• Detroit’s WDET-FM staged the New York premiere Friday of The Pleasure of Sound, a documentary featuring Radiolab‘s Jad Abumrad. In the short film, shot in Detroit in 2013, Abumrad and musician Matthew Dear discuss music and creativity. WDET will launch a crowdfunding campaign to cover distribution costs for the film in May and plans to distribute the documentary free to interested community organizations and pubmedia stations for screenings. The Pleasure of Sound previously screened in Detroit as part of a fall 2013 installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art. • NPR appointed Mark Memmott as its new standards and practices editor Thursday.

A collaborative news hub in New Mexico, sea level monitoring project in south Florida and music visualization project in Texas are among the 12 winners of this year’s Online News Association Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education.

Though its chances of advancing in Congress are considered slim, the proposed budget put forth this week by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan would zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Ryan said in the budget document released Tuesday that federal subsidies for CPB and the National Endowment for the Humanities could “no longer be justified.” “The activities and content funded by these agencies go beyond the core mission of the federal government,” the document reads. “These agencies can raise funds from private-sector patrons, which will also free them from any risk of political interference.” The proposed budget does not stipulate whether the zeroed-out funding would apply to the already appropriated two-year funding cycle, or whether it would be implemented after the forward-funded cycle.

Kansas City pubcasters KCUR-FM and KCPT-TV announced Thursday that they will embark on a plan for their journalists to collaborate, starting with a focus on covering health and agriculture. The pubcasters described the agreement as a collaboration rather than a merger. It will pool resources to deliver stronger reporting. “Both organizations have similar missions focused on public service and both have similar audiences of people who are active and engaged in the community,” KCPT CEO Kliff Kuehl said in a statement. “KCPT and KCUR have unique assets that are additive, rather than competitive, and therefore work together exceedingly well.” The collaboration is expected to start this spring.

Public Radio International is adding the Portland, Ore.–based variety show Live Wire to its programming lineup, the distributor announced Monday. Live Wire, which bills itself as “radio variety for the ADD generation,” is independently produced and currently airs on 48 stations nationwide. PRI will take over distribution of the weekly show beginning July 1, the same day it ends distribution of its widest carried program, This American Life. “Since we started the show we were hoping to gain the attention of a national distributor,” said Robyn Tenenbaum, Live Wire co-creator and e.p. The program launched in 2004 and shops itself to stations with the help of digital distribution tools from Public Radio Exchange.

• The Women’s Media Center, an advocacy group for women in media, has released a report about gender inequality in media. It found that on TV news, men still report the majority of news — even on PBS’s NewsHour, which features two women as co-anchors. WMC found that 57 percent of news on the NewsHour is still reported by men, despite the show’s appointment of Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff as co-anchors in August 2013. The study reviewed reports made between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013. Read the full report here. • The nonprofit newsrooms ProPublica and the Texas Tribune picked up journalism awards from Investigative Reporters & Editors for work produced in 2013.

Vermont Public Television and its president, John King, “parted ways” Wednesday, according to a statement from the VPT Board. King’s departure follows months of tumult at the Colchester-based community licensee over his relationship with the board. “VPT is very grateful for John King’s many years of service to VPT and the public television industry,” said Pam Mackenzie, VPT board chair, in the statement.  “We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.” King declined comment to Current. He joined VPT in 1987 as chief financial officer and rose to president in 1998. Charlie Smith, a Vermont business consultant and former state executive, took over Wednesday as interim president and c.e.o.

• The Pacifica Foundation announced the appointment of a new interim executive director, even as the one the foundation attempted to fire, Summer Reese, reportedly continues to camp out at the foundation’s headquarters. Bernard Duncan, previously station manager at Pacifica’s Los Angeles outlet KPFK, is the new interim head of the network, according to a statement on Pacifica’s website. “What Pacifica needs right now is a skilled manager who can hit the ground running, and I’m very pleased Bernard’s taken us on,” board chair Margy Wilkinson said in the release. Duncan resigned from KPFK in January. • PBS’s POV will host a Twitter chat with veteran documentary filmmakers April 8 from 1-2 p.m.

• NPR introduced voice recognition–enabled ads this week on its smartphone app in an attempt to connect its nearly one million mobile listeners with sponsors, Adweek reports. The 15-second audio spots ask listeners to say “Download now” or “Hear more” after hearing an ad that sparks their interest. • The Knight Foundation has awarded a joint grant to the nonprofit newsrooms Voice of San Diego and MinnPost to help them develop plans to grow membership. The two-year, $1.2 million grant will be divided evenly between the news operations, who will collaborate on using membership data more effectively. Nieman runs down how the sites will use the grant.

Starting Tuesday, Detroit Public Television is outsourcing programming functions to the Tampa, Fla.–based Public Television Programming Service as part of a corporate restructuring announced last week. Detroit Public Television CEO Rich Homberg announced the changes in a memo to employees March 28. The decision to outsource programming brought with it elimination of the positions of Dan Gaitens, longtime director of programming, and Joann Havel, assistant director of programming, effective Friday. In addition to the programming change, Homberg announced the creation of a new communications department. The department will be headed by a newly hired manager scheduled to start April 21. The station also hired digital, print and broadcast specialists for the department.

Chicago Public Media announced Tuesday that Goli Sheikholeslami will become the organization’s CEO May 5, ending an eight-month national search to replace Torey Malatia. Sheikholeslami is the former vice president and g.m. of the Washington Post, where she worked from 2002 to 2010, overseeing the paper’s digital strategy. She has also worked at Condé Nast and Time Warner and most recently was chief product officer at online health-resource network Everyday Health Inc. She is new to public media. “Goli brings the perfect blend of experience to this role,” said Steve Baird, CPM board chair, in a release announcing her hiring.