For the next year StoryCorps, the public radio group collecting and presenting life stories told between family members and friends, will undertake a new initiative to record oral histories of veterans and active-duty members of the armed forces serving in  Iraq and Afghanistan. The Military Voices Initiative, or MVI, plans interviews of more than 2,000 people, enough to produce more than 700 stories. Funded by CPB and the Boeing Company, MVI is StoryCorps’ eighth initiative focused on a specific ethnic community or news event.  The Griot initiative, for example, collected stories of African-American family life. Some of interviews conducted for MVI will be broadcast on NPR’s Weekend Edition while the entire collection will be housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

PBS President Paula Kerger is No. 31 of the Hollywood Reporter‘s “Women in Entertainment 2012: Power 100.” The 21st annual ranking tallies up the most powerful women in the entertainment industry. Topping the list is Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television. Just above Kerger is Hannah Minghella, president of production, Columbia Pictures; right below is Jacqueline Hernandez, c.o.o. of Telemundo Media. Masterpiece Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton is also on the list, at No. 82.

The Copyright Royalty Board of the Library of Congress has issued new regulations for pubcasting royalty rates from 2013 to 2017, reports Courthouse News Service. The federal Copyright Act requires the government to update its license terms for noncoms every five years. PBS and NPR will pay slightly more across the board, in eight categories, to use musical compositions. For instance, PBS will pay $232.18, up from $227.58, for performance of a work in a feature presentation. NPR will pay $23.53, up from $23.07, for the same use. College pubcasters will also see an increase in their annual fees. The smallest stations, at schools with fewer than 1,000 students, will pay $319 a year, increasing to $339 by 2016.

Local members of NABET (National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians — Communications Workers of America) at WGBH in Boston voted Dec. 1 to accept a new five-year contract. “The negotiations were collaborative and productive, and reflected the NABET members’ understanding of the challenges facing the media industry,” said Ben Godley, WGBH c.o.o., in a statement. “We appreciate their focus on the issues, their commitment to WGBH’s mission, and their dedication to their members and their craft.” “Our members have dedicated years to the success of WGBH,” said Brad Hawes, engineer and president of NABET, in the statement. “We hope the ratification of this contract will lead to a stronger WGBH.”

Pubcasters and their advocates in the state capital credit the change of heart to help from sympathetic lawmakers, the governor’s willingness to change his mind and agreement by pubcasters to strengthen their case for support.

Chip Rogers, the outgoing Georgia State Senate majority leader, is resigning from office to work for Georgia Public Broadcasting, according to the Marietta Daily Journal, in a move that was initiated by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Rogers, also a Republican, made news in October when he organized a lecture for GOP lawmakers “in which a birther activist said that President Barack Obama and the United Nations are using ‘mind-control’ to implement a sustainability agenda,” reports Huffington Post. “A state lawmaker needs a quick exit from the Legislature, and a position at Georgia Public Broadcasting appears,” writes Jim Galloway, political columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Public radio is adapting too slowly to the competitive challenges it faces from Internet-based media platforms, and the pace of change must increase if local stations are to thrive in the years ahead. It’s a warning that public broadcasters have heard many times before, and research that I conducted this fall revealed that a large majority of radio station leaders have absorbed and begun acting on it. What were the most important changes you made in the last three years? Changes cited among the 89 managers surveyed How many cited this Added news programming 65 Made organizational changes, including replacing a ce.o.

William Lake, FCC Media Bureau chief, discussed options for upcoming broadcast spectrum incentive auctions in a webcast Monday sponsored by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, reports TVNewsCheck. The commission could conduct a single-round auction using sealed bids, or a multi-round option, also known as a “descending clock auction.” For that, “rather than have the broadcasters give us a price, the commission would set a price,” Lake said. Here’s how that would work: The FCC would ask broadcasters to sell bandwidth for, say, $100. “If we pick that opening price high, we should get a lot of offers,” Lake said. “Then, we’d say, that’s more spectrum than we need.

KPBS Associate G.M. Stephanie Bergsma, best known in the pubcasting system for cultivating the historic $200 million bequest in 2003 from the late Joan Kroc to NPR, will retire on Dec. 10 after 30 years with the San Diego station. “Stephanie is a dedicated fundraiser,” said longtime KPBS (and Masterpiece) donor Darlene Marcos Shiley in the announcement. “Her ability to connect people’s passions to the mission of KPBS is what made her so successful – and respected. I always looked forward to a meeting with Stephanie because I knew she would have an amazing opportunity for me to make a difference in KPBS.”

KQED in San Francisco, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and the Knight Foundation today announced a $2.5 million media entrepreneur initiative, Matter Ventures. Project spokesman Jason Gordon confirmed to Current that Matter Ventures is the new name for the Public Media Accelerator (PMX), announced earlier this year (Current, March 12). “Matter captures the mission of this accelerator in a more powerful way than PMX,” Gordon said. “The accelerator aims to create new media ventures that do in fact matter and that can create a positive, meaningful impact on society.” The four-month accelerator program is designed to assist media start-ups with early-stage prototypes such as participatory platforms, mobile applications, B2B media services and content production engines.

The FCC adopted new rules today regarding low-power FM stations, paving the way to accept a wave of applications for new LPFMs in October 2013. Under the rules, the FCC will allow LPFMs on second-adjacent frequencies to full-power FM stations if the low-power applicant provides evidence that the new station will not cause interference. These second-adjacency waivers will allow for more low-power stations in big cities where the FM band is more crowded. Other provisions of the Report and Order adopted today include: A modified point system that will give an edge to Native applicants and to LPFMs with a staffed main studio and local programming; Permission of cross-ownership of an LPFM station and up to two translator stations; And an allowance for tribal nations to operate more than one LPFM.