System/Policy

DEI rebrands as Greater Public to reflect new goals for membership, collaborations

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ATLANTA — DEI, the membership organization that supports development and fundraising work at public radio stations, has changed its name to Greater Public. President Doug Eichten announced the change during the opening session of the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, which runs through Saturday at the downtown Omni Hotel. “[T]he nature and pace of change in the media landscape now is so dramatic that we believe our industry is at a true inflection point,” Eichten said. “Greater Public is committed to providing new levels of leadership and resources for public media organizations to move forward.”

The new name signals Greater Public’s intention to broaden its membership to include more public television stations and to develop collaborations among different types of public-service media organizations, including nonprofit news outlets. It also plans to produce special offerings in leadership development and training, including for lay leaders who serve on station boards.

Quick Takes

Grech ousted as WLRN news chief

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Dan Grech was dismissed as news director for the reporting partnership between the Miami Herald and WLRN-FM on Monday. WLRN General Manager John Labonia told staffers and other pubcasters in an email that Grech “is no longer with WLRN Miami Herald News, effective immediately. A national search will be conducted to identify a replacement.”

Labonia is away from WLRN this week and could not be reached for comment. Grech joined the station as news director in February 2010. Previously, he spent a year as the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton, where he taught “The New Age of Audio Journalism,” the university’s first audio production course.

Development

Donated cars bring big bucks to public stations

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The vehicle donation process that plays out from the donor’s first phone call to the check’s arrival at the station is opaque and can involve a number of for-profit and nonprofit companies that take 20 percent or more of the sale price in fees.

Programs/Content

North Carolina stations collaborate on shared programming service for African-American audiences

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Three North Carolina radio stations that serve African-American listeners are collaborating to create a statewide jazz service and drive-time news and public affairs programs in a bid to boost audience while sharing costs and resources. The National Federation of Community Broadcasters is facilitating the project, which includes WFSS in Fayetteville, WNCU in Durham and WSNC in Winston-Salem. The stations currently air dual formats of jazz with news/talk during drive time, and all are licensed to historically black schools — Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University and Winston-Salem State University. “We’re all located on HBCU [historically black colleges and universities] campuses, and we have very similar offerings,” says Elvin Jenkins, g.m. of WSNC. “So it just made sense.” Discussions among NFCB and the stations began in October 2012.

Quick Takes

Fanning will get Lifetime Achievement Emmy during ceremonies this fall

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Frontline creator and Executive Producer David Fanning will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences at the news and documentary Emmy Awards on Oct. 1, the academy announced today. “David Fanning has guided Frontline to the pinnacle of public affairs television,” said Malachy Wienges, academy chair, in the announcement. David Winn, director of the news and documentary Emmys, praised the program’s “decades-long commitment to journalistic excellence, integrity, and independence.” Past Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award recipients include Bill Moyers, Ken Burns, Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters.

Quick Takes

President Obama to honor NPR’s Frank Deford with National Humanities Medal

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Frank Deford, sports journalist, author and longtime Morning Edition commentator, will receive the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday, reports the Westport News in Connecticut, where Deford has lived for nearly 40 years. The citation the president will read during the presentation recognizes Deford “for transforming how we think about sports. A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love.” He is one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal. Others include writer Joan Didion, political scientist Robert Putnam, poet Kay Ryan and actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

Development

APTS, NPR retooling 170 Million Americans campaign

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A grassroots initiative that encourages citizens to lobby Capitol Hill for continued funding to public media is changing its name, revamping its website and updating its social-media outreach. Starting July 15, the 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting initiative, which launched in December 2010, will become Protect My Public Media, according to a message sent to supporters July 1. In a statement posted June 14 on the National Friends of Public Broadcasting website, NPR’s Mike Riksen said pubcasting’s Washington representatives have been working over several months to make the campaign “a more capable and vital asset in our efforts to preserve federal funding for public broadcasting stations.”

NPR has been collaborating with the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) to revamp the campaign, he said. Riksen is NPR’s v.p. of policy and representation. Representatives for NPR and APTS declined to discuss the changes with Current.