Juan Sepúlveda, former senior adviser for Hispanic affairs for the Democratic National Committee, joins PBS Jan. 6 as senior vice president of station services, PBS President Paula Kerger told station managers in an email Tuesday. Sepúlveda replaces Joyce Herring, who exited PBS in October. “The national search for this position included a wide range of highly talented candidates — both from within and outside of our system,” Kerger said in the email. Kerger said she first met Sepúlveda several years ago when he was the host of Conversations on KLRNin San Antonio. He also designed and led the station’s community advisory board, she said.

A sheriff’s deputy has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a PBS NewsHour shuttle driver last May, reports the Washington Post. After two days of deliberations, the jury recommended a six-year sentence Dec. 13 for Craig Patterson, an Arlington (Va.) County deputy. Dawkins was shot in the early morning hours of May 22. He had worked for the NewsHour for nearly three years.  Patterson was arrested eight days later. Though he was charged with first-degree murder, the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said the men had a verbal altercation.

In 2014, smart radio organizations will consider a “mobile-first audio strategy,” predicts Jim Schachter, news v.p. at WNYC in New York, in a piece for Nieman Journalism Lab. What that means, he writes, “is that our news reports and stories increasingly will be produced and packaged in forms divorced from the formats dictated by a radio clock,” as consumers increasingly filter their news through apps or playlists. “I guess I’m predicting more work for me and my colleagues,” he notes. “But I’m also predicting bigger audiences than ever for high-quality audio journalism.” His piece is part of Nieman Lab’s interesting “Predictions for Journalism 2014” series, running through Friday.

Latino Public Broadcasting announced today that it is backing nine programs through its Public Media Content Fund, which supports Latino-themed content for public TV and the Web. Independent filmmakers submitted 83 proposals this year, according to LPB. “Our selection process was highly competitive with many outstanding projects making it to the final round,” said Sandie Viquez Pedlow, LPB executive director, in the announcement. “We look forward to working with these talented filmmakers in bringing these compelling stories to the American public on PBS, and extending the reach of this content into classrooms across the country.” Submissions were judged by a panel of public media professionals, station programmers, academics, executives from funding organizations and other filmmakers.

CPB will award $1.4 million to seven public radio and TV stations for the creation of a new Local Journalism Center covering energy policy, production, use and innovation. The grant is for two years, and the LJC will hire seven new positions along with freelance multimedia reporters to cover the beat, according to CPB spokesperson Kelly Broadway. Rocky Mountain PBS and KUVO-FM in Colorado are the lead stations on the initiative, which will focus on the West and Great Plains. The other participating stations, together covering six states and parts of Canada, are northern Colorado’s KUNC-FM, Colorado Public Television, Wyoming Public Media, Wyoming PBS and Prairie Public.

StoryCorps has hired its first chief executive in its decade-long history, reports the New York Times. Robin Sparkman, currently editor in chief of The American Lawyer magazine, joins the Brooklyn-based oral history project next month. Founder David Isay “will continue to be the public face of the organization,” the report said, as creative director and chief fundraiser. Sparkman will focus on management and strategic planning. StoryCorps content is a longtime favorite of NPR audiences. The organization, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary in October, now has 100 staff members and a yearly budget of $9.2 million.

PBS has named Mario Vecchi chief technology officer, calling the former AOL executive “a world-class technologist.” Starting Jan. 27, Vecchi will oversee distribution operations and engineering, media management, interconnection engineering, information technology, web and new media applications/systems and technology strategy and planning. In the Dec. 13 announcement, PBS President Paula Kerger praised Vecchi’s “wealth of skill and experience.” He holds three engineering degrees, including a doctorate, from MIT. He is currently president of P&A Development Inc., a broadband network consulting firm for new businesses. Previously he was president of Apex Technologies, a business-systems company he founded within the Grupo Ferre Rangel consortium, the largest communications and media group in Puerto Rico.

A new feature added to Facebook on Monday allows donors to give directly to charities by clicking on a “donate now” button. “The Donate feature will appear beside Posts in News Feed shared by participating nonprofits and at the top of their Facebook Pages,” Facebook said in a statement on the new feature. “When people click ‘Donate Now’ they can choose the amount, enter their payment information, and immediately donate to that cause.” Facebook said it will store the donor’s credit card on file, but that information will not be shared with the nonprofit. Launch partners include the Nature Conservancy, Oxfam America, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Malaria No More and the World Wildlife Fund.

Ad man and podcaster Mike O’Toole has teamed up with veteran pubradio producer Jim Russell to adapt a narrative-focused business podcast into a public radio series. The show, The Unconventionals, features long-form interviews with executives who run startup companies or established businesses that have adopted game-changing tactics for marketing to younger consumers. O’Toole, host and president of PJA Marketing + Advertising, seeks guests who fit a certain profile — entrepreneurs whose innovative business models disrupt those of their competitors. He aims to highlight undertold stories in business and marketing, looking beyond companies such as Apple, whose narratives have been “told to death.”

Virginia public broadcasters WCVE and WVPT are the latest stations to come together to form a joint master control. Starting as early as February, programming for WVPT-TV in Harrisonburg, Va., will be transmitted from a joint control at WCVE, a dual licensee about 120 miles to the southeast in Richmond. The arrangement is a win-win: the service provides WCVE with a new source of revenue, and WVPT rings up savings by avoiding an expensive refresh of its outdated equipment. Execs at both stations said they’ll use the extra cash to produce more content. “We are at end of life for most if not all of the equipment in our current master-control facility,” said David Mullins, WVPT president.

According to pubradio consultant John Sutton, several sources close to the NPR Board say that “current and past CEO search committees have taken the position that no one in public radio is qualified to manage the external relationships NPR must forge to succeed in the digital age.” “I hope that’s not that case,” he notes in a blog post on Radio Sutton. This creates “an interesting dichotomy,” he writes. “NPR’s Board searches for leaders who want to build on public radio’s great success, but does not think the leaders who are very much responsible for creating that success are good enough for the job.”