Programs/Content

PBS cancels Market Warriors series from Antiques Roadshow producer

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This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. PBS is ending production of Market Warriors, the much-anticipated series that premiered in July 2012 as a partner program to longtime ratings hit Antiques Roadshow, according to a March 14 WGBH internal memo to employees. Marsha Bemko, executive producer of both programs, today told Current the decision was PBS’s and declined further comment. The demise of the series triggered several layoffs. The memo said that Field Producer Rebecca Donahue and Editors Peter Hyzak and Sean Sandefur left WGBH the week of March 4, while Senior Producer John Kalish, Associate Producer Joey Toppan, Production Assistant Rebecca Taylor and Assistant Editor Jim Fetela departed on Friday.

People

WGBH selects National Geographic TV exec to head national programming

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John Bredar, a senior executive producer at National Geographic Television, is the new head of national programming at major producing station WGBH in Boston. He succeeds current Vice President of National Programming Margaret Drain, who announced her retirement last year. WGBH President Jon Abbott said in the announcement today that Bredar “has a well-earned reputation for productions of the highest quality.” Bredar will oversee all primetime series produced in Boston and seen nationally on PBS, such as American Experience, Nova, Frontline, Masterpiece and Antiques Roadshow, as well as related content for digital media. Bredar joined Nat Geo in 1986 and has overseen development, production and post-production of more than 150 programs including 2005’s Arlington: Field of Honor, for which he won a Best Director Emmy.

Programs/Content

POV and StoryCorps each receive $1 million from MacArthur Foundation

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American Documentary, home to PBS’s independent film showcase POV, and StoryCorps, the oral history project heard on NPR, are each receiving $1 million from the MacArthur Foundation’s latest round of Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions. The grants, awarded to 13 recipients in five countries, help ensure the long-term sustainability of each organization, according to the foundation. “The award is not only recognition for past leadership and success but also an investment in the future,” the Chicago-based foundation said in the Feb. 28 announcement. “Organizations will use this support to build cash reserves and endowments, develop strategic plans and upgrade technology and physical infrastructure.”

Organizations do not apply for the awards; rather, MacArthur nominates and selects them.

Programs/Content

POV, StoryCorps get $1 million each from MacArthur Foundation

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American Documentary, home to PBS’s independent film showcase POV, and StoryCorps, the oral history project heard on NPR, are each receiving $1 million as recipients of the latest round of MacArthur Foundation Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions, announced today. The grants help ensure the long-term sustainability of the winners, 13 organizations in five countries, according to the foundation. “The award is not only recognition for past leadership and success but also an investment in the future,” the Chicago-based foundation said in the announcement. “Organizations will use this support to build cash reserves and endowments, develop strategic plans and upgrade technology and physical infrastructure.”

Organizations do not apply for the awards; rather, MacArthur nominates and selects them. To qualify, the foundation said, nonprofits must “demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur’s core programs.”

People

Portrait of a ‘Kind Hearted Woman’ as she finds her voice

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Kind-Hearted Woman, David Sutherland’s latest documentary series for Frontline is a five-hour story of abuse and triumph for a Native American woman. His meticulous techniques for gathering and mixing sound added six months to the post-production process, yet the filmmaker says they’re a key part of his process of creating intimate documentary portraits.

Programs/Content

Putting more public service into public media at 2013 APTS Summit

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Representatives from four sectors of the public service community made a case for more partnerships with public television during the opening session of the Association of Public Television Stations’ 2013 Public Media Summit Feb. 24 in Arlington, Va. Jane Oates, assistant secretary of employment and training administration with the U.S. Department of Labor, was the most vocal of the panel as she urged public television to collaborate more with local and state government workforce-training programs as a way of sharing key information to the nation’s legions of unemployed workers. “Think how much better we could do if you joined with us. Everybody listens to you,” Oates said, pointing to the proven workforce-training success of Vegas PBS as an example of what other stations could accomplish.

Programs/Content

CNBC buys Nightly Business Report; show leaving Miami

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Nightly Business Report, the public TV business news show that has repeatedly shed staff during nearly three tumultuous years under two owners, has been sold again – this time to financial news powerhouse CNBC. The cable network will produce the weeknightly series exclusively for public TV stations from its headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., effective March 4. The show’s bureaus in New York and Washington and its headquarters at Miami’s WPBT will shut down. The sale brings another round of changes to the staff who produce and appear on the show. Anchor Susie Gharib will stay with NBR, but co-anchor Tom Hudson is exiting.

Programs/Content

Wednesday forum to explore public media arts coverage

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The latest in an ongoing series of Public Media Futures forums will spotlight public broadcasting’s work surrounding the arts. The Feb. 20 roundtable discussion, “The Future of Arts and Culture on Public Media,” will be hosted by the USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy in downtown Washington, D.C. The center is co-sponsoring the forums with American University’s School of Communication, publisher of Current. Confirmed speakers and participants include Alyce Myatt, director of media arts for the National Endowment for the Arts and a former PBS programming v.p.; Roger LaMay, g.m. of WXPN-FM in Philadelphia; Vincent Curren, CPB c.o.o.; Sue Schardt, executive director of Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and Maxie Jackson, president of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. Adam Clayton Powell III, senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Center, will moderate the discussion.

Programs/Content

American Masters to shine light on reclusive author J.D. Salinger for 200th episode

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The author of The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey died in January 2010 after living for more than 50 years as a recluse in Cornish, N.H. Shortly after news of his death emerged, Hollywood screenwriter Shane Salerno announced he had been covertly working on Salinger, an independent documentary probing the author’s sheltered existence. Susan Lacy, American Masters executive producer, learned of Salerno’s film while attempting to procure the rights to an unrelated Salinger biography for the program. Salerno — whose screenplay credits include Alien vs. Predator: Requiem and Oliver Stone’s Savages — agreed to produce his film for American Masters after Lacy contacted him. Salerno is a fan of American Masters and says he taught himself the craft of documentary filmmaking by watching the biography series.

Programs/Content

Upcoming American Graduate specials tackle lax schools, juvenile justice system

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A pair of documentaries to be released for public TV broadcasts next month focus on two of the most difficult aspects of the nation’s dropout crisis — under-performing schools and at-risk youth. 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School will be presented in conjunction with Tavis Smiley Reports: Education Under Arrest as part of CPB’s American Graduate initiative. Both premiere in late March, and were previewed during a Jan. 30 webinar from the National Center for Media Engagement. For 180 Days, “our goal was to share the perspective of students, how they view the things they have to go through,” Alexis Phyllis Aggrey, production manager of National Black Programming Consortia, told webinar participants.

Programs/Content

PBS NewsHour report yields unexpected results

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A PBS NewsHour report on population growth and food scarcity in the Philippines prompted an increase in donations to the PATH Foundation Philippines Inc., an organization with a pilot program promoting family planning in rural areas of the Southeast Asian country. The report explored the foundation’s community-based approach of making contraceptives accessible to villagers who want to limit the size of their families. The story, which aired in January 2012, was produced as part of the public media collaborative project Food for 9 Billion, and has also been used by educators to set up discussions of the links between population and the environment. During a Jan. 28 panel discussion on environmental reporting hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., Sam Eaton of Homelands Productions described the impact of his reporting for Food for 9 Billion.

People

Michael Sullivan, Frontline producer since 1987, departs icon investigative series

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Michael Sullivan, a television producer whose name has run near the top of credit rolls of Frontline almost continuously since 1987, has exited the PBS investigative documentary series. His position as executive producer for special projects has been phased out due to a funding shortfall that the series’ top executives describe as temporary. The veteran producer oversaw high-profile titles produced by filmmaker David Sutherland, including The Farmer’s Wife, the 1998 epic documentary series chronicling the struggles of a Nebraska farming family, and Country Boys, the 2006 series following two teenagers growing up in West Virginia. Sullivan also spearheaded work on Sutherland’s latest film, Kind Hearted Woman, to be  co-presented on PBS by Frontline and Independent Lens April 1 and 2. His exit “is certainly a loss,” Frontline Deputy Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath told Current.

Programs/Content

Voice of OC expands partnership with PBS SoCal

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Voice of OC, the nonprofit investigative news agency in Orange County, Calif., is expanding its partnership with PBS SoCal. Voice of OC Editor-in-Chief Norberto Santana Jr. will appear weekly on KOCE-TV’s news program, Real Orange. “It’s a natural partnership,” said Mike Taylor, news director at PBS SoCal, in the Jan. 17 announcement. Santana said the partners hope to “give the public a front seat at public policy, not only after it’s being made but before it’s being made.”

PBS SoCal is the primary PBS member station for Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the nation.

People

WTTW captures seven Midwest Emmys, Wisconsin Public TV wins a pair

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The Chicago station topped several program categories, and its staff took awards for individual achievements in television crafts. Architect Michael Graves: A Grand Tour won for outstanding cultural documentary. It was produced by Daniel Andries with associate producer Elizabeth Reeves and executive producers Dan Soles and V.J. McAleer. Andries and Geoffrey Baer, who wrote the program, received Emmys for outstanding crafts achievement off-air. WTTW’s Kindred, produced by Michael Sternoff, Beth Bennett, Scott Lamps, Marl McLennan, Marnie Sprenger, Maria Bain Ferraro, Jaclyn Foutz, Aj Gomberg and Susan Buchanan, was named outstanding topical documentary.

People

Pubcasters in Austin and Houston capture five Lone Star Emmys

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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.

People

Nine Network of St. Louis recognized as ‘Best of the Best’ in 2012 NETA Awards

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The St. Louis public TV station’s Nine Academy, a program that trains individuals and community organizations to produce short videos on stories of “community impact,” received special recognition among the awards presented during NETA’s recent conference in St. Louis. In honoring the academy as the top winner in its annual awards program, NETA cited the station for groundbreaking community work. NETA recognized 20 public TV stations in 30 categories spread across four divisions — community engagement, content production, instructional media and promotion.