Fortune and finds that the ex-PBS host has much to crow about (via Romenesko).

This revised statement was adopted in July 2003 by Public Radio News Directors Inc., the association of journalists working in public radio. Public Radio News Directors Inc. is committed to the highest standards of journalistic ethics and excellence. We must stand apart from pressures of politics and commerce as we inform and engage our listeners. We seek truth, and report with fairness and integrity. Independence and integrity are the foundations of our service, which we maintain through these principles: TRUTH Journalism is the rigorous pursuit of truth. Its practice requires fairness, accuracy, and balance. We strive to be comprehensive. We seek diverse points of view and voices to tell the stories of our communities.

The system’s revenues passed $2 billion late in the 1990s and $2.3 billion during fiscal year 2003, the latest year for which the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has complete figures. Dollar figures below are in thousands. The portion from private, non–tax-based sources passed 50 percent of the total in fiscal year 1986 and has hovered around 60 percent since FY1999 (see “Private sources row”). Source: CPB’s annual Public Broadcasting Revenue reports. For breakdowns between public TV and public radio and other details, see CPB’s latest full report, for fiscal 2003 system revenues, in a PDF file. See also CPB appropriation history.

Criticism of NPR’s partnership with Slate “sort of infuriated” staffers at the online mag, says editor Jacob Weisberg in Online Journalism Review.

Local people have organized a nonprofit to keep a public TV production facility going in Green Bay, Wis., after Wisconsin PTV closes it, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports.

In a bid to boost its online listenership and raise its profile nationally, Santa Monica’s KCRW is sponsoring a series of concerts in the entertainment capital of the East Coast. The sponsorships help “cement who we are as a place that is breaking and taking chances on new music,” says Nic Harcourt, KCRW music director, in the LA Times.

Henry Hampton’s last documentary series, This Far By Faith, airs on many PBS stations tonight. The Los Angeles Times retells how the production faltered after Hampton’s death. Although a New York Times critic finds that dramatic reenactments and time sequences in early episodes are uneven, she ultimately describes the series, aided by its musical soundtrack, as “splendid viewing.”

Boston’s WBUR-FM reinstates Fresh Air today after airing it sporadically since the war in Iraq, reports the Boston Globe.

A House subcommittee is proposing that CPB take $100 million from its fiscal year 2004 appropriation of $380 million to pay for digital conversion and public TV’s new interconnection system. CPB says that would result in a possible 26 percent cut in operating grants to public TV and radio stations.

Tavis Smiley’s NPR show has taken off, but some listeners who aren’t black feel excluded. Network ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin considers their complaints.

The Onion reports that a college-radio DJ in Illinois believes he has a huge fan base. “Though ‘Rock Blossom’ is heard mainly by his girlfriend and a handful of friends who request songs while they get stoned, Haley said his show is distinctive because of his personality,” the paper says.

NPR and WOI Radio in Iowa will co-sponsor a radio-only debate with the Democratic presidential candidates Jan. 6, 2004.