System/Policy

NPR lays off 10, creates five new roles in restructuring of two divisions

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NPR is laying off 10 staffers in its member partnership and digital services divisions while creating five new positions as part of an internal restructuring. The decisions were made “after consultation with NPR and member station stakeholders” to “more closely align both divisions’ resources,” according to Member Partnership VP Gemma Hooley and Digital Services GM Bob Kempf, who outlined the changes in a memo sent Wednesday to member station A-Reps. The member partnership division will absorb seven of the layoffs. Director Marguerite Nutter’s position will be eliminated, along with those of senior managers Si Sikes, Patricia Cervini and Marc Pultuskier and associates Kristen Hartmann, Jeff Cabiness and Emily Dagger. Another senior manager, Jeff Nemic, has accepted NPR’s voluntary buyout package and will leave next month.

Programs/Content

KCRW, KUSC pair up to secure Santa Barbara’s KDB for pubradio

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A three-way transaction involving Los Angeles pubcasters KCRW and KUSC will bring more public radio options to listeners in Santa Barbara, Calif. Under a deal announced Feb. 18, KCRW will buy 93.7 KDB-FM, a commercial classical station for 88 years, but will not broadcast on the frequency. Instead, all-classical KUSC will move to the channel and transfer its 88.7 FM signal in Santa Barbara to KCRW. KCRW will turn its new acquisition into an outlet for its hybrid format of news and contemporary music, with localized content within NPR newsmagazines.

Quick Takes

Tuesday roundup: a pubradio brew; WGBH show goes national

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• Minnesota Public Radio’s music station The Current will get its brand on a local craft beer this summer. The station is partnering with Minnesota-based brewery Schell’s on a limited-edition, Current-branded run of the brewmaker’s seasonal Zommerfest offering. Sixteen-ounce tallboys will be sold across the state, and all proceeds will support the station. • Public Radio International will make WGBH-FM’s popular weekly show Innovation Hub available for pubradio broadcast starting May 1. The show also airs at 10 p.m. Eastern time Saturdays on XMPR, SiriusXM’s channel of public radio programs.

• Detroit Public Television will provide a live video stream of the Beyond the Connected Vehicle Conference, a look at the future of transportation, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday.

Quick Takes

Monday roundup: Polk goes to Frontline, CPB ombud calls for transparency in grant dustup

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• Frontline today won a George Polk Award for “League of Denial,” its investigation of the NFL’s efforts to downplay evidence linking head injuries of football players to long-term brain disorders. The nonprofit newsroom Center for Public Integrity also won a Polk for “After the Meltdown,” which explored the aftermath of economic crash caused by sub-prime mortgage lenders. A full list of Polk winners, presented by Long Island University, is here. • While CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan agrees with WNET’s decision to return a $3.5 million grant for its series reporting on public pensions, he remains troubled by “the lack of transparency by both WNET and PBS” in handling the controversy. He suggests the original agreement between WNET and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation needs to be disclosed.

People

John Henson, Muppets puppeteer, dies at 48

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John Henson, the son of Muppets creator Jim Henson and a Muppet performer himself, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 48. Henson played the giant ogre Sweetums for decades beginning in 1987, when he took over puppeteering duties for the character from Richard Hunt, according to the Muppet Wiki. He appeared as the character in several commercial Muppets films and television shows and at Walt Disney World. As a child, Henson appeared in short films his father made for PBS’s Sesame Street.

Quick Takes

Kickstarter hacked; users advised to change passwords

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Hackers breached the crowdfunding website Kickstarter Feb. 12 and made off with user data including passwords and email addresses, the company announced Saturday. The hackers did not obtain credit card data, according to Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler, who advised site users to change their account passwords and those of any other site accounts with the same password. “We’re incredibly sorry that this happened,” Strickler wrote in the post. “We set a very high bar for how we serve our community, and this incident is frustrating and upsetting.”

Programs/Content

WNET will return foundation grant for Pension Peril series

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WNET will return a $3.5 million grant it received for a series of reports on public pensions after facing questions about the funder’s involvement with the issue. In a joint statement, PBS and WNET announced Friday that the grant to support the Pension Peril series would go back to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, whose co-founder John Arnold has supported efforts to reduce public pensions. “While PBS stands by WNET’s reporting in this series, in order to eliminate any perception on the part of the public, our viewers, and donors that the Foundation’s interests influenced the editorial integrity of the reporting for this program, WNET has decided to forego the Arnold Foundation support and will return the gift,” the statement said. The statement continued:
“We made a mistake, pure and simple,” said Stephen Segaller, Vice President of Programming at WNET. “The PBS NewsHour Weekend is a new production and while we thought we were following the guidelines and the correct vetting processes, we were incorrect.