Programs/Content
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Current (https://current.org/tag/klru/)
Learn about creative local projects from three stations, then enter our contest.
Broadcasters in Nebraska, Texas and Florida are learning how to engage viewers with immersive media productions.
“Focus more on the community-service angle rather than production challenges.”
A lively music scene in Texas inspired Arhos to create the long-running public TV show.
• CPB CEO Pat Harrison sat down with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Monday for an interview about her background in advance of a visit to WQED for the station’s 60th anniversary. Harrison chatted about her beginnings as a freelance writer and as the founder of the National Women’s Economic Alliance and about how her Brooklyn upbringing influenced her leadership abilities. “You would go from one block to the other at that time, and you were in a different country,” she said. “You didn’t want to be fighting on the playground all the time, so you had to find a way to connect with some sort of common denominator, or you wouldn’t survive third grade.” • Writers for Canada.com and The Atlantic have criticized a discussion of the concept of “rape culture” that aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
After letting their BBQ grillmaster marinate on YouTube, Austin’s KLRU is taking him to TV. The station will produce the 10-episode series BBQ With Franklin for national pubTV distribution in early 2015, based on a popular series of YouTube videos featuring Austin BBQ legend Aaron Franklin. The YouTube series, launched in 2012 with support in part from crowdfunding and PBS Digital Studios, has racked up more than one million viewers. While the YouTube series is mostly instructional in nature, the TV show will follow Franklin as he travels around central Texas learning about BBQ history and culture. KLRU will continue to produce new web-exclusive episodes concurrently with the broadcast series.
The Ready to Learn program backing educational media and outreach for children ages 2 to 8 is making digital learning through community engagement a priority, a change that will affect which stations participate in the program.
In a bid to attract younger viewers who don’t tune in to broadcast TV, PBS Digital Studios has cultivated a slate of online shows at a fraction of over-the-air production costs. The network promises its push into web video will help member stations, as well.
KLRU in Austin won three statuettes, including one in the community service category for “Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project 2012,” a contemporary ballet and education program promoting human rights through the arts, education and public dialogue. Cited were Sara Robertson and Karen Bernstein, producers; Betsy Gerdeman, executive producer; Maury Sullivan, community engagement; and Cookie Ruiz, project supervisor. KRLU also won with “KRLU Collective: Asian Occasion” (Eve Tarlo, producer/editor) for arts/entertainment program feature, and “Arts in Context: Trouble Puppet” (Lauren Burton, producer; Mario Troncoso, producer/editor/videographer) for arts/entertainment program. Houston’s KUHT won an Emmy for public and current affairs with “Houston Refugees: Stories of Courage,” produced and hosted by Patricia Gras. In addition, Matthew Brawley was named best director of a live or live-to-tape program for KUHT’s 2012 Houston PBS Spelling Bee.
Producers of Austin City Limits have recorded more than 800 performances of the PBS rock music series during the past 37 years, but there are hours of footage that loyal viewers and music fans don’t even know about. Access to never-broadcast performances will come soon under a deal with Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…
NPR has hired Todd Mundt as editorial director for NPR Digital Services
In his new position, Mundt will help stations develop digital content strategies and oversee news training offered to them. He now serves as v.p. and chief content officer at Louisville Public Media in Kentucky, p.d. of the licensee’s news/talk station and its local host for Morning Edition. Before joining Louisville’s three-station complex, he was director of content and media at Iowa Public Radio, chief content officer for Michigan Public Media in Ann Arbor and host of an NPR-distributed talk program, The Todd Mundt Show. Mundt is chair of the Public Radio Program Directors Association and has served on the Public Media Platform advisory council. Bob Kempf, g.m. of the Boston-based NPR unit, said the hiring completes the Digital Services management team, which also includes Stephanie Miller, director of station relations; Steve Mulder, director of user experience and analytics; Doug Gaff, director of technology; and Keith Hopper, director of product development.
Austin City Limits is a hot commodity based on a cool brand built over 33 years on PBS. In two years it moves its entire production site downtown in the Texas capital city to a cornerstone 2,500-seat theater in a $300 million redevelopment.