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Project Core: A vision for scale and growth

Over the past three years, CentralCast has been hard at work implementing critical upgrades that lay the foundation for a more resilient and advanced future. And now, the culmination of these efforts is taking shape in our most ambitious initiative yet: Project Core.

Quick Takes

Caryn Mathes leaving D.C.’s WAMU-FM for KUOW-FM in Seattle

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Caryn Mathes, g.m. of WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C., will assume the same post at KUOW and Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle on Jan. 2, 2014, licensee University of Washington announced today. Mathes replaces Wayne Roth, who announced his retirement in May. WAMU licensee American University also released a statement today, saying that under Mathes’s leadership, the station expanded to seven radio stations and four Internet streams and enhanced its news coverage and original programming. She inherited a $9 million operation in 2005 and grew it to $22 million.

Programs/Content

WFUV seeks membership boost with new mix of music

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New York’s WFUV has expanded its music mix and dropped NPR newscasts, with a goal of enticing more listeners to become members. Starting this month, the Triple A station broadened its playlists and added more local music to its lineup. Listeners might now hear musicians such as Prince, the Clash and Arcade Fire in close proximity, while classic artists such as Aretha Franklin, Queen, and Hall and Oates are still represented. WFUV is also featuring more new music as it aims to buttress its reputation for introducing listeners to up-and-coming artists. Program Director Rita Houston and her colleagues were happy with recent growth in WFUV’s audience, from an average–quarter-hour share of 0.2 in spring 2012 to 0.4 a year later.

Quick Takes

FCC extends deadline for LPFM applications

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The FCC has set a new deadline for applicants seeking licenses for low-power FM stations, agreeing to keep its filing window open until 6 p.m. Nov. 14. After the federal government resumed operations last week, several organizations that assist low-power FM radio stations appealed to the commission to extend its window for accepting LPFM applications. They sought to adjust the time frame to accommodate aspiring licensees who had been hindered in preparing their applications by the government shutdown. The FCC initially planned to accept LPFM applications Oct.

Programs/Content

World Channel premieres Local USA, showcasing pubTV stories nationwide

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Local USA, a 13-part documentary series focusing on “story, character, region and place,” premieres today on the World Channel. The half-hour series, a co-production of WTTW in Chicago and World Channel, showcases stories from pubTV stations nationwide, as well as independent productions. Each episode may contain multiple short segments, or just one or two films. One episode, “Death and Dying,” profiles a respectful embalmer in Toledo, Ohio; a dying woman in Brooklyn who is planning her final dinner party; and an urban philosopher in Memphis. The stories “build on one another to provide not only a better understanding of the overall topic, but also of what unites the U.S. in all its diversity — and what makes various places distinctive,” WTTW said in its announcement. Hosts are Evan Allen-Gessesse, a producer, director, writer and photographer, and Chicago-based actress Niccole Thurman.

People

NewsHour founders to transfer ownership

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The decision by retired founders Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil, which has the approval of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (MLP) majority owner Liberty Media, will secure future journalistic independence for the news magazine.

Quick Takes

Pittsburgh pubcaster partnering on local War of the Worlds performance

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WESA-FM in Pittsburgh is marking the 75th anniversary of the infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast with a live performance of the H.G. Wells story — this time, set in its own city. The pubcaster is partnering with local theater troupe Bricolage for the event, at 9 p.m. Oct. 30. On that date in 1938, an episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, directed and narrated by Orson Welles, created panic among listeners who believed the U.S. was under really attack by Martian invaders. The Bricolage performance will feature WESA’s Paul Guggenheimer, host of the newsmag Essential Pittsburgh.