The new president and c.e.o. of dual licensee Lakeshore Public Media in Merrillville, Ind., is James Muhammad, currently director of radio services for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. He begins work in his new post May 20. “James is a well-rounded leader with experience in public media, programming and community outreach,” said Lakeshore Board of Directors Chair Bonita Neff. “For more than a decade, he built a team that worked collaboratively on radio and television projects, and engaged the community and its leaders. That’s why our board unanimously chose him.” James has been with WVPB since 2001. During his tenure,  the network won its first Gabriel Award, Peabody Award, Alfred I.

The Bay Area Video Coalition, the San Francisco-based group that seeks to inspire social change by empowering media makers, just released a new resource,  “Impact Playbook: Best Practices for Understanding the Impact of Media.” The free download contains best-practice ideas for developing engagement strategies as well as measuring and communicating the impact of media projects.

PBS’s year-to-date financial results show a net income of $22 million instead of the estimated $100,000 net loss anticipated in its fiscal year 2013 budget, the PBS Board of Directors heard at their meeting April 9 at headquarters in Arlington, Va. “I may never get to say this again, but that’s pretty impressive,” said Molly Corbett Broad, finance committee chair. Thanks to the influx, PBS’s FY14 budget contains an increase of $11 million for National Program Service content without a hike in dues for member stations. The draft budget, unanimously approved by the finance committee and full board, will arrive at public television stations in the coming weeks for comment.

Microsoft is considering ending its Sesame Street interactive videogame series, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The newspaper’s Digits blog cites unnamed sources as saying demand for the Xbox-based games is lacking. Sesame Workshop and Microsoft declined to speak for the story. The Microsoft-Sesame partnership to use Xbox 360 consoles fitted with Kinect motion-sensor technology to create educational games was announced in October 2011.

The longtime NPR announcer and current co-host/judge for NPR’s Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! is a native of Goldsboro, N.C., who began his radio career in Goldsboro.  As a student, he helped found WUNC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Carl was an easy choice for many reasons,” said North Carolina Press Association President Hal Tanner III. “He is highly regarded by journalists everywhere for his integrity and commitment to fairness and honesty. We are proud of his North Carolina roots and his continuing connection to the Tar Heel state.” Kasell accepted the award March 21 at the NCPA Winter Institute and Annual Meeting, which featured a video tribute with cameos by Wait, Wait host Peter Sagal and former Kasell intern Katie Couric; watch it at tinyurl.com/NCPA-kassel.

The Association of Independents in Radio will launch a metasite April 22 that combines its 10 Localore multimedia projects on a single interactive platform, showcasing the results of a yearlong production to develop broadcast and web content in cities across the United States. The website uses a map of the country to direct users to content that public media audiences first discovered on local stations. Designer Drew Schorno chose the map “as a way of representing the U.S. experience” of Localore, he said. A half-hour documentary, This Is Localore, will accompany the launch of the metasite, which will be unveiled during an April 22 event at the Brattle Theater in Boston.

President Obama released his fiscal 2014 federal budget proposal April 10, and recommended $445 million in two-year advance funding for CPB. This is a level amount compared to previous federal funding levels for CPB.

Howard “Howie” Klein, a volunteer for 29 years at Vermont Public Radio, died March 6 from natural causes. He was 85.

Upstart television streamer Aereo “quite possibly” could bring down broadcast television, according to Fortune magazine. The service, which sells subscription access to broadcast signals via the Internet, has prompted Fox and Spanish-language Univision to actually consider going to an all-cable format. So far the other networks, including PBS, continue their legal fight to put Aereo out of business. And complicating all this is the emergence of a similar service, Aereokiller, which is waging its own legal battle — and that could end up before the Supreme Court.

CPB is granting nearly $2 million to WGBH in Boston to expand middle-school math content available through PBS LearningMedia, pubcasting’s free online resource for educators. WGBH, with producing partners WNET in New York City, KET in Lexington, Ky., and KQED in San Francisco, will oversee development of more than 400 new digital resources. Contributing assets will be pubTV stations KUEN in Ogden, Utah; Maryland Public Television in Owings Mills; Alabama Public Television in Birmingham; KAET in Phoenix, Ariz.; KCPT in Kansas City, Mo.; and the National Minority Consortia. Resources will focus on addressing diversity and equity issues from multiple angles, CPB said in the announcement today, noting that many educators feel that digital approaches to teaching math are more effective than traditional techniques, particularly among students from diverse or minority backgrounds.

Public radio’s American Routes is celebrating its 15th anniversary on the air with a dance and concert in New Orleans and a discount for stations adding the show. The April 19 concert at the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Bowl will feature the Treme Brass Band, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, Irma Thomas, Ivan Neville and other luminaries of the Louisiana and New Orleans music scenes. Sponsored by WWNO-FM in New Orleans, the fundraiser for the music program will be recorded and distributed to stations for broadcast during the week of July 4. Hosted by folklorist and anthropology professor Nick Spitzer, American Routes airs on 260 stations.

Veteran pubcaster Mary Pruess, who resigned her position as president and general manager of WNIT-TV in South Bend, Ind., in October 2012, takes over April 22 as director of WQPT-Quad Cities Public Television in Moline, Ill. “Mary’s expertise in public broadcasting and community outreach will further enhance WQPT’s outstanding level of service to the region,” said Joe Rives, vice president for Quad Cities and planning at Western Illinois University. Pruess spent a decade at WNIT, from 2002-2012. Previously, she served in several managerial positions at WHRO-TV in Norfolk, Va.; was deputy director of TRAC Media Services in Tucson; c.e.o. of the Public Television Programmers Association; program manager at KHUT-TV in Houston; and held various posts at KAET-TV in Phoenix.

ImageMakers, the indie film showcase curated by San Francisco’s KQED TV, will debut the Oscar-winning film Curfew, May 12. Every year, KQED Program Director Scott Dwyer makes the film festival rounds and screens over 2,000 productions to curate a new season of ImageMakers, a series featuring short independent films from around the world. He rushed to buy broadcast rights to Shawn Christensen’s Curfew in January 2012, as soon as he watched it and well before the drama started gaining recognition. “In order to compete with places like Starz, Sundance Channel and HBO, I have to buy them really fast, before they start to win awards,” said Dwyer, whose film festival circuit includes the Aspen Shortsfest and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.