Who’s to blame for the “11th hour scramble” on behalf of Long Island’s WLIU? The New York Daily News quotes anonymous sources who criticize general manager Wally Smith as a procrastinator who didn’t pursue prospective donors aggressively enough. Smith says the newspaper’s sources are “out of the loop.” Link to earlier coverage.

The spotlight shines on PBS today (Aug. 4) and Thursday at the ongoing Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. PBS President Paula Kerger faces the press this morning; no doubt the Los Angeles Times’ story today on KCET’s woes will generate questions. (Much more on KCET coming soon from Current.) At 2 p.m. LA time, PBS assembles a panel of stars of yesteryear to celebrate its Pioneers of Television doc. On stage will be Mike Connors, a.k.a. detective Joe Mannix; Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West and Black Sheep Squadron; Linda Evans of Dynasty; Martin Landau, a TV veteran of everything from a Twilight Zone in 1959 to Entourage in 2008; and Nichelle Nichols, who broke racial barriers with her role as Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek.

Peconic Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that mounted a successful bid to purchase WLIU from Long Island University last fall, is struggling to meet its payments. The New York Daily News reports that the new licensee must raise $500,000 by the end of August. If deep-pocketed donors don’t step forward soon, the station will drop all local programming, PPB President Wally Smith tells the Daily News. Under a sales contract announced in October 2009, PPB bought WLIU for $2.425 million in cash and in-kind services and agreed to absorb the cost of moving its studio and transmitter.

Sorry, pubcasters, NPR has lost the Great White House Briefing Room Front-Center Chair Scramble of 2010. To review: Legendary newswoman Helen Thomas resigned on June 7. NPR applied for the much-coveted chair. Two progressive online groups began petitions to persuade the White House Correspondents Association to give the chair to NPR. Then NPR denied knowing anything about the petitions. And now, finally, the decision: The Associated Press gets Thomas’s chair, Fox News moves to fill AP’s old front-row seat, and NPR takes Fox’s second-row seat. That’s next to Bloomberg, for anyone still erasing and updating their seating chart.

One of the legacies inspired by the late broadcast journalist’s career is the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, now seeking contenders for the ninth year. Boston’s WBUR will award the $5,000 prize to the journalist, age 35 or younger (as of June 30, 2010) who’s principally responsible for a news story or segment “of significance and quality  . . . that celebrates the new generation of journalists in public radio” (that aired the 12 months before that date on a CPB-qualified pubradio station.) One entry per journalist. Entry deadline: Sept. 17. Details here.

Alexis Rapo, formerly of Disney-ABC, began work today (Aug. 2) as vice president, broadband and interactive media, for WGBH, the Boston station announced. She’ll take the lead in shaping WGBH’s digital product and service strategy, including new formats and platforms. Rapo is credited with the creation of several “industry first” technical innovations at ABC, the station statement said, including first network to offer episodes on iTunes (in 2005), and first to stream ad-supported full episodes online (May 2006). She won an Emmy in 2006 for interactive television and programming.

The Miami Herald and WLRN-FM have joined American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, the citizen journalism system for tapping audience members as sources. The Herald, an editorial partner with WLRN’s newsroom since 2000, is the first major daily newspaper to join the web-powered sourcing system. The partners plan to tailor their network for Spanish-speaking audiences. “Our participation in the Public Insight Network will be personalized to the communities we serve, and will include a bilingual user interface to ensure we’re interacting with all of our readers and listeners,” says Rick Hirsch, senior editor of multimedia for the Herald.

Three new Sesame Workshop series will premiere at MIPCOM in Cannes, France, Oct. 4-8, the Workshop announced today (Aug. 2). In the first, a furry Muppet fave dons a red cape and silver helmet to transform into Super Grover 2.0, who “observes, questions, investigates and reports” to young viewers. That will also run as segments on the international Sesame Street in the U.S. Also in the lineup is Count TV, hosted by Count von Count and ending with an animated Bert and Ernie singing and tap dancing about the number of the day. Goodnight, Elmo takes kids through the bedtime routine as Elmo and his dad say goodnight, put on pajamas and read a story — and sometimes Elmo gets to make up his own tales.

PBS is offering two never-broadcast Ken Burns films for pledge about painter and spiritual teacher William Segal, the New York Times reports. The Segal films have only been seen in museums and a DVD, “Seeing, Searching, Being,” and have become “something of an underground commodity for devotees of Mr. Segal’s approach to self-realization,” the paper notes. The third film in the trilogy will be provided as a premium. The films are in a style much different from the PBS documentarian’s usual work. They do not use the “Ken Burns effect,” his trademark technique of using still shots of historical documents to tell a story.

NPR released a statement today (July 30) to Poynter Institute blogger Jim Romenesko, that it is “not involved in any way” with petitions circulating online that ask the White House Correspondents Association to give now-retired longtime reporter Helen Thomas’s front-row seat in the White House briefing room to the network. Petitions have been put forward by CREDO Action, a progressive advocacy site; it already has 254,218 signatures to give the chair to NPR rather than FOX News. Another progressive online group, MoveOn.org, is also getting involved. “NPR was not consulted about either petition and we learned about them via Facebook and e-mail.

After the Association of Public Television Stations spent several years trying to get the satellite provider Dish Network to sign a carriage deal for HD noncoms, Dish finally has done so. But not with APTS. Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that Dish has struck an independent HD carriage agreement with at least 30 “geographically diverse” pubcasting stations.

More than 400 items from the offices and studios of WNET/Thirteen in New York are being auctioned off Aug. 3. The station soon will move to new digs but doesn’t yet know where, according to Crain’s New York Business. It’s sub-leasing to Gay Men’s Health Crisis starting in October.

WVIA-FM 89.9 in Pittston, Pa., will return to the air Aug. 3 after a $2 million fire five months ago completely destroyed its transmission facilities, the station said in a statement today (July 29). The fire began while electricians who were working on the building on Penobscot Mountain accidentally set the ceiling ablaze. Many listeners have been affected, the statement says, “from difficulty with a signal that is spotty and barely satisfactory, to the complete absence of WVIA-FM in several areas that once received it.” The station has been operating out of a trailer next to the site.

For the first time, fans can watch individual episodes of Sesame Street‘s international productions via Amazon Video On Demand. Included are co-productions from Bangladesh, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Northern Ireland, India and Egypt, the Sesame Workshop said in a statement July 29. (Image: Sesame Workshop)

Indie pubcasting network MHz is partnering with IDMAonline on a new website that offers a “social learning network specifically for the digital media industry,” the two announced in a statement Monday (July 26). Site members have access to the Commons, to meet with colleagues and ask and answer questions. What makes the site unique, the two said in the statement, is the “live online” professional training in the digital media arts: multimedia, filmmaking, animation and photography. There are full certificate programs and mentorship initiatives where students can focus on a specific topic. MHz Worldview, MHz Networks’ flagship channel, brings international programs to audiences though cable, satellite and online affiliates.