In a twist on its “exclusive first listens” to new releases, NPR Music will present the first live performance of the Decemberists’ forthcoming release on the opening night of this year’s South by Southwest Music conference and festival, March 18. The Portland-based band will perform all 17 songs from The Hazards of Love, a concept album that tells the story of a woman who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal. NPR’s Bob Boilen will cohost the live webcast, which also is offered for broadcast by NPR stations, with NPR Music blogger Carrie Brownstein and David Brown of Austin’s KUT-FM. More details on this week’s edition of All Songs Considered and here.

Northern California Public Broadcasting, licensee of KQED-TV/FM and KTEH-TV, will eliminate 30 jobs and cut 13 percent of its budget under a restructuring plan announced on Monday. Station memberships have dropped five percent since October, but underwriting is off 24 percent and major donor contributions are down 15 percent, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Although all TV productions are subject to future funding, KQED will continue to produce new episodes of local programs such as Quest, Check, Please! Bay Area, and This Week in Northern California, and the station will deliver three new hours of Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures to PBS this spring.

An often touted and tabled proposal to recast public radio’s web presence as a combination of content from NPR and its member stations is gaining traction among leaders in the field. With strong support from its new president, Vivian Schiller, NPR is beginning to plan a pilot project that would demonstrate how stations’ local news efforts could be integrated with NPR content. Creation of a news portal that integrates pubradio’s world, national and local news coverage will also be endorsed by Grow the Audience, a research and consultation project managed by the Maryland-based Station Resource Group and funded by CPB. The recommendation in the Grow the Audience report, which has yet to be released, was developed in consultation with web strategists who described the online service opportunity that public radio could seize, said Tom Thomas, SRG co-chief executive.

Tom Karlo is the new general manager of KPBS, the fifth in the nearly 50-year history of the San Diego State University station. He’s been assistant g.m. since 1992 and began at the station as a student intern three decades ago. He also is the vice chair of the California Public Television Board of Directors.

Philadelphia’s WXPN opened early bird registration for the 9th annual NON-COMMvention, a May 28-30 conference featuring music showcases and sessions on the business of programming, funding and marketing Triple A music stations. ‘XPN is hosting the conference at its studios and the adjacent World Cafe Live concert venue on the campus the University of Pennsylvania. There’s no increase in last year’s bargain-rate registration fees. Hotel information and conference schedule are to be announced soon.

Mike Homer, long-time Silicon Valley executive and founder of the Open Media Network, passed away yesterday. NPR’s Dennis Haarsager, who collaborated in developing the online video distribution system that Homer attempted to donate to pubcasting, writes: “Although we weren’t successful in Mike’s ultimate dream of giving this to a national public broadcasting organization, I’m convinced that we will eventually (and, I hope not too late) come to see Mike’s vision as important part of public media’s future.”

Broadcasters, including nine pubTV stations and more than 50 network affiliates, will launch mobile DTV in 22 markets later this year, proponents announced at the Consumer Electronics Show last month. Viewers will pick up the signals on devices such as cell phones, laptops and in-vehicle TVs.

In a southwestern Ohio college town, the public radio news station with seven full-time employees will become an unstaffed repeater for Cincinnati Public Radio under an agreement announced Jan. 22 [2009].

NPR’s Don Gonyea was in Evansville, Ind., last week to help WNIN celebrate 40 years of pubcasting and raise a target $25,000 at its annual gala. Here’s a photo of the fun.

Inauguration Report ’09, organized by NPR, American University’s School of Communication and CBS, brought in more than 35,000 user contributions via Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, iPhone, Google Phones and text messaging. One of its creators, David Johnson, a professor at American University’s School of Communication, reviews the project, and its implications for the future of public media.

Here’s a bit of positive news during this ominous economic time. A huge increase in grant support enabled WGBH to have a very strong ’08. Grant commitments grew year-to-year a hefty 70 percent to $121.8 million, from $71.7 million, as of Aug. 31, 2008. Many were PBS grants; its commitments to WGBH jumped to $83.8 million in 2008, from $28.3 million in ’07. “We had our best year in a long time last year,” Ben Godley, WGBH executive v.p., told The Boston Business Journal.

Marketplace Morning Report host Scott Jagow is departing as on-air host to become lead blogger for the APM show’s website. He’ll also be host of its weekly podcast, After the Bell.

“When you reach the end of an experience, it is right to ask, ‘What have I learned?’ ” mulls Weekend America host John Moe. “And after five years of shows, fair question. What I’ve learned is patriotism.” Read the rest of his comments bidding farewell to the APR show and its listeners.

Vivian Schiller, NPR’s new c.e.o., tells the American Journalism Review in a profile that her career as a tour guide in the Soviet Union prepared her for managing at media companies. “I think when I retire I’m going to write a book called Everything I Know I Learned as a Tour Guide, including how to lead the conga line.” On the subject of NPR’s future, she says: “I’ve been proselytizing a little bit about the incredible opportunity that NPR has that no other media organization has, to create a constellation of hyperlocal sites that provide inhabitants of communities with national news, local news and information tools for their communities.

In a speech to FCC staff (PDF) this week, Acting Chairman Michael Copps stressed cooperation within the agency and transparency for the public. “The spectrum is theirs and the rest of us are stewards,” he said. In the weeks ahead, he later added, “our three most important priorities will be, as you have heard me say already, DTV, DTV and DTV.” However, he also said, “At this point, we will not have — we cannot have — a seamless DTV transition,” due to “a patchwork of disjointed efforts.”