Several noncommercial broadcasters, including Philadelphia’s WHYY and WMMT-FM in Whitesburg, Ky., received 2006 New Voices grants from the University of Maryland’s J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism.

Daniel Ash, Chicago Public Radio’s v.p. of communications, talks with Chicagoist about the broadcaster’s upcoming format changes. “Our aim is to develop a service that is highly localized and a reflection of the Chicago area, which would include music,” Ash says. Chicagoist, a local blog, was critical of the changes, as was this opinionator in the Chicago Tribune. But Trib blogger Steve Johnson offered words of praise.

Chicago Public Radio has angered local musicians with its decision to drop all music from its stations in favor of news and talk programming, reports the Chicago Tribune. “It’s a major blow — it’s kind of criminal,” says jazz musician Ken Vandermark.

Lisa A. Phillips has just started appearing in bookstores to promote her newly published Public Radio Behind the Voices (CDS Books, 334 pages), which profiles 43 national program hosts and other stars. To be ready in case she’s interviewed, Phillips has virtually memorized her book. Quick! Who had accountants for fathers? She ticks them off: Ira Glass, Michael Feldman and Bob Edwards. Alas, if having an accountant father would cause anything in particular in a public radio star, that pattern of results defies theorizing. In her travels and phone interviews over the past two years she enjoyed many interviews, among them Performance Today weekend host Korva Coleman, who “lives very intentionally,” putting her family first, and Bill McGlaughlin, conductor and host of St.

Exposure on NPR’s Fresh Air helped land the debut album of novelty act What I Like About Jew into Amazon’s top 100 sellers, reports Reuters.

The sounds of the Philadelphia Orchestra will return to national radio thanks to a deal with NPR, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Orchestra musicians have expressed frustration since the ’90s that they have lacked a steady presence on national radio.

The New York Times has opted to sell its 50 percent stake in the Discovery Times Channel back to Discovery Communications Inc., ending its three-year-old partnership with cable network, the New York Observer reports (see earlier post). In a conference call announcing its first quarter earnings, Times CEO Janet Robinson told analysts today that the company will shift its focus to short-form programming for distribution on its recently redesigned website. “Advertisers are really coveting that,” she said (via Romenesko). The Times previously partnered with a variety of public TV shows, such as Frontline, Now with Bill Moyers, Nova and The NewsHour.

The former development director of Ann Arbor’s Michigan Radio pleaded no contest yesterday to a charge of embezzling from the station. The Detroit News reports that two other defendants, including the current g.m. of WDET-FM in Detroit, pleaded not guilty. News of the crimes did not appear to affect Michigan Radio’s spring fund drive, reports the Free Press, though pledges are down at WDET. A station exec attributes the drop to a recent format change. (Additional coverage in the Free Press.)

Some analysts believe that public radio has benefited from Howard Stern’s move to satellite radio, which left some former listeners looking for other earthbound alternatives, reports Reuters.

Lance Orozco is one of Southern California’s most honored and recognized journalists. Yet he doesn’t work for the Los Angeles Times or a commercial megastation. Orozco has instead landed dozens of awards from area press groups by making an unlikely news powerhouse out of tiny KCLU-FM in Thousand Oaks, a Ventura County suburb northwest of Los Angeles. The station employs just four full-time staffers but has won a flood of praise for the extensive local coverage spearheaded by Orozco, its news director and reporting dynamo. Last month the Associated Press Television and Radio Association of California and Nevada awarded KCLU and Orozco nine of its Mark Twain Awards, including one naming him Radio Reporter of the Year.

NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin reviews his network’s new blog: “NPR has a well-deserved but perhaps overstated reputation for reporting the news with great seriousness, so the initial impressions one gets from reading ‘Mixed Signals’ are: 1) Why didn’t NPR do this sooner? and 2) Who knew that the news organization with a reputation of earnestness could be so whimsical?” Dvorkin also reveals that he declined a request to turn his column into a blog.

IT Conversations is auctioning a month-long sponsorship of the podcast of Tech Nation, a show that also airs on public radio stations. Bidding opens today at $12,000. (Via Technology360.)

For the first time, NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin received more complaints about left-wing bias than right-wing bias over the past quarter, he says in his latest report on listener feedback.

Consultant John Sutton plays down the hype around podcasting. “Even at 10 times the current number of downloads, podcasting will have a minimal effect on the size of the traditional public radio audience. The more immediate issue facing public radio is the long-term collective effect of podcasting, satellite radio, and soon, wireless broadband.”

Why is jazz singer Robin McKelle suddenly ranked fifth on the Amazon sales charts? It’s the “NPR effect,” says Robert Smith on Mixed Signals.