System/Policy

Deadlines to relocate, raise money weigh on Pacifica stations

By |

The Pacifica radio network rarely enjoys a drama-free moment, but with two of its five stations on a tight schedule to find new studios, tensions among network leaders and local volunteers are even higher than usual. Last week Summer Reese, interim executive director of Pacifica, took a redeye from the West Coast, where Pacifica is headquartered, to appear in court in Washington, D.C. The landlord of WPFW, Pacifica’s Washington station, is selling the building that houses the station’s studios to a developer who has plans for a new hotel on the site and needs WPFW to move out of the way. Reese and WPFW leaders have been searching for a new location for months, but the site on which the station had already paid rent has prompted a backlash among station volunteers: The studios are located outside the District of Columbia and shared with a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications. Some WPFW volunteers have gone to court to block that move, and Reese is sympathetic to their cause. Meanwhile, Pacifica’s debt-burdened New York station, WBAI, is also on the hunt for a new home and faces an equally pressing deadline to find one.

System/Policy

Friendly takeover of Spokane’s KSPS

By |

When the Spokane Public School District was considering selling its PBS station, KSPS, it did not have to look far to find an interested party. On April 10, the school board voted to sell the station for $1 million to the Friends of KSPS, its partner in raising funds for the station since its founding in 1972. The transaction is expected to close in September pending FCC approval. The two groups had been discussing a possible license transfer for about six years, said Mark Anderson, assistant superintendent for the school district. Dwindling state support over the past year expedited a final decision, he said.

People

KUOW’s Wayne Roth, co-founder of SRG, to retire in September

By |

Wayne Roth, longtime station chief at Seattle’s KUOW-FM and a past recipient of CPB’s Murrow Award honoring outstanding contributions to public radio, plans to retire in September. Roth’s influential pubradio career spans 45 years. During nine years on the NPR Board in the 1980s,  Roth “played a critical role in reinventing NPR, moving it from reliance on federal funding and directing those funds to the stations instead,” according the announcement released by the University of Washington, KUOW’s licensee.  His long service on the NPR board included two years as chair from 1988-90. Roth joined KUOW in 1983. During his tenure, the station — which serves Puget Sound, western Washington and Southern British Columbia — has become a pubradio powerhouse.

Programs/Content

PRI stations to experiment with locally customized news

By |

The competition for midday timeslots on public radio stations is heating up, as Public Radio International and producers of its news programs unveiled plans to experiment with new approaches for combining national and local content to give stations more control over what their local listeners hear during the middle of each weekday.

Quick Takes

Blog by FCC nominee suggests Wheeler may favor wireless over broadcast

By |

Is Tom Wheeler, President Obama’s nominee to head the FCC, “a wireless guy” who looks down on over-the-air broadcasting? TVNewsCheck perused Wheeler’s blog, titled Mobile Musings, and found some evidence to that effect. Wheeler, a former lay member of the PBS Board, is the president’s nominee to replace outgoing FCC Chair Julius Genachowski. In one blog entry, Wheeler writes: “When only 10% of households rely exclusively on over-the-air signals (for TV reception) and digital technology can cram most market’s existing signals into a single license allocation, the question gets asked whether there might be a higher and better use for those airwaves.” In another: ““Broadcast spectrum is being kept out of the hands of rapid-paced innovators, while those who hold the spectrum appear to be taking their time embracing the opportunities digital presents.”

People

NET selects Leonard to replace longtime station head Bates

By |

Mark Leonard, g.m. for Illinois Public Media in Urbana, takes over as g.m. and c.e.o. of NET in Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 1. He will step into the spot vacated by current G.M. Rod Bates, who is retiring June 30 after 30 years in pubcasting and 18 years of leadership at the station. Leonard’s appointment was announced today by Ken Bird, chair of the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission, who said Leonard “is the right fit for Nebraska and NET.” Leonard has worked at six pubcasting stations over 32 years.

Quick Takes

University of Kentucky sues reporter at pubradio station it owns

By |

In a dispute over an open records request, the University of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against Brenna Angel, a reporter for its own public radio station, WUKY-FM. Angel has been covering problems in the pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, which is operated by the university. The university filed the lawsuit in Fayette County Circuit Court against Angel last week. Angel had requested records related to pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at a university-owned hospital. WUKY is not named in the lawsuit.