Monsignor Pedro Briseño, the controversial g.m. of dual licensee KMBH in Harlingen, Texas, (Current, March 16, 2009 and May 1, 2008) has been reassigned to full-time parish work, local TV station KGBT is reporting. The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville owns the station. Bishop Daniel Flores, recently installed in the diocese, told the station’s staff this morning, saying regional growth of the Catholic Church requires more clergy in churches. Former KMBH Chief Engineer John Ross will be interim g.m. while the board searches for a replacement. KMBH’s ongoing problems — ousted board members, a pledge drive with six callers — prompted a push by a local group to establish another radio station.

WNET/Thirteen’s new studio at Lincoln Center opens today, reports the New York Times. The glass-front facility on the corner of West 66th and Broadway in Manhattan “is truly a metaphor for what we want to be in New York,” President Neal Shapiro told the paper. “We want to be transparent about the things we do and we want to be facing out to the public. Here we are in the center of arts and culture.” The space was originally envisioned as retail, so many changes were made: Designers outfitted the stairs with cushions and outlets so producers can work on the steps.

After starting the process to hire a new chief content officer, PBS has reduced the purview of the job. The CCO will oversee TV programming but will no longer supervise PBS Interactive and web content. The position also lost oversight over program promotion. Until Current asked about the job description last week, the position said “the CCO will lead the PBS Interactive team.” That wording was from an older job description, spokesperson Jan McNamara said. PBS has now deleted that paragraph and a few other lines from the online document. Seiken “will work very closely with the CCO” on web content, McNamara said.

After starting the process to hire a new chief content officer, PBS has reduced the purview of the job.

The PBS Board tweaked its rules governing one of public TV’s touchiest ongoing internal disputes.

National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith (right) said the FCC’s call for a spectrum giveback is sort of like that scene in “The Godfather” — an offer broadcasters can’t refuse. In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Smith also had harsh words about FCC Chair Reed Hundt’s recent revelations that the agency decided in 1994 to push broadband over broadcast. “Frankly, I was rather offended, as a former member of the Senate Commerce Committee, that his secret musings were never shared with the elected representatives of the American people as it relates to such a profound policy change,” Smith said.

Norman S. Craley, a broadcast engineer who worked 35 years at Washington’s WETA, died of cancer March 24 at the Capital Hospice in Arlington, Va. He was 65. He had been diagnosed with metastatic esophageal cancer six months earlier and had chemotherapy, leading to a clear scan in February, his family told WETA, but the cancer took a rare and fatal course, spreading in his head. “Norm was a jack of all trades” who handled cameras, edited video and found his perfect match in master control, often working the night shift, wrote Joseph Bruns, the station’s chief operating officer, in a memo reporting the death to WETA’s staff.

An NPR bargaining unit of 64 broadcast technicians ratified a new five-year contract negotiated by the National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians/Communications Workers of America. The new contract gives NPR more flexibility on jurisdictional rules over uses of new technology in the newsroom. A no lay-off clause specifies that no jobs will be terminated “for reasons other than budget or programming changes,” but up to 17 NABET workers may be offered voluntary buy-outs, according to an NPR statement. “Both NPR and NABET recognized the need to address staff reductions carefully, and committed to fair and generous treatment of those who will be affected in coming years,” the statement said.

Two CPB Inspector General reports are out. There’s an examination of KDNA-FM in Granger, Wash., triggered by complaints it was shirking requirements for public meetings and financial record keeping, and an audit of CPB grants to WHYY in Philadelphia for fiscal years 2007 and ’08. KDNA broadcasts to a rural area of Washington State about 225 miles southeast of Seattle; it programs mainly for migrant workers. It has this official station website, which says it’s the only full-time educational Spanish-language pubradio station in the nation. There’s also a competing site detailing what it calls “the troubles” at that station for nearly two years — including a monthlong strike last year that triggered a longtime board member to resign.

Public access channels and public broadcasting need to collaborate, and soon. So writes Colin Rhinesmith, community media and tech manager for Cambridge Community Television in Massachusetts. He admits there’s a huge cultural gap: Most pubcasters, he says, are dismissive of the so-called PEG (public educational governmental) channels; pubaccess advocates think pubTV doesn’t represent the public. However, PEGs “are trusted institutions in many local communities. They are uniquely positioned to serve youth, seniors, poor people, immigrant communities, communities of color, and other historically disenfranchised groups with access to media and digital literacy training. They should receive public support to do so …” He says many of those centers are launching citizen journalism projects, which mesh nicely with pubcasting’s news push.

NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard applied a different lens to recent complaints about the lack of diversity of NPR’s programming–the presence of women as commentators and news sources–and was discouraged by what she found. Males dominated the roster of regular commentators across all NPR newsmagazines across a 15-month period and comprised 74 percent of the news sources quoted on the air, according to a content analysis conducted by her staff from April 13, 2009 to Jan. 9, 2010. Morning Edition cohost Steve Inskeep challenges the study’s methodology in Shepard’s column about her findings. Shepard’s objective wasn’t to produce a scientifically rigorous analysis, she writes: “My goal is to get NPR journalists to think more seriously about integrating female sources into stories and work harder at getting them on shows.

WGBH isn’t publicly confirming anything, but the TG Daily news site is hinting the station may be a part of the MIT Media Lab’s latest project. Surround Vision allows hand-held device users to actually see the action happening off the edge of the screen — say, point the cellphone to the left and see what’s happening over there, beyond the original frame of view. WGBH has “a long history” with the Media Lab in the past, the site points out, and could be assisting with user studies on this project. “We always learn from working with [research scientist Michael Bove] and his group,” Annie Valva, WGBH’s director of technology and interactive multimedia, told the site.

The latest Mailbag of PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler is full of letters about programs or segments on Buddhism, Mormon theology and Catholicism.

Public television stations will be protected from involuntary reallocation of broadcast spectrum during the possible upcoming auction, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reassured a House broadband plan oversight hearing yesterday. Broadcasting & Cable reports that the statement was in response to Democratic California Rep. Anna Eshoo (above), who voiced concern over what she termed “a treasure” that needs protection. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan calls for 120 MHz of television spectrum to be reallocated to make way for the increasing needs of mobile devices (Current, Feb. 8). It also proposes a public media trust fund fed by proceeds to pubcasters for their spectrum.

WTMD Radio has withdrawn its proposal to renovate, manage and occupy Baltimore’s historic Senator Theater. A top administrator at Towson University, licensee of the public radio music outlet, explains on the station’s website: “Due to the continuing economic pressures faced by the State of Maryland and thus Towson, we have determined that it is best not to take on this new complex venture. With the added uncertainty of the economic climate that we will face the remainder of this year, we must concentrate on the needs of our students at this time.” G.M. Steve Yasko tells station supporters: “I want you to know that WTMD and everyone at Towson University fully believes in the station’s mission, music and the need to find a new home for the station.”