All five radio broadcasters in the nationwide Pacifica network will suspend their regular programming on Nov. 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST to hold a day-long fundraiser for New York City’s WBAI-FM, which sustained massive damage to its studio and operations during Superstorm Sandy.

Pittsburgh Public Media is looking to buy WVBC’s 1,100-watt signal from licensee Bethany College in West Virginia to broadcast jazz “just like WDUQ used to,” the group’s c.e.o., Chuck Leavens, told the local Tribune-Review. Back in January 2011, the group had attempted to purchase WDUQ, which ultimately went to a partnership of another Pittsburgh pubradio station, WYEP, and a nonprofit established by Public Radio Capital Leavens said the group hopes to raise $150,000 to pay for the station outright, and already has $15,000 from donors. He is former chief engineer at WDUQ and the technical designer of the station’s JazzWorks service.

Puppeteer Kevin Clash, the performer behind Elmo, one of Sesame Street‘s most beloved characters,  has taken a leave of absence following news reports of an allegation that he had an inappropriate relationship with an underage boy, according to a statement released today by Sesame Workshop. The accuser recanted Tuesday afternoon (see update, below). The Workshop heard of the allegation in June, when a 23-year-old who claimed to have had a relationship with Clash at the age of 16 first communicated with the company. “We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action,” the Workshop said in its statement.

In a pluralistic America, public media is a central resource for promoting inclusiveness in civic engagement. This misson-based role has become even more important in today’s broadcast and digital media environment, in which content is tailored exclusively to audiences based on their ideology and beliefs.

Sesame Street will broadcast an edited version of its five-part special on hurricanes on Friday, Nov. 9.  Editors cut the original to eliminate segments on storm preparation, focusing the new version on dealing with the aftermath of a storm, according to Entertainment Weekly. In the original program, first broadcast in 2001, a storm ravaged the iconic neighborhood of Sesame Street, leaving Big Bird’s nest in ruins. This is the third airing for the hurricane special. Sesame Street re-ran the entire series in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast.  Last week, during an Oct. 30 post-Sandy appearance on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, Elmo recalled how scared he had been during the storm depicted in the series. 

Two commercial radio stations in Chicago have picked up the weekly Smiley & West show after it was dropped from WBEZ, the city’s public radio news outlet. WCPT, a progressive talk station, began airing the show Sunday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. and will add it to its three FM stations starting in January. It also picked up The Tavis Smiley Show for its weekend lineup. WVON-AM, which targets an African-American audience, will debut Smiley & West Saturday at 11 a.m. WBEZ canceled the show hosted by author and broadcast host Tavis Smiley and activist and critic Cornel West last month, citing a drop in audience.

This American Life host and public radio superstar Ira Glass continues his foray into scripted entertainment, as a producer of a new television series in development at the Sundance Channel. The project, billed as T, will follow Terrence, a transgender man who has recently undergone sex reassignment surgery, and the story will be split between his present life as a male and former life as a female college student named Thora. Fellow TAL producer Alissa Shipp will also produce T. Glass ventured into the world of independent film this summer with Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me, which he co-wrote and produced.

After sustaining damage to its studio and transmitters from Superstorm Sandy, independent freeform music station WFMU has resumed broadcasts on 91.1 FM in Jersey City, NJ. The station announced Nov. 5 via its website and Facebook page that its 91.1 FM transmitter is back on the air; it had resumed webcasts on wfmu.org shortly after the storm. A transmitter licensed to 90.1 FM in Mt. Hope, N.Y., which also went dark during the storm, is still silent. WFMU launched “Hell and High Water,” an online campaign to raise funds for repairs to its electrical systems and equipment. The annual WFMU Record Fair, one of its biggest money-making events of the year, was cancelled because of the storm.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced today it will immediately give $250,000 each to New York City's most prominent public media stations.

Madeleine Brand, the longtime radio pubcaster who recently departed KPCC after the station revamped her show, is very busy these days. “There’s a lot is going on; I can’t say everything yet, but a lot going on,” she tells the Los Angeles Times. Beyond landing her first TV gig on KCET’s SoCal Connected, she’s had talks with the Oprah Winfrey Network and Disney Junior channel. Also, KCRW General Manager Jennifer Ferro has expressed interest. “When she became available, it was the clear and obvious conversation to have,” Ferro tells the newspaper. “Madeleine’s really talented and definitely belongs on the radio in Los Angeles — we’re gonna try to make that happen.”

The looming political battle over federal spending — and the possibility of across-the-board budget cuts imposed through sequestration — has prompted CPB to alter distribution of Community Service Grants to stations. The change, implemented after CPB execs negotiated an agreement with the White House Office of Management and Budget over possible sequestration of its $445 million appropriation, boosts the amount of money stations will receive in the first of two CSG checks to be issued by CPB for fiscal 2013. But the second batch of checks, to be issued in March, will be much smaller. How much smaller depends on the outcome of the Nov.

Trustees of the San Mateo County Community College District in California have rejected offers from two finalists vying to acquire KCSM-TV, a pubcasting station that was put up for sale in December 2011 after accruing an $800,000 deficit. The two bidders were San Mateo Community TV Corp., aligned with Independent Public Media and headed by former pubcasters John Schwartz and Ken Devine; and FM Media TV Inc., affiliated with Public Media Co., an independent arm of Public Radio Capital. Six entities initially bid for the station. San Mateo Community TV Corp. offered $5.8 million, and FM Media TV Inc. bid $7 million, according to public records that the Bay Area advocacy group Media Alliance posted on its website.