The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) announced today (Aug. 18) that it has hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to find its new president and chief executive officer, a position Larry Sidman vacated in April (Current, March 14, 2010). Co-chairs of the APTS Board search committee are Polly Anderson, general manager and CEO of of KNME-TV in Albuquerque, N.M.; and Elizabeth Christopherson, president, CEO and director of the Rita Allen Foundation in Princeton, N.J. Lonna Thompson continues as APTS interim president and CEO.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is hosting a Sept. 9 restoration fundraiser for a historic graffiti/hip-hop documentary that aired on PBS in 1984. “Style Wars” is widely regarded as the first doc to focus on the cultural genres. “Nearly 25 years since it first stunned viewers, the film’s negative stock is beginning to decay,” reports the HipHopDX website. The event will feature three screenings of the film, a question and answer session with filmmaker Henry Chalfant, a catered reception and — of course — hip-hop beats courtesy of DJ Kay Slay on the turntables. More about the restoration project here, tickets for the fundraiser here.

A new animated series debuts on PBS this evening–short adaptations of audio recordings collected by StoryCorps, the oral history project and NPR series created by public radio producer David Isay. POV, the indie film series now airing its 23rd season on PBS, will present Danny and Annie, Parts I and II, the stories of love and loss of Brooklyn couple Danny and Annie Perasa, who came to personify the StoryCorps motto, “listening is an act of love.” The animation will be paired with Salt, an “exquisite film about environment, artistry and solitude” by Australian photographer Murray Fredericks.

Got plans for Aug. 28? You might drop by Juneau, Alaska, for KXLL’s “Star Wars” party. It’s the latest event sponsored by the funky, eclectic pubcasting station that attracts an 18- to 34-year-old audience, said Bill Legere, g.m. of KTOO. It picked up KXLL (“Excellent Radio”) and another station “in a fire sale” three years ago (Current, Feb. 26, 2007). KXLL has planned several happenings for the young crowd, such as a pre-fireworks Fourth of July party drew that around 800. There was also a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” night and a Cinco de Mayo bash, “stuff that’s campy and fun,” as Legere told Current.

Houston’s KUHF-FM plans to buy KTRU 91.7 FM, a 50,000-watt student radio station owned by Rice University, and convert it to a full-time classical music service under the new call letters KUHC, the Houston Chronicle reports. KUHF, a broadcast service of the University of Houston that now airs classical music and NPR News on 88.7, will become an all-news station. The $9.5 million deal, approved this morning by UH’s Board of Regents, is to be financed by enhanced underwriting and major gifts fundraising. “The acquisition of a second public radio station delivers on our promise to keep the University of Houston at the forefront of creating strong cultural, educational and artistic opportunities that benefit students and the city of Houston,” said Renu Khator, chancellor of the UH System and president of the University of Houston, in a news release.

Rick Bayless, star of Mexico: One Plate at a Time on PBS, will open two restaurants in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting. Look for them in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 this fall.

Proposed furloughs of state employees could adversely affect Kentucky Educational Television programming, station spokesman Tim Bischoff said Monday (Aug. 16). According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, KET is requesting “flexibility” from the state Personnel Cabinet in the implementation of the furloughs, scheduled as a cost-saving measure for three days adjacent to holiday weekends in the upcoming year: Friday, Sept. 3 (Labor Day weekend); Friday, Nov. 12 (Veterans Day weekend); and Friday, May 27 (Memorial Day weekend). Six state workers from various departments testified at a circuit court hearing about how the public would suffer under the furlough plan. The judge delayed ruling on a motion to block the unpaid leave while he gathers more information.

Are you a PBS affiliate pubcaster who’d like to attend the Online News Association conference Oct. 28-30 in Washington, D.C.? You might want to apply for one of six all-expenses-paid grants. Deadline is Sept. 15, more information and application here.

Vegas PBS is now providing viewers with job assistance through its Vegas Virtual Workforce, reports the Las Vegas Business Press. There’ll be more than 350 online, for-credit job training programs for unemployed or underemployed residents, as well as those wanting to change careers. “We have people who need jobs here and we can provide training,” KLVX General Manager Tom Axtell said. “We look at this as part of our programming mission.” The station is partnering with Workforce Connections and the Southern Nevada Housing Authority.

The recession is still adversely affecting public charities and private foundations, according to new research from GuideStar, a nonprofit information clearinghouse. Around 40 percent of some 7,000 responding organizations reported contributions dropped during the first five months of 2010 compared with that time last year. Other findings: 17 percent of respondents reduced program services, and 11 percent laid off employees. In organizations that use volunteers, 17 percent put one or more in what had been paid positions. And 8 percent said their organizations was were in imminent danger of closing. Click here for the free report, “The Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Sector: A June 2010 Survey.”

The Forum on Communications and Society at the Aspen Institute is live from around 8 a.m. to noon Mountain Standard Time today (Aug. 21), Tuesday and Wednesday. Several pubcasting leaders are participating in the event, “News Cities: The Next Generation of Healthy Informed Communities,” on how the changing landscape of journalism could be molded to better serve citizens. Twitter hashtag, #FOCAS10.

Google and Verizon’s proposal to regulate the Internet “could force many users of the information superhighway onto a dusty back road,” including public media, writes American Public Media President Bill Kling in a letter to the Washington Post. “Just as the Federal Communications Commission acted decisively to set aside public broadcasting channels in 1945, it must flex its muscle now to ensure that the Internet continues to play a public service role. The FCC and Congress should carefully and creatively explore options that allow telecom and Internet giants to succeed, while assuring that public service media continue to thrive. Not doing so could mean that the best years of public broadcasting are behind us.”

Carolyn Jensen Chadwick, a producer who created sound-rich, evocative stories that once defined the NPR listening experience, passed away yesterday. With her husband Alex she co-founded NPR’s Radio Expeditions and produced the Interviews 50 Cents films, according to Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices. Golding has assembled and posted a memorial collection of Jensen’s stories and photographs.

A researcher working with UNC-TV reporter Eszter Vajda, who is investigating Alcoa’s dam licensing and associated environmental issues in North Carolina, asked for and received money from anti-Alcoa forces to continue assisting her, the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., is reporting. Former House Speaker Richard Morgan, who works for the N.C. Water Rights Committee, gave $3,000 to Vajda’s longtime friend Martin Sansone. Vajda had told Current in an interview in July that in the midst of her reporting, Sansone flew in for a visit, “and he’s still here because the project is so big and he’s been an integral part of the research.”

East Tennessee Public TV, or ETPtv, has changed its name to East Tennessee PBS and has a spiffy new website to prove it. Teresa James, general manager, said viewers previously referred to the station in any number of ways: ETPtv, Channel 2, Channel 15, WKOP or WETP. The station conducted focus groups, interviews and online polls and collaborated with PBS’s branding team to make the change.