Nice Above Fold - Page 393

  • Pacifica's WBAI seeks new home for transmitter

    With its current location atop the Empire State Building threatened, Pacifica’s WBAI-FM in New York is looking to relocate its transmitter. In an FCC filing submitted Tuesday, Pacifica asked for permission to move its transmitter to the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square. Pacifica is also asking for a boost in power from 4,300 watts to 10,000 watts in order to maintain its current coverage area. In a June 19 report to Pacifica’s board, interim Executive Director Bernard Duncan said the Empire State Building’s management had returned two rent checks and that eviction from the location was imminent.
  • University of Washington files to transfer KEXP license to friends group

    The move comes as KEXP conducts a $15 million capital campaign for a new headquarters.
  • With 'Smartbinge,' WNYC aims to raise national profile for digital content

    In an effort to position itself as a national brand in public radio, New York’s WNYC is launching an ad campaign likening its programs’ listeners to Netflix-style binge watchers. The Smartbinge campaign will consist of targeted digital ad buys and a landing page on WNYC.org to encourage listeners from around the country to listen to substantial amounts of WNYC programming. Other elements include Twitter hashtags, geotargeted Facebook ads, paid search results and sponsored blog posts. WNYC is spending around $200,000 on the campaign, working with creative and public-relations teams Cataldi Public Relations and Eyeballs. As WNYC increases digital offerings with streams and a mobile app, it has its sights set on an audience beyond New York.
  • TAL’s Alex Blumberg plans for-profit podcast network

    Blumberg, e.p. of This American Life and co-host of Planet Money, envisions a sustainable future for narrative audio journalism.
  • Expanded budget buoys plans for PBS's revamped development division

    Betsy Gerdeman, who took over as senior vice president of PBS Development in February, is busy rebuilding that staff while focusing on three priorities for stations: planned giving, local corporate support and on-air fundraising. “I still have my station hat firmly on my head, and I hope I always will,” said Gerdeman, who has worked at KLRU and KLRN in San Antonio and WETA in Arlington, Va. “The success in this department comes from walking in the shoes of the stations we serve.” PBS trimmed its fundraising staff in June 2010, eliminating four staffers who specialized in station fundraising. Director of Station Development Services Valerie Pletcher joined in November 2010 to focus on informational and training needs and best practices; she left in April 2014.
  • Sesame Street to add half-hour show for afternoons

    PBS will also offer the half-hour show for mobile devices.
  • Valerie Gunderson, WGBH budget director, dies at 59

    Gunderson worked for WGBH for more than 25 years.
  • Mike Foti, engineering exec at WGBH and OPB, dies at 63

    Foti was WGBH's director of engineering for 14 years before joining OPB in 2013.
  • WETA to create subsidiary for transfer of PBS NewsHour ownership

    WETA’s board of trustees unanimously authorized the transfer, which does not involve any cash, at a June 17 meeting in Arlington, Va.
  • Web videos from WVPB connect careers and education for middle-schoolers

    WVPB-TV is returning to its roots as the Educational Broadcasting Authority of West Virginia as it shifts production priorities from local programming to digital content for teachers. When Scott Finn took over as executive director in February 2013, the board gave him a mandate to “specifically help pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade educators, parents and students,” he said. “That was clear when I was hired.” Finn has an educational background himself, having worked as a sixth-grade social studies and English teacher. So the Charleston-based station is cutting back longtime weekly shows Doctors on Call and The Law Works to occasional productions and focusing instead on new STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) interactive videos to help middle-schoolers think about future careers.
  • Paula Sulinski, DPTV communications manager, dies at 59

    Sulinski worked for the station's public-affairs division from 1976 to 1993.
  • Five New York pubcasters team up for CPB-backed regional newsroom

    Five public media stations in New York will create a regional newsroom with a $375,000 grant from CPB, announced today. The two-year backing will support Upstate Insight, which CPB called “an innovative model for covering news across a large geographic area.” Principal partners are WXXI, Rochester; WSKG, Binghamton; WRVO, Oswego; and WMHT, Troy. WBFO in Buffalo is an associate partner. In the announcement, CPB said the stations “will develop news data capability and adopt content sharing and communications systems to support connectivity between organizations.” Upstate Insight differs from the Local Journalism Centers previously funded by CPB, which focused on particular subjects rather than geographical regions.