An Oregon Public Broadcasting contractor was found dead last weekend at its Stacker Butte, Wash., tower. Station spokesperson Becky Chinn told the Yakima Herald that his death appears to have been unrelated to his installation and maintenance work. She had no information on his age or hometown because he was not an employee. An autopsy is pending.

Muppets Studio won four Webby Awards — a major coup for its hilarious “Queen and the Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody” — NPR.org won two, and one each for PBS, Frontline/World and Sesame Street in the honors for online excellence announced today. (OK, so technically Muppets Studio isn’t really a pubcaster, but those furry ones are definitely related to their Sesame Street cousins so we’ll claim ’em.) Each category had two winners, one voted on by judges including domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and media maven Arianna Huffington, and the other, People’s Voice, selected by voters around the world. NPR’s awards came for Best Practices (People’s Voice) and Radio Podcasts (People’s Voice).

In the beginning, there was CBS Reports. Then came Bill Moyers. It was 1976. Executive Producer Howard Stringer wanted to show the world that the hour documentary was still viable despite the gaggle of magazine-style news shows pushing their way to the screen. Accountants had discovered there was profit in the magazine format and wise men in good-looking suits informed us we were behind the times. Howard held a staff meeting to solicit ways to best exploit the talents of this man from Texas. A hand went up. “Can we send him for speech lessons? Who will take us seriously when they hear that country accent?

Such hires push a hot-button issue: Public broadcasting’s commitment to diversify its largely white male corps of decision-makers.

Several pubcasting shows and people scored Sigma Delta Chi awards for excellence in 2009 journalism. The honors, presented since 1932, are awarded by the Society for Professional Journalists. From Frontline World, the winner for documentaries (network, syndication, service or program service) is “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground.” For feature reporting top 100 market or network syndication, the prize went to “California’s Three Strikes Law: 15 Years of Controversy,” by Ina Jaffe, Philip Bruce and Amy Walter of NPR. Mary Kay Magistad was named for “Created in China” from Public Radio International’s the World, for top 100 market or network syndication. And for public service in radio journalism, 101+ market or network syndication, it’s “A Community Victimized in the Shadows” by WSHU’s Charles Lane, Naomi Starobin and Katie Davis.

Claus Meyer (right) of the Create channel’s New Scandinavian Cooking has earned the No. 1 spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy competition for his Noma in Denmark. It’s judged by famous chefs, food critics, restaurateurs and “well traveled gourmands,” according to APT. Noma’s specialty is modern Nordic cuisine, the same dishes that he helps create for the show with host Andreas Viestad and fellow chef Sara LaFountain. Other Create winners: Coming in second was Spain’s four-time winner El Bulli, featured on Spain … On the Road Again; and New York’s longtime fave Le Bernadin at 15th place. Behind-the-scene shots of Le Bernadin are featured in Ripert’s cooking series Avec Eric, which explores inspiration for dishes served at his famed eatery.

For our RSS readers: The latest top story from Current. With PBS under increasing budgetary pressure, President Paula Kerger recently turned to Smithsonian Institution fundraiser Brian Reddington for the important new post of senior v.p. of development and executive director of the PBS Foundation. In January, when she told the PBS Board of Reddington’s selection, she said he was a friend of hers. Kerger did not mention that she, her husband and Reddington owned a condominium together in New York City from September 2003 to September 2006. PBS hired Reddington without engaging a search firm or advertising the opening, the network said last week in a statement responding to many but not all of Current’s questions.

The Boston Herald is reporting that WGBH is one of several nonprofits that have fallen behind in its voluntary payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to help pay for city services. A Boston official told the paper that WGBH’s contributions were “minimal, and their agreement lapsed when they moved into their new building” in 2007. WGBH spokesperson Jeanne Hopkins said, “We have provided PILOTs in the past, and we absolutely intend to do so again. We certainly understand the pressure the city is under and we want to do our part. … We will work with the city to determine an appropriate payment for WGBH.”

Dick Daly, senior consultant at Buffalo’s WNED, is retiring after more than 50 years in broadcasting, the station has announced. Daly has been with WNED since 1987, when he was hired as radio veep, overseeing classical music station WNED-FM and news station WEBR-AM (later WNED-AM). In 1993 he became senior v.p. of broadcasting, which put television operations under his guidance. Daly’s broadcasting career began in 1957 in Minnesota as a reporter, news director, and news editor. In 1967, he was an accredited correspondent reporting on the Vietnam War for NBC affiliate WDSM in Duluth, Minn. Daly moved to Minnesota Public Radio in 1973.

Don’t forget about today’s important FCC meeting to discuss “Public and Other Noncommercial Media in the Digital Era.” It will be streamed live here from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Panels include: “A 1967 Moment … A Vision for Public Media,” “Varieties of Public and Noncommercial Media,” “Purposes of Public and Noncommercial Media,” “New Platforms, Approaches and Structures,” “New Strategies for Supporting Public and Noncommercial Media” and “Communications and Regulatory Policy.”

Louisiana Public Broadcasting President Beth Courtney takes to the stage to show off her dancing prowess on May 8 as the Big Buddy Program sponsors its fourth annual “Dancing With the Stars Baton Rouge” fundraiser, reports 2theadvocate.com. Audience members can bid to dance with Courtney and other local celebrities, as well as Elena Grinenko and Fabian Sanchez, who have appeared on the hit TV show Dancing With the Stars.

Current’s blog, keeping you linked to all things pubmedia, is now also located at http://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/. You may click there for news updates, as well as the blog archive. For RSS feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions tohttp://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. Fear not! Your intrepid Cloggers (Current bloggers) will continue to bring you the very latest news from around the country.

After four years of negotiations, Texas Tech Public Media’s acquisition of KUTX in San Angelo is complete — the latest move in its “explosive growth” during the last several years, according to Lubbock Online. The station is now KNCH 90.1 and began transmitting April 4 from Lubbock. Home base for Texas Tech Public Media is KOHM-FM, South Plains Public Radio.

WEDU in Tampa Bay, Fla., has a new president and CEO: Susan Howarth, former head of WCET in Cincinnati, reports the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Howarth joins the station next month. That means Dick Lobo finally gets to retire. He wanted to leave in September 2009 but agreed to remain until a successor was appointed. Jack Neal is the new g.m. at WEIU FM & TV in Charleston, Ill., reports the Eastern Illinois University newspaper, the Daily Eastern News. Neal joins the station from his post as station manager at PBS affiliate KUHT at the University of Houston.

If it’s Thursday, it’s Mailbag time, courtesy of PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler. This week, letters continue to arrive from World War II veterans reacting to the American Experience doc, “The Bombing of Germany.” Viewers also weigh in on several Frontline programs.