Next Avenue, which has been called “the biggest public media initiative being undertaken anywhere in public broadcasting,” has hired a staff of eight and so far raised $6 million in foundation money for the web-based project designed to “hyper-serve” America’s aging population. Staffers will be located in New York, St. Paul, Denver and Washington, D.C., creating “an interesting new model for a public television station — a virtual organization — as well as journalism hubs across the country,” the initiative, based at Twin Cities Public Television, announced on Monday (Nov. 28). The hires: Donna Sapolin will be Next Avenue’s vice president, editorial director and general manager; she’s former editor-in-chief of This Old House magazine and vice president/editorial director of Woman’s Day Special Interest Publications.

CNSNews.com, the news website of the conservative Media Research Center, is reporting that former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is developing a Sunday morning talk show for Maryland Public Television. The first episode of The Whole Truth is scheduled to be produced Nov. 29 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., according to CNSNews.com, and will air in January. “This is a pilot, and we hope to put on many, many additional programs — depends on how well we do and how well it is received,” Specter told the news site. His first guests include former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and former Sen.

T.J. Lubinsky, whose musical pledge specials have brought in some $300 million for the pubcasting system, “is not a trained musician,” reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the paper in his adopted hometown. “He doesn’t play an instrument and can’t sing very well, but he has a keen, almost supernatural ear for music.” One example is a 3 a.m. recording session of Phil Spector’s “Be My Baby” and “Da Doo Ron Ron.” To Lubinsky, the castanets just did not sound authentic. And he was correct, because the castanets Spector used were made from ebony and used by flamenco dancers. “We found an instructor at Carnegie Mellon who had the real ones for teaching flamenco,” recalled producer Paul Brownstein.

Ron Della Chiesa, longtime broadcaster and host of Boston Symphony Orchestra performances on WGBH, has a new memoir out, Radio My Way. Among the memories he shared with the Boston Globe was what he considers to be the “worst interview” he ever did, with singer Eartha Kitt during his MusicAmerica show that ran from 1978 to ’96, also on WGBH. “I was playing this rare recording of ‘Lilac Wine,’ and she said: ‘It was stupid of you to play that. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever done.’ I couldn’t go to black; it was live. She had a reputation for being tough.”

Frederik G.H. Meijer, a billionaire grocery magnate and philanthropist whose famous generosity benefited Michigan and whose name resides on the Meijer Public Broadcast Center at Grand Valley State University’s Grand Rapids campus, died Friday (Nov. 25). He was 91. “Fred’s support for PBS and NPR has enriched the lives of everyone who watches television and listens to radio in West Michigan,” Michael Walenta, general manager at WGVU, said in a statement. “We will be forever in his debt.” Meijer was No. 60 on this year’s Forbes 400 Richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $5 billion. Here’s his obituary in the Grand Rapids Press, which notes, “he delighted in seeing what his money could do for the area’s hospitals, colleges and cultural institutions.”

A Florida congresswoman wants American Public Media and other media outlets to stop airing underwriting spots and advertising by Allianz AG, a German insurer that did business with the Nazis, reports the Miami Herald. Allianz is one of two corporate underwriters of A Prairie Home Companion. GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who heads the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, is backing a bill that would allow Holocaust survivors to sue the insurer and has launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at blocking it from advertising in America until it pays off all Holocaust survivors’ life insurance claims. During World War II, the Herald says, Allianz insured concentration camp facilities as well as sent money to the Nazis instead of rightful Jewish beneficiaries.

Starting Dec. 8, KCET will feature eight-minute, behind-the-scenes clips of the popular British dramedy Doc Martin following each episode, the Los Angeles indie pubcaster announced Saturday (Nov. 26). Bohdan Zachary, v.p. of broadcasting and program development, spent time on the series set earlier this year, interviewing the actors and hanging out in Port Isaac, North Cornwall, U.K., where the show takes place.

President and Mrs. Obama hosted an In Performance at the White House this week, paying tribute to country music. Check out the production photos — including performances by Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett and Alison Krauss — on PBS Press Room’s flickr stream.

WJCT in Jacksonville, Fla., is in partnership talks with University of North Florida. Dual-licensee WJCT “would remain a community-based public broadcasting station but would work with UNF in a number of ways,” reports News 4 in Jacksonville. “It has yet to be determined how that relationship is going to be formulated,” said Michael Boylan, president of WJCT. “There are some financial benefits to having this kind of relationship.” In September WJCT-FM dropped A Prairie Home Companion and two others shows, citing a $500,000 drop in state funding.

TuneIn, a free streaming audio aggregation app that lets listeners hear music, sports and news from around the world, has launched TuneIn Donate, which enables listeners to contribute to pubradio stations. KQED in San Francisco is piloting the new app, available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android smartphones. TuneIn said in a statement that since using TuneIn Donate, KQED “has seen a meaningful increase in traffic” to its website donation page, although it provided no details. “KQED donors are some of the earliest adopters of new technologies,” said Tim Olson, station v.p. of digital media and education. “We are excited to be part of this groundbreaking initiative and are encouraged with the initial results.”

Contractors working in the basement of KCAW/Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska, uncovered human remains that may predate the 103-year-old building, the Associated Press is reporting in the Anchorage Daily News. When workers found the skull and skeleton between two slabs of bedrock, work immediately stopped. “And the first thing we had to do was figure out what to do,” said KCAW General Manager Ken Fate. Police and an archeologist determined the bones were not part of a crime scene. Then, “erring on the side of caution,” Fate said, “we determined that we better treat them as if they might be culturally significant.”

Here’s a nice Thanksgiving tribute to public media from the staff of the National Center for Media Engagement, talking about what they’re most thankful for. From Charles Meyer, NCME executive director: “I’m grateful for the times I’ve giggled uncontrollably while listening to This American Life podcasts. I’m thankful for being moved deeply every time I watch Ken Burns’s documentary about Lewis and Clark. And I’ve never been more proud and grateful to be part of public media as I was when my family and I watched the recent NewsHour segment about American Graduate and the Nine Network Teacher Town Hall.

Brian Eckstein, production manager at Indiana Public Radio and a volunteer at the station since high school, died unexpectedly Monday (Nov. 21) at his home in Muncie, Ind. He was 40. “Chances are, if you live around here, your life has been touched somehow, in some way, by Brian Eckstein,” wrote the Star Press in Muncie. “His small shoes leave an enormous space to fill at the radio station, and in our hearts,” Angie Rapp, marketing manager of WIPB and IPR, told the paper. Eckstein was recognized as an Outstanding Alumnus by the Disabled Student Development Office of Ball State University.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has named Jeffrey Callison of Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, as press secretary of media relations in the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Callison, with his distinctive Scottish brogue, is host of the daily pubaffairs show Insight. “I’m happy what I’m doing,” Callison told the Sacramento Bee. “It’s not that I don’t like what I’m doing or that I’m not happy at Cap Radio. I just felt it was time for a new challenge.” Salary for the position is $102,015.

CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan looks into a complaint that during a recent fundraising campaign at WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, N.Y., the station sold buttons that read “I support WAMC & Occupy Wall Street — 99%” for an additional 99-cent contribution. Also, the listener writes to Kaplan, during that campaign, station President Alan Chartock “constantly referred to the Republicans in the House as ‘radical’ intent on silencing public radio because it is an answer to Rush Limbaugh. This speaks directly to how Dr. Chartock views himself. If he is the answer to Rush Limbaugh, he should raise the money from sponsors and not the taxpayers.”