Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), an outspoken opponent of federal funding for public broadcasting, appears in a new fundraising video for Rocky Mountain PBS, alongside the station’s president, Doug Price. “We don’t see eye to eye on everything about public broadcasting,” Price says to Lamborn, “but I know you and your family have supported Rocky Mountain PBS with an individual gift.” “Yes, that may surprise some people,” Lamborn replies, “because as you know I don’t support federal funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But I do know that Rocky Mountain PBS has a vital role in the marketplace of Colorado media.

Fresh off of public radio pledge-drive season, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines compensation packages of top execs of Georgia’s largest pubcasting stations, Public Broadcasting Atlanta and Georgia Public Broadcasting, the statewide public TV and radio network. With a raise that recently boosted his compensation to $280,000, WPBA chief Milton Clipper is the highest paid among them, and four members of his executive team made more than $180,000 in fiscal 2009, according to AJC. GPB’s Teya Ryan receives a base pay of $180,000, but with bonus incentives could earn much as $210,000. Three additional GPB execs earn six-figure salaries. “In its review, the AJC found that Public Broadcasting Atlanta pays its top executives more than GPB does, although GPB is a statewide system with twice the budget,” writes reporter Richard Halicks.

In a reorganization of the University of Houston’s pubcasting stations, top managers John Proffitt of KUHF-FM and John Hesse of KUHT-TV will depart on Dec. 31, according to the Houston Chronicle. The shake-up, announced as commercial broadcasting exec Lisa Trapani Shumate prepares to sign on as c.e.o. of the recast Houston Public Media, was announced yesterday. Proffitt and Hesse, both veteran pubcasters, have been reassigned to special projects until their departure at year’s end. Shumate is a former TV news reporter who most recently directed programming for Houston’s CBS affiliate KHOU. She was appointed last month to lead the pubcasting stations through the merger.

Tom Keith, who created the sound effects for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show for decades, died Sunday (Oct. 30) after collapsing at his Woodbury, Minn., home. He was 64. The cause of death has not been determined, a spokesperson for the show told Minnesota Public Radio. “The Minnesota Public Radio family is shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of our friend and colleague, Tom Keith,” APHC producer MPR said in a statement. “Tom was beloved by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing and working with him. We will sorely miss his humor, his amazing talents and his friendship.”

America in Primetime, which premiered on PBS Sunday night (Oct. 30) carries underwriting spots for Unilever’s Dove brand produced by the Documentary Group, the team that created the program, and are shot in a style similar to the content, reports the New York Times. “Such crossover producing is increasingly common in commercial television,” the newspaper noted. Creators, writers and actors behind primetime television shows are interviewed in the series, which examines how character archetypes have evolved through the years. Unnamed Dove marketing and public relations executives are interviewed in the 30-second underwriting spots, discussing how the brand strives to relate to changing consumers.

KIXE-TV in Redding, Calif., is launching a television version of the On The House home-improvement AM radio call-in show. KIXE General Manager Mike Quinn tells the local Record Searchlight that the new show, set to debut in January, likened the project to a West Coast version of This Old House, originally produced by WGBH in Boston. Heard on around 200 stations, On The House offers advice from the Carey Brothers, James and Morris, experts in home building and renovation. Their first projects for the KIXE television version will be a remodel of the station’s Redding studio and construction of its new satellite studio in Oroville, Calif.

The free downloads of World Cafe artists and newcomers celebrating the WXPN production’s 20th anniversary may be welcome in some quarters, but in terms of lasting impact on our little planet, you’d have to give props to the return of program host David Dye to craft brewing, which he virtually invented. As recalled in this parody video, Dye was back with his old beer magic this weekend, cooking up a few vats of Broadcaster Brown Ale for the program’s anniversary at Philadelphia Brewing Co. Another gift to fans — a live two-hour anniversary concert today, (Oct. 30) 2 to 4 p.m.,

A freelance web producer for The Takeaway, a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, has been fired for her reported participation in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Caitlin E. Curran wrote a first-person piece Friday (Oct. 28) on the Gawker website detailing what happened during an Oct. 15 protest in Times Square, and her subsequent termination. Curran’s plan was to have her boyfriend hold a sign, and she would observe reactions to its message and post reports on her personal Twitter account. When her boyfriend “developed sign-holding fatigue” Curran wrote on Gawker, she “took over momentarily.”

Here’s a probable first for the pubcasting system: Live roller derby! KXLL-FM/Excellent Radio in Juneau, Alaska (“Public Radio That Will Melt Your Face Off”), will stream the matchup between two local teams, the Kilkats and the Raven Lunatics, on its website, for later broadcast on the statewide 360 North channel. Tonight’s (Oct. 29) bout, “Night of the Living Derby,” will be hosted by In DeKline of KXLL and Money Honey of the Juneau Roller Girls. Check out all the excitement online at midnight Eastern, 8 p.m. Juneau time.

Two public broadcasters are collaborating with an Ohio observatory and Nevada planetarium in a unique partnership to bring a December lunar eclipse live to web viewers worldwide. KNPB in Reno, Nev., and Star Gazers, a production of WPBT2 in Miami, are producing the streaming event, which “offers the opportunity for everyone to enjoy and discuss the entire lunar eclipse regardless of their location,” said co-host Marlene Hildago, a science educator with the Miami Science Museum. She’ll host with Dean Regas, outreach astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory; Bill Dishong, series producer of the new Star Gazers as well as the original Star Gazer with Jack Horkheimer; and Dan Ruby, associate director of the Fleischmann Planetarium in Reno.

PBS UK, the Public Broadcasting Service’s first international commercial channel, has finalized a carriage deal with Virgin Media. The agreement includes rights to offer PBS content across its TV On Demand services, including the Virgin Media online and its mobile player. The deal “gives PBS the best chance of reaching the widest audience,” said Richard Kingsbury, PBS UK general manager. PBS UK content also will run on Sky Digital.

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions has hired a new president and c.e.o., Boisfeuillet “Bo” Jones Jr., who has spent the last 32 years in executive positions at the Washington Post Co. “It is a happy day for us in public broadcasting,” said Robert MacNeil in a statement. “We welcome a man of such rich experience in journalism management to help us keep MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and PBS NewsHour vital into the future.” “Bo Jones is the ideal person to take us where we must go,” said Jim Lehrer, who stepped down from the anchor chair in June. “He has a unique combination of journalistic integrity and business acumen, plus he understands Americans’ increasing demand for serious journalism about the issues and events that matter.” 

Public, educational and government (PEG) channels are facing numerous financial, policy and technological obstacles, according to a new Congressional Research Service report. “The study lays out what we have been saying all along,” said John Rocco, president of American Community Television (ACT), tells Broadcasting & Cable. “PEG access television has been under attack and is in desperate need of a Congressional fix.” The report also references the Community Access Preservation Act (CAP Act, HR 1746), backed by ACT and introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). The bill, opposed by cable operators, would allow jurisdictions to require cable companies to provide at least 2 percent of gross cable revenues in PEG support and would prevent charging subscribers for digital to receive PEG channels migrated from analog tiers.

PBS President Paula Kerger gave the keynote address Thursday (Oct. 27) at the Public Broadcasting International meeting, going on this week in Singapore. Kerger told the audience that she recently read the book Great by Choice, by Jim Collins, which examines why some companies thrive in uncertain times and others simply get by. “His findings were surprising, but absolutely relevant to all of us in this room,” she told the representatives from 20 noncommercial broadcast entities. Collins found “that the best leaders did not take more risks or have grander ambitions,” Kerger said. “Instead, the companies that succeeded were led by people who were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.

Two pubcasting deaths of note: — Art Langlas, “Mr. Auction” both behind and in front of the camera for Milwaukee Public Television Friends, died Wednesday (Oct. 26) of complications after surgery. He was 65. As auction director, Langlas raised $1 million a year over the past decade for the Wisconsin station. “He was the face of the auction,” said Mike McKenzie, who now oversees the annual weeklong fundraiser. “When he was out in public and someone recognized him, he really got a kick out of that.” Ellis Bromberg, MPTV general manager, noted that the Great Channel 10 Auction “is still an event in southeastern Wisconsin, and it is an event because of him.”