The Leading Gen!, currently carried by some 120 PBS affiliates, seems to be on a publicity roll. Last month Daily Variety TV critic Brian Lowry described the 13-part series on aging, introducing readers to neurosurgeon James Ausman and wife Carolyn, producers, and adding that for PBS, ” … catering to those over 50 — the people who are predominantly watching public TV anyway — isn’t just good business; it’s a no-brainer.” Last week the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., wrote that producing station KVCR-DT in San Bernardino calls it “the ultimate reality show,” and it’s won two Telly Awards.

KOCE in Huntington Beach, Calif., is joining the Orange County Local News Network (OCLNN), owned by the for-profit web journalism chain United States Local News Network. OCLNN reporters will file stories for KOCE’s Real Orange news program, and its digital OC Channel. Some KOCE-produced content will also be at OCLNN.com. The two will also work together on local public affairs projects.

As the South by Southwest Music festival keeps getting bigger and bigger, the potential for bands to break through to commercial success diminish, observes New York Times ArtsBeat blogger Ben Sisario. He points to last night’s opening showcase, sponsored by NPR Music and headlined by Austin’s own Spoon, as a case in point: “It was a plum gig, reflecting not only Spoon’s preeminence but also the emergence of NPR as a major force in independent music. . . . [T]he band was received as heroes, symbolizing the best of what South by Southwest is about: artistic credibility, insouciant cool, left-of-the-dial independence.

NPR and the Washington Post are offering an unusual joint fellowship honoring two sons of an NPR journalist. The six-month program, split between the two newsrooms, is seeking applicants by April 30 and will begin in the fall [more information]. The Stone & Holt Weeks Fellowship was created in memory of Stone Weeks, 24, and his brother Holt, 20, sons of Linton Weeks, an NPR reporter who formerly wrote for the Post, and Jan Taylor Weeks, an artist and teacher. The young men were both research assistants at Rice University in Houston. They were returning to their parents’ home in the Washington area July 23 when their car was struck by a truck in Virginia.

NPR Music’s live coverage of the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin begins with tonight’s showcase headlined by Spoon, a hometown favorite kicking off their U.S. tour with this SXSW performance. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET to catch the full line-up including Visqueen, the Walkmen, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Broken Bells. Tomorrow at 1:30 pm ET, NPR Music presents a daytime showcase of six acts headlined by the Sleigh Bells. Five public radio stations–The Current, KEXP, KUT, WFUV, and WXPN–are presenting SXSW coverage in partnership with NPR; most plan to broadcast and webcast their own live shows.

No kicking back with a green beer for PBS NewsHour Producer Linda Scott this St. Patrick’s Day. She’s in charge of organizing tonight’s huge Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in D.C. Some 2,000 guests are expected at the Washington Convention Center for one of the District’s largest soirees. “We’re going to pull out the stops and have a good time,” Scott told the Washington Times. At the head table: Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republican Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. They’ll nosh on a menu including ravioli garnished with lobster and crayfish.

Reactions are in from the G4– CPB, PBS, APTS and NPR — regarding today’s historic National Broadband Plan release. Excerpts:CPB: “In particular, we appreciate the Taskforce’s recognition of public media’s important role in serving our democracy, as well as our role in America’s broadband future. We also appreciate the Taskforce’s recognition that, if public media is to continue to fulfill our statutory responsibility to provide every American with free educational and cultural programming in the digital age, more funding will be necessary. The report presents many interesting opportunities as well as challenges, both for our country and for public media.”

Congrats to station reps Kelly McCarthy of Vegas PBS and Michelle Dillard of KTXT in Lubbock, Texas, who won goodies for the PBS Annual Meeting May 17-20 in Austin, Texas. McCarthy now has an American Airlines voucher for her flights, and Dillard scored three complimentary nights at the Hilton Austin where the meeting will take place.

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan has arrived (background: Current, Sept. 21, 2009) with its advice to Congress for expanding broadband reach across America. The FCC has posted it in searchable form. It advises that 500 megahertz of spectrum be made available for broadband within 10 years, of which 300 megahertz should be made available for mobile use within five years. The much anticipated pubcasting trust fund is indeed included. Public broadcasters could give up spectrum (Current, Feb. 8) and those proceeds would endow a trust “for the production, distribution and archiving of digital public media.”

In a report released Monday (PDF), the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits contends that the state’s Public Broadcasting Commission spent more than $2 million dollars on services without a competitive bidding process or working through the Board of Public Works, both violations of state procurement requirements, the Associated Press reports. The commission operates the six Maryland Public Television stations. MPT executive v.p. Larry Unger declined to identify the firm in question to the AP. A response from the commissioners said they consulted with Maryland’s Department of Budget and Management officials about the payments and that the vendor is one of several companies that have worked for the pubcasters.

NPR’s web team is racing to adapt NPR.org for the technical requirements of Apple’s new iPad, which launches on April 3. Kinsey Wilson, senior v.p. of digital media, reassures Apple enthusiasts that NPR.org will be “optimized” for the iPad experience: “Features like the NPR audio player have been given greater visibility and adapted for the unique technical requirements of this new platform; we’ve modified the navigation and made the site more ‘touch’ friendly; and we’ve improved the sponsorship experience.” NPR is simultaneously developing a companion iPad app. “Until we see how everyone uses it, it’s anybody’s guess as to what the best experience is,” Wilson tells Poynter.org

Larry Sidman, president of the Association of Public Television Stations for the past year, will resign as of April 1, he told Current today.

PBS will score a broadcast first when American Experience posts its “Earth Days” doc on Facebook before its broadcast premiere, reports the New York Times. Mark Samuels, American Experience e.p., said the showing — which will include PBS underwriting credits — is an experiment. “It’s an opportunity, we think, to engage with a new audience, an audience that we may not be bringing to PBS Monday nights at 9 o’clock,” he told the paper. It’ll hit the social networking site April 11, and TV on April 18. Fans on Facebook will also be able to interact there with Samuels as well as the film’s producer, Robert Stone.

“State of the News Media 2010,” this year’s annual report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, warns that the “the losses suffered in traditional news gathering in the last year were so severe that by any accounting they overwhelm the innovations in the world of news and journalism.” The massive report includes an analysis of the revamped PBS NewsHour, which recently melded its online and on-air coverage (Current, Jan. 11). The show had a 0.8 for the 2008-09 season, flat from ‘o7-08. David Sit, v.p. of NewsHour and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, told researchers that excluding a $5.2 million grant for coverage of the 2008 presidential election, the program budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 increased 15 percent, about $3.5 million, to $27.7 million.

WGBH has filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois, alleging that the Treasure Hunters Roadshow violates the Antiques Roadshow trademark and participates in unfair competition and unfair business practices. “We believe there are many people who have been confused and the things such as the prominent use of ‘roadshow’ and the ‘treasure chest’ are leading to that confusion,” Eric Brass, corporate counsel for the WGBH Educational Foundation, told the Mount Vernon Register-News. WGBH had filed a similar suit in 1999 against the International Toy Collectors Association, the precursor to Treasure Hunters Roadshow; that was settled out of court. Matt Enright, v.p.