Nice Above Fold - Page 507
APTS, NPR to assume management of 170 Million Americans outreach
The Association of Public Television Stations and NPR have assumed co-management of the 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting website, which organizes grassroots support for public broadcasting funding. APTS President Pat Butler told the CPB Board at its meeting Monday (Sept. 10) that the two hope to “super-size” the effort by reaching out to other organizations. The site, launched in December 2010, has helped generate hundreds of thousands of emails and calls to Congress to save federal aid for pubcasting. Its original co-managers were APTS and American Public Media. APM told Current in a statement: “APM, APTS and NPR have agreed that NPR and APTS — the national organizations responsible for representing member stations — will now co-lead 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting.CPB report to Capitol Hill countering "continued and pervasive" opposition to federal funding
CPB’s financial analysis on alternative funding sources for public broadcasting, prepared by consultants at Booz & Co. and delivered to Congress in June, has had little impact on lawmakers’ views about continuation of CPB’s annual federal appropriation to date, CPB staff reported during a Sept. 10 board meeting in Washington, D.C. In the report, analysts for Booz examined a range of options for replacing CPB’s federal aid — from selling commercial advertising to tapping spectrum auction proceeds or selling pay-channel subscriptions, among others. They concluded that withdrawal of federal aid would have a “cascading debilitating effect,” starting first with stations serving rural areas and ultimately leading to collapse of the public broadcasting system.OPB reporter's question to Ira Glass worth $101
Did you hear the one about how This American Life host Ira Glass gave an Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter $101 for asking him a question during a Sept. 9 appearance in Portland? Well, there’s a bit more to it than that. The Oregonian has an explanation here.
Izzi Smith joins NPR programming, Headlee leaves The Takeaway, Brooks heads project for deaf/blind
Israel “Izzi” Smith signs on at NPR in November as director of programming. His predecessor in the job is Eric Nuzum, who was promoted to v.p. of programming earlier this year. Smith has worked as a pubmedia consultant for almost 15 years, helping to introduce and manage programs such as Radiolab, PRX’s The Moth Radio Hour and State of the Re:Union. “Izzi is a true ‘connector,’ always trying to link good ideas, people and stations to serve audiences in bigger, more inclusive ways,” Nuzum wrote in a Sept. 5 memo announcing the hire to NPR staff. Smith’s primary responsibilities will be working with programs as well as on-air fundraising and promotion teams.Core value of PRPD: ‘Think audience’
When Public Radio Program Directors Association was formed 25 years ago, the idea that programmers should do things for an audience “felt like a complete revolution,” says Marcia Alvar in a Q&A with three of the founders.PBS taps BBC’s Midwife to boost Sunday viewership
PBS’s yearlong effort to build more audience flow in its primetime schedule moves into new territory with the Sept. 30 U.S. broadcast premiere of Call the Midwife, a limited-run BBC drama that will attempt to draw in Masterpiece fans and keep them watching an hour longer on Sunday nights.
At last, PBS’s new distribution system nears completion
In August 2005, PBS's $120 million Next Generation Interconnection System was hailed as a major advance for the public broadcasting system. Its target completion date was late 2006. Seven years, several generations of technology and a change of management later, the main components of NGIS are finally moving toward full implementation.There's no one formula for radio’s weekends
With national producers offering new programs and the Magliozzi Brothers retiring from Car Talk, program directors at public radio stations may have an opportune moment to update strategies for weekend programming. Yet with no surefire hits available beyond the familiar warhorses, there’s no easy formula for success when Saturday rolls around.ITVS prepares for beta tests of enhanced OVEE
An infusion of CPB funding is allowing the Independent Television Service to add more features to OVEE, the online engagement tool that ITVS calls “the world’s first fully functional social screening platform.”New youth-flavored variety entries move genre out of its Prairie Home
Once thought to have been left for dead after the vaudeville era, variety shows have re-entered the public radio reinvention conversation — and it doesn’t take Guy Noir to find out why.Hinojosa explores civic life in town where multiculturalism is the norm
America By The Numbers, a PBS election special produced by Maria Hinojosa, looks at the demographic shifts found in U.S. Census data, focusing on people whose engagement in community life exemplifies the increased diversity of American civic life.Attracting eyeballs online requires smarter strategy
With their new website up, KPLU journalists scrutinized usage and found clues pointing to stories that work online.Jefferson Public Radio’s deal with university splits radio from real estate
A new agreement between Southern Oregon University and Jefferson Public Radio settles the months-long dispute between the two parties over control of the 22-station radio network and related real-estate projects that had caused concern among university auditors. The mediated settlement, announced Aug. 27, splits JPR’s radio activities from the theater restoration projects that a related nonprofit, the Jefferson Public Radio Foundation, had undertaken in recent years. Southern Oregon University will assume control of all 22 stations in the JPR network, seven of which are now owned by the foundation. Meanwhile, the foundation’s theater properties will be controlled by Jefferson Live!, a new limited-liability corporation to be established as a subsidiary of the JPR Foundation.WTTW joins Digital Convergence Alliance centralcast project
Chicago’s WTTW said today (Sept. 7) that it has signed on as a founding member of the Digital Convergence Alliance, the multi-station master control centralcast facility lead by WJCT in Jacksonville, Fla., and has been actively involved in its design. “WTTW has a long history of quality content creation,” said Dan Schmidt, WTTW president, “and combining our master control operation frees up resources to create more.” The station plans to put all savings into content; no jobs will be eliminated. The alliance, the second hub operation in pubcasting after Centralcast LLC in New York, is funded by a $7 million grant from CPB.KCET's "SoCal Connected" moving to nightly broadcast
SoCal Connected, KCET’s investigative news program, is moving to a weeknight format for its fifth season, beginning Oct. 29. “We will continue to investigate the inner workings of Los Angeles and surrounding communities, while offering a daily recap of local headlines,” said Bret Marcus, executive producer, in the Sept. 6 announcement. Last season, SoCal Connected won 16 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, more than any other TV station, including its Public Service Award for exposing lavish spending at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles — only the second news organization to receive the honor. KCET was forced to shut down production of new episodes a few weeks earlier than usual last year, after losing U.S.
Featured Jobs
Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation.