Debut this fall [2007] Jim Knox’s Wild Zoofari Producing organizations: Jim Knox’s Wild Zoofari LLC. Producer: Rob Child. Creators: Rob Child, Jim Knox, Bruce Knox. Episodes: 14/30. Status: released on DVD 2006. Distributor: APT, from WSBE, Rhode Island. Age group: 6-11 years. Curricular focus: wildlife conservation. Longtime wildlife educator Jim Knox takes a group of kids on zoo and aquarium adventures to find a “mystery animal.” When they “discover” the animal, they learn about animal habitat, behavior and conservation. Knox also does solo shows on topics such as baby animals and great cats. The only TV series endorsed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Advocacy groups protesting Ken Burns’ upcoming World War II doc asked PBS and WETA in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20 [2007] for assurance that the producers would work harder to include Latinos in “current and future programming. The statement about Burns’ The War bore the signatures of 53 individuals, ten media, policy and educational organizations and Defend the Honor, the coalition that first challenged Burns. In a response, PBS said it “continues to build upon our track record of inclusion in programming, in front of and behind the camera.” WETA has issued no response. The full statements from Defend the Honor and PBS are below.

Some 70 authors have been chosen to participate in The Library of Congress’s 2007 National Book Festival on the National Mall, Sept. 29. Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward (co-writer with Burns on several documentaries and the new book The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945) will be part of the history and biography group.

Boston’s WGBH and AARP Publications will partner to produce TV shows designed for viewers 50 and older, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The multiyear partnership will begin with “Caring for Your Parents,” a special that will be offered to public TV stations next spring.

Maryland Public Television’s cable launch yesterday of V-me, the digital Spanish-language channel, didn’t include areas with the state’s largest Hispanic populations, reports the Washington Post. Apparently Comcast hasn’t yet committed to a start date for carriage in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and MPT officials say it could be as late as February 2009–the same time TV broadcasting goes all-digital. Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) called on the public to pressure Comcast. The company says it has “no imminent plans” to carry V-me in the two counties.

The culprit that put Jefferson Public Radio off the air in Shasta County and much of Siskiyou County, Calif., was not a logging accident, as engineers suspected, but a bear that had broken the transmitter’s power line.

Two Chicagoans, Chuck Mertz and Anne Glickman, were eliminated from Public Radio Talent Quest, the online contest for future pubradio hosts. Still in the game: April Baer, Chris de Ville, Al Letson, Glynn Washington and People’s Choice favorite Rebecca Watson.

“I came up in a time when you couldn’t say ‘hell’ on the radio,” says retired Washington broadcaster Fred Fiske, recalling his mid-career decision to move from commercial to public radio. “I couldn’t bring myself to do the insults.” Fiske, who retired from American University’s NPR station WAMU 20 years ago but continues to deliver weekly commentaries for the station, recalls highlights of his 60-year broadcasting career in a Washington Post profile.

A union worthy of notice in the New York Times: NPR reporter Alex Cohen and former NPR webmaster Richard Dean were married this weekend.

National Indigenous Television, a new satellite TV channel for Austalia’s native peoples that launched in July, is seeking programming in many genres made “wholly or substantially” in Australia, with the priority on programs by aboriginal Austalians and Torres Strait Islanders. See its statement of purpose and commissioning guidelines. NITV has offices in Alice Springs and Sydney. Canada and New Zealand have similar channels.

Atlantic Monthly‘s Michael Hirschorn calls This American Life a quintessential example of a quirky indie sensibility that has gone too far. Also lumped in/dismissed: Wes Anderson’s later films and canceled sitcom Arrested Development.

PBS World, the digital doc and pubaffairs channel, goes national today on 55 stations representing 24 licensees reaching more than 27 percent of U.S. households, according to its producers. The channel, produced by PBS, Boston’s WGBH and New York’s WNET in partnership with American Public Television and NETA, features time-shifted signature pubTV offerings including Frontline, The NewsHour and Nova (schedule PDF) . John Boland, PBS content chief, discussed the channel at some length in a May Q&A. Also earlier this year: David Liroff, CPB senior v.p. for media strategy, discussed in a Current commentary how stations balance bandwidth limitations with the increasing abundance of high-def and multicast program options, which include other national streams such as Create and Spanish-language V-Me.

The owner of a Chinese factory hung himself after the company was blamed for using toxic paint on Sesame Street and Nickelodeon toys sent to the United States, London’s Guardian reported. The Chinese government had suspended the factory’s export license. Zhang Shuhong died in the warehouse of his company, Lida Industries in Guangdong province, a world center of toymaking.

The Boston Globe profiles Komal Trivedi, a Public Radio Talent Quest contestant who was eliminated during Round 2 of the competition. Trivedi, host of the South Asian music show Bricklane Beats on Boston College station WZBC, is one of a handful of U.S.-based advocates for Bhangra, a traditional musical form from India and Pakistan that’s infused with elements of Punjabi and Western dance music, according to the Globe.

Early this morning, a gunman shot through an outer window of Pacifica station KPFT in Houston. The bullet came within 18 inches of hitting the head of Mary Thomas, the dj who was hosting a Zydeco music show, according to the Houston Chronicle. [Via Rolas de Aztlan.]