Programs/Content

Chevy’s upcoming in-dash app selection to include NPR

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General Motors announced Monday that the NPR News app will be featured in the inaugural suite of in-car apps the automaker has slated for select 2015 Chevrolet models. 

The announcement was made in conjunction with the 2014 Consumer Electronic Show, which kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas. GM is including OnStar 4G LTE connections in 2015 models of the Chevy Corvette, Impala, Malibu and Volt. An LTE connection makes a vehicle a WiFi hotspot and allows drivers to download apps to the dashboard including NPR, The Weather Channel, Priceline.com and Slacker Radio. According to NPR, the new app will use GPS to find a local NPR station and designate it as a “primary favorite.” The app will announce the station and play hourly news and the station’s live stream. Users can add other stations to the app as well and find member stations using a search function. Upwards of 30 programs will be available on-demand, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered. NPR said the app will also allow drivers to create automated playlists focused on topics such as politics and technology.

Quick Takes

Vazquez resigns top post at KLRN

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Mario Vazquez, president and c.e.o. of KLRN in San Antonio, resigned his position effective Dec. 31. Vazquez told the Alamo Public Telecommunications Council board at its Dec. 19 meeting that he needed to leave his post to tend to several ill family members. The board announced his decision in a Dec.

Programs/Content

Web series explores what Black Folk Don’t do

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Doing yoga, going green and enjoying winter sports sound like innocuous topics for a public media web series — that is, until they’re preceded by “Black folk don’t…”

Now midway through its third season, the web series Black Folk Don’t aims to spark frank discussions of racial identity in modern-day America. Actors, scholars and ordinary black folk ponder stereotypes about African-Americans and how historical or cultural contexts might have led to such generalizations. “It was just an idea that popped into my head, being someone who technically does things that black folk ‘don’t do,’” series creator and director Angela Tucker said. Tucker and Black Public Media launched the show in August 2011 after Tucker, a documentary filmmaker whose credits include a 2011 documentary about asexuality, responded to an open call for pitches for web series. The show combines vetted interviews and spontaneous chats with people on the street.

People

NPR newscasters sign off for final time after taking buyouts

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It was a bittersweet broadcast of NPR’s Morning Edition Dec. 20 as the show and network said goodbye to five staffers who opted to take an offer for a voluntary buyout. NPR newscaster Jean Cochran gave her final newscast Friday, concluding her 33-year career with the network. Cochran said she planned to travel and pursue new career options, possibly to include consulting and voice-over work. Last Newscast from Ben Mook on Vimeo.

Programs/Content

Omidyar and Greenwald’s new journalism venture will be incorporated nonprofit

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First Look Media, a new journalism organization backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and headed by former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, will include a 501(c)3 nonprofit as part of its structure. The company, announced in June with $250 million in promised capital from Omidyar, will comprise several entities, including a for-profit division dedicated to exploring new media technologies. According to a Dec. 19 announcement, the still-unnamed nonprofit-journalism side of the company will create a digital publication. Funds from the technology wing will support the journalism, which will retain editorial independence.