KUT in Austin, Texas, will launch its all-music station, KUTX 98.9 FM, Jan. 2 and adopt an all-news format on 90.7 FM, its flagship signal. The broadcaster’s purchase of the second frequency was approved in August by the University of Texas System Board of Regents. The new station will pick up music programming now airing on KUT and add new shows, including Jazz with Jay Trachtenberg, featuring jazz classics and new releases; What’s Next with Jeff McCord spinning mixes of new music from both emerging and established artists; and a three-hour freeform music mix on Sunday mornings hosted by Jody Denberg.

Sarah Gilbert is leaving her post as senior editor of NPR’s Weekend Edition to become managing editor of Marketplace, American Public Media announced today. She will oversee coverage across the business and economic news show’s radio and web platforms, its newsroom in Los Angeles and its bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., London and Shanghai. “As soon as I met Sarah, I knew she had the sensibility and journalism chops to be a great partner for me at Marketplace,” said Deborah Clark, Marketplace executive producer, to whom Gilbert will report. “She’s quick, decisive and won’t be afraid to challenge all of us in our approach to news.”

Thomas Carroll, president of Lakeshore Public Television in Merrillville, Ind., since 2002, resigned on Wednesday, according to The Times in Muncie, Ind. Board Chair Bonita Neff said the resignation came at the request of the board. The Chicagoland Radio and Media news site said Carroll had spent nearly two decades WPBS in Watertown, N.Y., as a news anchor and public affairs producer, production manager and director of sales and production. Carroll is also treasurer of the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations association. Neff and board member Cal Bellamy will oversee the station until a search for Carroll’s successor is complete.

Wick Rowland, president of Colorado Public Television for more than a decade, announced today that he will retire at the end of March 2013. He’ll continue as president and c.e.o. emeritus through September, during the leadership transition. “I have deep passion for public media,” he said in a statement, “and it’s been a pleasure to be able to work with this talented staff and dedicated board to foster and build the special CPT12 brand of independent public service television.” Rowland has been president and c.e.o. of KBDI since 1999. He previously served on the KBDI Board of Directors and was its chair from 1992-98.

A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor mentioned the “R” word — retirement — this week on Charlie Rose. “I think retirement is a beautiful thing and I think about it a lot,” Keillor said. “But then I think how lucky I am to have this show and it’s two hours every Saturday. Nobody tells me what I have to do and I work with these wonderful people. and I have all of these listeners and when I walk down the street and people recognize me, they smile, and that’s really all you need in a world.” It’s a topic Keillor has discussed in the past.

KQED in San Francisco has received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a two-year collaborative national multimedia science reporting initiative, Quest Beyond Local, with five public broadcasting partners, building on the popularity of Quest, its Emmy award-winning science and environment series that grew into science-reporting hub for several stations last year. Quest Beyond Local partners will create content on the theme of “Science of Sustainability” on television, radio and online, with educational assets and community outreach. Work will commence in January, with new content ready for broadcast in fall 2013. Participating are NET, Lincoln, Neb.;

NPR has added two journalists to its six-person race, ethnicity and culture unit backed by CPB and preparing for launch in the spring. The network hired Gene Demby, a Huffington Post editor and founder of the blog PostBourgie, as blogger and correspondent; and Shereen Marisol Meraji, a Marketplace reporter and former NPR producer, as a reporter. Demby started PostBourgie in 2007 and continues to contribute to the group blog, which covers race, class, gender, politics and other subjects. In 2009 the blog won a Black Weblog Award for best news/politics website. Demby also worked for the New York Times for six years as a writer and news assistant.

The Lens, a Murrow Award-winning nonprofit news organization in New Orleans, has finally received its 501(c)3 designation from the Internal Revenue Service. Its official nonprofit status now opens more funding opportunities and streamlines individual donations, it said in an announcement. As many as a dozen journalism startups, most of them run largely by volunteers and accepting no advertising, have had their requests to be recognized as tax-exempt organizations delayed for many months and, in some cases, years (Current, May 14).

In a new video, hosts at New York’s WNYC and others bring to life “Saint Dude.” The song is one of the compositions from Song Reader, a new collection of sheet music released by the musician Beck. Rather than release his own recording of the tunes, Beck suggests that you play the songs on your own. WNYC’s band includes On the Media host Brooke Gladstone on vocals, Soundcheck host John Schaefer on guitar, and Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen playing a glockenspiel with a Sharpie.

Frontline, the PBS investigative news program, and ESPN’s Outside the Lines today launched the Concussion Watch website, a public database of the confirmed head injuries reported by the NFL this season. Through the site, users may track the injuries by week, team, opponent and position. Football fans may report hits they feel could cause concussions on an online tip form, or submit via Twitter using the hashtag #ConcussionWatch. The site was originally developed as a database tool for the yearlong reporting project by the joint Frontline and ESPN news team. “We realized there was a lack of information publicly available about player head injuries in the NFL,” said Frontline producer Tom Jennings in the announcement.

Basic memberships offered during pledge drives and in direct-mail appeals are a time-tested enticement for converting pubcasting viewers and listeners into contributors, but station-based development staff are perplexed about how to set the rate for this donation level. Some pubcasters are weighing whether to stop offering basic memberships altogether. A survey conducted this fall by Plymouth, Mass.–based direct-marketing consultant DMW Direct found that most stations charge below $50 for a basic membership, and few have adjusted the rate within the last five years. The basic median rate among the 41 public TV and radio stations that participated in the survey is $40, but 16 stations reported to DMW that they charge less.

Nightly Business Report has laid off at least seven staffers and closed its Chicago bureau, Chicago media critic Robert Feder is reporting. “These are all broadcast professionals,” Tom Hudson, the show’s managing editor and co-anchor, told Feder. “They possess the unique ability to cut through economic jargon and dense statistics to uncover stories with meaning and impact. I consider it an honor to call them colleagues.” The past several years have been tumultuous for NBR. Longtime owner WBPT-TV in Miami sold the program to a controversial educational video salesman, Mykalai Kontilai, in 2010. His firm, NBR Worldwide, cut eight positions, including two top newsroom managers.