Nice Above Fold - Page 522
Partner up, get local for best shot at funding, execs advise
Grantmakers at foundations increasingly look for public radio and television stations to move beyond traditional broadcasting and serve their communities in new ways — as conveners of public dialogue, as innovators testing new approaches for producing and funding digital journalism, and as partners in helping their communities tackle social problems. Station execs who are veterans at foundation fundraising say pubcasting projects that touch on these key themes have a good shot at capturing the attention of grantmakers: Emphasis on community engagement Nine Network/KETC in St. Louis received a three-year $450,000 foundation grant backing its participation in CPB’s American Graduate initiative. The JSM Charitable Trust, a private foundation in St.Foundations favor grantees with digital, local news chops
By giving two seminal news-related grants last year, the Pittsburgh Foundation broke from what chief executive Grant Oliphant described as the foundation’s history of “generic support” for public media. Answering the call from the Knight Foundation for matching grants to address gaps in local news coverage ...If it's spring, it's Great TV Auction time in Milwaukee
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Channel 10 Great TV Auction, now in its 44th year of raising funds for Milwaukee Public Television. Local news site OnMilwaukee.com reports that the auction began in 1969 with a goal of $50,000; now, it raises more than $1 million annually, handling more than 20,000 items throughout its weeklong run. “During the auction, between the phone banks and everything, we have over 3,000 volunteers,” said Auction Director Sharon Fischer-Toerpe. “It takes a lot of volunteers. There are volunteers who plan their vacation around the auction just so they can be here.” This year’s auction runs April 27 through May 5.
Delaware news startup adds public radio service
A nonprofit that operates a news site for the state of Delaware has acquired an FM broadcast license and plans to launch a new station by early summer. Delaware First Media’s purchase of WDDE, a 2,500-watt signal on 91.1 FM, lays the groundwork for the first-ever public radio station to be based in and serve the state of Delaware.Pubradio, artists pair up to promote music radio
Public radio stations and NPR are promoting April as Public Radio Music Month, a campaign designed to raise awareness of the cultural contributions of pubradio’s music stations and the role federal funding plays in keeping those outlets on the air. Stations that broadcast classical, jazz and contemporary music formats have scheduled special concerts throughout the month to highlight the diversity of programming and the field’s commitment to presenting new artists. Musicians themselves are participating — and not just by performing at station events. Nearly 130 artists — including the Black Keys, the Decemberists, My Morning Jacket and the Roots — signed a “love note” to public radio, expressing thanks to local stations that play their music.Knight seeds investigative news channel on YouTube
The nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting is launching an investigative news channel on YouTube to serve as a hub for investigative journalism. The Knight Foundation provided an $800,000 grant to start the channel. The center, based in Berkeley, Calif., announced on April 11 [2012] that the channel will feature videos from commercial and noncommercial broadcasters and independent producers, including NPR, ITVS, ABC News, the New York Times, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Center for Public Integrity and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop. The center plans to add contributors and seek submissions from freelance journalists and independent filmmakers from around the world.
Charting the Digital Broadcasting Future, 1998
Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters Final Report, Dec. 18, 1998 a.k.a. PIAC or the Gore Commission See PDF of full report; sections of the report posted in HTML by the Benton Foundation; and the list of commission members. Executive Summary As this Nation’s 1,600 television stations begin to convert to a digital television format, it is appropriate to reexamine the long-standing social compact between broadcasters and the American people. The quality of governance, intelligence of political discourse, diversity of free expression, vitality of local communities, opportunities for education and instruction, and many other dimensions of American life will be affected profoundly by how digital television evolves.Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (nearly original)
Public Law 90-129, 90th Congress, November 7, 1967 (as amended to April 26, 1968) Enacted less than 10 months after the report of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Broadcasting, this law initiates federal aid to the operation (as opposed to funding capital facilities) of public broadcasting. Provisions include: extend authorization of the earlier Educational Television Facilities Act, forbid educational broadcasting stations to editorialize or support or oppose political candidates, establish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and defines its board, defines its purposes, authorize reduced telecommunications rates for its interconnection, authorize appropriations to CPB, and authorize a federal study of instructional television and radio.Pacifica Foundation By-laws, 1955
Pacifica began operation of its first and flagship station, KPFA in Berkeley, Calif., April 15, 1949. These are early bylaws of the nonprofit organization. See also Pacifica’s bylaws as of 1999. Article I Identity Section 1. The name of this corporation shall be PACIFICA FOUNDATION. Section 2. The principal place of business of this corporation shall be located in the County of Alameda, State of California. Article II Membership Section 1. There shall be one class of membership in this corporation: Executive Membership. Section 2. EXECUTIVE MEMBERSHIPS (a) Any person who displays either of the following qualifications is eligible for Executive Membership in this corporation: i.State funding cuts trigger layoffs at Virginia's Community Idea Stations
Virginia’s Community Idea Stations — WCVE Public Radio, WCVE PBS and WCVW PBS in Richmond and WHTJ PBS in Charlottesville — on Friday (April 20) announced elimination of 11 positions, about 18 percent of its workforce, before the end of June. A statement on the network’s website said the decision was in response to lack of pubcasting funding in the commonwealth’s budget. The stations had received about $700,000 this fiscal year; the General Assembly last week approved a budget that does not contain that support, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Six of the 11 positions will be lost in the Educational Services department.On C-SPAN, ex-FCC official Copps worries over noncom stations in spectrum auction
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps expresses concern for public TV stations in the upcoming spectrum auctions, in an interview on The Communicators series on C-SPAN, reports Broadcasting & Cable. “Public television is doing a really good job with multicasting and using two or three streams to do really good programming,” Copps says on the program, scheduled for broadcast at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday (April 21) and available online. “And all of a sudden, if they are going to be decreasing in number or stations are going to be thrown together, is that going to mean we are going to have less programming?”POV offering Twitter chat on producing for pubTV
Want to get your documentary on public television? POV Series Producer Yance Ford will be on Twitter at 7 p.m. Eastern April 25 to answer questions about doing just that. Submit questions for her by posting to Twitter using the hashtag #docchat.Barbra Streisand rings up "Smiley & West"
Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, co-hosts of PRI’s Smiley & West, hear from a surprising caller on their Friday (April 20) show: Music legend Barbra Streisand. The program is a tribute to Oscar-winning husband and wife songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Streisand was 18 years old when they met. She recorded many of their songs, including “The Way We Were” and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” Last year Streisand dedicated a tribute album to the Bergmans, “What Matters Most.”"Martha Stewart's Cooking School" starting on PBS this fall
Domestic doyenne Martha Stewart hits the PBS airwaves this fall in a weekly culinary master class, Martha Stewart’s Cooking School. The 30-minute show will be presented by WETA, premiering in October. “PBS is the perfect home for this series,” Stewart said in an announcement. “We’ll show viewers how to prepare classic dishes as well as how to use proper techniques.” The program is based on the bestselling cookbook of the same name. The New York Times reported that Stewart and execs at her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia “believe that public broadcasting will be a better fit for her brand than daytime cable.”WETA to offer 24/7 British channel starting this June
WETA in suburban Washington, D.C., on June 2 will launch a new multicast channel devoted to British programming. The 24-hour WETA UK replaces Create on the station’s 26.2. “British programming has long proven popular with our audience on our principal channel,” said Kevin Harris, v.p. and TV manager of the dual licensee. The channel will feature popular Britcoms (Doc Martin, Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served?), miniseries (MI-5, Hustle, Waking the Dead) and episodes of the original BBC Antiques Roadshow, as well as Saturday night full-length films and, beginning this fall, major British specials. Here’s a promo reel.
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