Middle Ground, the forthcoming radio show centered on Middle America, has taken to Kickstarter.com to raise $92,500 to cover operating costs for its first six months. The show is the brainchild of Celeste Headlee, former co-host of The Takeaway from PRI. Headlee has enlisted other pubradio veterans including Jacob Conrad, who worked with her on Day to Day, and Sue Goodwin and Ken Rudin, her colleagues on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, which went off the air in June. The show’s Kickstarter premiums range from $5 to $10,000 and offer everything from thank-you notes and computer mouse pads to executive producer credits and dinner with Headlee and Rudin.

Boston’s WBUR has joined Slate in producing a six-episode personal-health podcast, The Checkup.

Kenn Couch, interim g.m. of KVCR-TV in San Bernardino, Calif., has been placed on leave, according to the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. Officials with licensee San Bernardino Community College District said Couch is on paid administrative leave as of Sept. 30. Couch has been serving as interim g.m. since the departure of Larry Ciecalone in May 2012, two months after Ciecalone was placed on leave. Officials gave no reason in either case. The newspaper reported that KVCR has been under pressure to become financially self-sustaining. Under Couch, KVCR launched FNX: First Nations Experience, the country’s first 24/7 television channel for indigenous peoples, in August.

Pacifica is replacing its recently canceled half-hour news program Free Speech Radio News with a news show produced by Feature Story News, an independent broadcast news service that operates nine bureaus in the U.S. and abroad. Free Speech Radio News was carried by more than 100 public radio stations before delivering its last program Sept. 27. The grassroots-oriented news operation behind the progressive news show was forced to shut down as it ran out of cash. The Pacifica Foundation, which is struggling to keep two of its own stations afloat, was unable to meet its financial obligations to the program, accumulating nearly $200,000 in unpaid bills.

PBS LearningMedia, a digital classroom resource for K–12 educators, topped more than 1 million registered users this month. Operated through a partnership of PBS and the WGBH Educational Foundation, the website offers more than 30,000 pieces of content to its users. The site is also rolling out a new premium tier with enhanced features; that service is now distributed statewide in Kentucky, New York and South Carolina. As part of its ongoing effort to promote classroom use of digital technology and build its user base, PBS LearningMedia launched “Get Your Tech On,” offering free access to its webinars and how-to guides through Nov.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Sept. 27 threw out a lawsuit filed following the 2012 dismissal of two top executives from Alabama Public Television, reports the Birmingham News, ruling that the pair did not have standing to sue under the state’s Open Meetings Act. Former APT Executive Director Allan Pizzato and Pauline Howland, former deputy director, claimed the Alabama Educational Television Commission violated the open meetings law when they were dismissed. Pizzato and Howland were fired at the commission’s June 12, 2012, meeting after commissioners went into executive session to discuss Pizzato’s “general reputation, character, and job performance.” This lawsuit was filed the next month.

ATLANTA — Representatives of classical radio stations resolved last week to work toward creating a new organization to represent their format within public radio, a tactic to fight shrinking audiences and build a stronger case for classical radio. During sessions held Sept. 18 and 19 at the Public Radio Program Directors Association conference in Atlanta, station representatives examined research demonstrating that, while more public licensees are broadcasting classical music, listeners are also turning to digital platforms for classical. Arbitron’s most recent Public Radio Today study identified 188 noncommercial FM, AM, HD and streaming stations devoted to classical music, an increase from 178 in 2011.

Public Radio International has revamped its website to absorb the web presence of PRI’s The World, reflecting the network’s aim to develop a higher profile in international news. The new site gives greater prominence to international news from The World and other PRI programs. The World “is increasingly, for us, a journalism brand,” said Michael Skoler, PRI’s v.p. of interactive media. Previously, The World had its own website at TheWorld.org. It now redirects to PRI.org. PRI has combined the previously separate staff and resources for the two sites. Nine web staffers, with a tenth to join soon, are divided between PRI’s Minneapolis offices and the headquarters of Boston’s WGBH, which owns the network.

Select musical performances from KCRW-FM’s signature show Morning Becomes Eclectic are now streaming live on YouTube. The Los Angeles station kicked off the new feature Sept. 17 with a six-minute song from the U.K. buzz band King Krule; until this month, KCRW posted only prerecorded performances on its channel. Created in September 2006, KCRW’s YouTube page has 44,000 subscribers and has received more than 35 million views worldwide — including four from within Vatican City. The most popular single video, Gotye’s live version of “Somebody That I Used to Know,” has about 16 million views. All the videos are HD multi-camera presentations.

Acorn TV, the subscription-based British TV streaming service for U.S. viewers, begins offering new episodes of Doc Martin exclusively on Oct. 7 — months before their February 2014 premiere on public TV stations. Episodes from the sixth season of the quirky ITV series starring Martin Clunes will be added each Monday through the season finale on Nov. 25. For those fans of British TV who just can’t get enough of Doc Martin, all episodes of previous seasons will also be available for streaming. “There are millions of British drama, comedy and mystery fans in the U.S.,” said Miguel Penella, c.e.o.

John McCoskey, PBS’s head of technology for six years, has accepted a position as executive vice president and chief technology officer at the Motion Picture Association of America. He will develop and oversee the MPAA’s global technology policy as well as handle advocacy, legal, communications and content protection initiatives, reporting to COO Diane Strahan. At PBS, McCoskey was responsible for all technology strategy, development, operations and infrastructure for PBS member stations. Prior to his public broadcasting tenure, he was v.p. of product development at Comcast; co-founder and c.t.o. of Brief Original Broadcasts, a digital TV network for short-form content; and s.v.p.

Radio Ambulante, the Spanish-language storytelling podcast and radio program, is the first show to be backed by Public Radio International’s New Voices Fund.