The America’s Promise Alliance gave its 2012 Journalism Award for Action to NPR for Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families, an October 2011 series reported by Laura Sullivan and produced by Amy Walters. The October 2011 series, the result of a yearlong investigation, revealed how the state of South Dakota was failing to follow laws that specify how Native children should be put in foster care. It prompted a federal investigation and a resolution from the National Congress of American Indians. The Alliance’s annual awards recognize the efforts of journalists working to raise awareness about the needs of young people and those who inspire communities to act on behalf of youth.

Former NPR correspondent Andrea Seabrook, who covered Congress until departing in July to launch an independent podcast called Decode DC, crossed the finish line on her Kickstarter fundraising campaign Oct. 17, hitting her goal of $75,000 and ultimately topping out at over $100,000. Seabrook launched the campaign Sept. 25 and met her fundraising target with two days to spare. Seabrook conceded during an Oct. 5 panel discussion at the Third Coast Conference in Evanston, Ill., midway through the campaign, that she “did everything wrong” in her approach to the crowdfunding platform — from distributing a weak promotional video to offering uninteresting gifts.

To the editors, Regarding your recent article about discussions of audience-building strategies for public radio at last month’s Public Radio Program Directors conference, I do note with interest this exchange: During a Q&A in Las Vegas, John Van Hoesen, v.p. for news and programming at Vermont Public Radio, asked NPR Chief Content Officer Kinsey Wilson whether NPR would produce more newsmagazine-like programming for middays. Wilson questioned whether NPR has the capacity to help fill that gap. But both he and David Kansas, c.o.o. of Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, said that stations and networks could work together more to share content, creating a system for allowing local stations to pick up and air each other’s reporting.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s pledge to defund PBS, which he reiterated during the Oct. 3 televised presidential debate, set off a flurry of advocacy activity by pubcasters working at both the national and local levels. PBS had already spent several months developing its ValuePBS.org site, trumpeting the importance of public TV, and sped up its launch to the day after the debate. Stations sprung into action to alert their viewers and listeners, sending waves of them to the grassroots-advocacy 170 Million Americans website — which has since garnered 50,000 new fans. “Thousands of people are coming to our aid,” particularly on Twitter and Facebook, said Pat Butler, president of the Association of Public Television Stations advocacy organization.

Today marks the premiere of the video “The Emperor’s New Onesie,” based on an excerpt from pubradio producer Hillary Frank’s blog and podcast, “The Longest Shortest Time: The Truth About Early Motherhood.” In a Knight Foundation-backed project, Frank teamed up with former pubradio producer Rekha Murthy, illustrator Jen Corace and animator Joe Posner to visualize the audio short story. Frank’s podcast “pays close attention to an experience that so many share, one that remains largely absent from traditional public radio,” Murthy said on the Knight Blog. “It has attracted a substantial listenership in less than two years with virtually no promotion.

KCET, the Los Angeles public TV station that split from PBS nearly two years ago, is merging with Link TV, the noncommercial national satellite broadcaster that specializes in international news and documentary programming. The boards of KCET and San Francisco-based Link TV approved the Jan. 1, 2013, merger on Tuesday morning. No money was involved in the deal. The new nonprofit, KCETLink, will have one board and management team but continue to distribute programming under each  established brand. KCET President Al Jerome will be chief executive officer of KCETLink, with Link TV President Paul Mason serving as chief strategy officer.

Lloyd Mintzmyer, the founding chief engineer at Smoky Hills Public Television in Bunker Hill, Kan., died in an automobile accident Oct. 14 south of Glade, Kan. He was 66. “Mintzmyer was a friend, a colleague and even a mentor to employees at the TV station and the surrounding community,” said Michael Quade, station g.m. “His dedication to the cause of public television in Kansas was instrumental in getting Smoky Hills Public Television where it is today.” Mintzmyer was chief engineer at SHPTV from 1981 to 2004. “He was part of the team that was there to put up the very first broadcast tower for KOOD,” Quade said.

Here’s a look at the nuts-and-bolts behind Beyond November, a three-way election coverage collaboration among St. Louis Public Radio, Nine Network of Public Media and the nonprofit St. Louis Beacon. Media Shift reports that throughout the day, the partners co-publish election coverage on their own website, with summaries on the Beyond November site and links to the full stories. The project has a full-time managing editor, as well as a dedicated radio reporter.

Tavis Smiley has posted a scathing letter he emailed to Torey Malatia, president of Chicago Public Radio, in response to the station dropping his Smiley & West at the end of September due to sagging audience numbers. (Here’s background on the controversy from Chicago media critic Robert Feder.) In the letter, Smiley notes it is the first time in 20 years he has felt the need to write to the head of a local station. “If Smiley & West has experienced any erosion in listenership, it might have something to do with being heard over WBEZ on Sundays at 12 Noon when most Black Chicagoans are in worship service,” Smiley writes.

William Friday, a past president of University of North Carolina and longtime host of North Carolina People with William Friday on UNC-TV, died Oct. 12 in his Chapel Hill home. He was 92. The program aired for 41 years, with Friday interviewing some 2,000 of the state’s writers, educators, athletes, politicians and other personalities. The first episode of the new season, an interview with retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ran on Aug. 3. “We haven’t made a determination yet about the future of the program,” UNC-TV spokesman Steve Volstad told the local News & Observer.

The popular pubradio quiz show Whad’Ya Know? has selected a successor to longtime announcer Jim Packard, who died in June.  Sara Nics is joining the staff of the Wisconsin Public Radio program that’s distributed by Public Radio International. Previously she worked as producer for WPR’s To The Best of Our Knowledge, and covered Asia for Radio Netherlands. “I’ve been laughing with Whad’Ya Know? for years,” Nics said in the announcement. “It was an enormous compliment to be asked to audition for the gig, and fun to discover that the show’s even funnier from the stage.” “No one can fill Jim Packard’s seat,” she added.

Philadelphia’s WXPN began independent syndication of XPoNential Radio, its 24-hour stream of Triple A music programming,  after NPR discontinued its service providing packaged HD Radio feeds to member stations. XPoNential Radio offers a blend of “blues, rock, world, folk and alternative country,” according to a news release announcing the new syndication offer.  WXPN General Manager Roger LaMay said about 20 stations already subscribed to the stream. “With XPoNential Radio being the most popular of the HD streams NPR offered, we decided to offer it on our own,” LaMay said. “It’s a 24-hour, plug and play stream that can be used on an HD2, HD3 or for streaming on the Internet.”