Programs/Content

Web series explores what Black Folk Don’t do

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Doing yoga, going green and enjoying winter sports sound like innocuous topics for a public media web series — that is, until they’re preceded by “Black folk don’t…”

Now midway through its third season, the web series Black Folk Don’t aims to spark frank discussions of racial identity in modern-day America. Actors, scholars and ordinary black folk ponder stereotypes about African-Americans and how historical or cultural contexts might have led to such generalizations. “It was just an idea that popped into my head, being someone who technically does things that black folk ‘don’t do,’” series creator and director Angela Tucker said. Tucker and Black Public Media launched the show in August 2011 after Tucker, a documentary filmmaker whose credits include a 2011 documentary about asexuality, responded to an open call for pitches for web series. The show combines vetted interviews and spontaneous chats with people on the street.

Programs/Content

LPB content grants go to nine programs, including two web series

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Latino Public Broadcasting announced today that it is backing nine programs through its Public Media Content Fund, which supports Latino-themed content for public TV and the Web. Independent filmmakers submitted 83 proposals this year, according to LPB. “Our selection process was highly competitive with many outstanding projects making it to the final round,” said Sandie Viquez Pedlow, LPB executive director, in the announcement. “We look forward to working with these talented filmmakers in bringing these compelling stories to the American public on PBS, and extending the reach of this content into classrooms across the country.”

Submissions were judged by a panel of public media professionals, station programmers, academics, executives from funding organizations and other filmmakers. Grants range from $5,000 to $100,000 for several genres: documentary, narrative, performance, new media or mixed genres.

Programs/Content

NPR combining news apps, multimedia teams

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NPR’s news applications and multimedia operations are merging into a single unit to be headed by current News Applications Editor Brian Boyer. “We were already sitting right next to each other,” Boyer said. “When we moved into the new building, it was already obvious that we would be working closely together.”

The departments have already collaborated on several projects, including a web presentation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s family photos and a Tumblr, Cook Your Cupboard, which advises home cooks about how to use odds and ends from their pantries. Other desks have often approached Boyer’s team about attempting projects with multimedia components, he said, forcing him to redirect such requests to the Multimedia desk. The new arrangement will make collaboration smoother, he said.

Programs/Content

TPT rebrands youth initiative as ReWire

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Twin Cities Public Television has adopted the name ReWire for the statewide network’s youth programming and engagement initiative. TPT settled on the name after its previous branding, Open Air, attracted a trademark infringement and violation suit from Colorado Public Radio. “Our vision is to rewire public media’s relationship to the world, and your relationship with public media,” Andi McDaniel, ReWire’s project manager, wrote in a re-introductory blog post Oct. 25. “[ReWire is] about connecting with our audience in new ways — through digital content, through collaborative approaches to storytelling, through interactive events, fresh takes on classic and new programming and much more.”

Programs/Content

With Sparticl, TPT hopes to make STEM learning fun

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Twin Cities Public Television launched Sparticl, a new STEM-focused sharing website geared toward middle-school students, Oct. 1 with support from a major corporate sponsor. Manufacturing company 3M backed more than two years of research and development of the site prior to its launch early this month. Sparticl curates links to articles, videos and games built around Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related themes, ranging from the environment to nutrition to outer space. Links are geared toward an audience of seventh- through ninth-graders.

Programs/Content

On The Longest Shortest Time, Hillary Frank finds solace in stories of other parents

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Pubradio producer Hillary Frank channeled her experiences during a difficult pregnancy into parenting podcast The Longest Shortest Time, which recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and landed a series of high-profile sponsors. Frank is a contributor to This American Life, Marketplace and other programs, and has written three novels for young adults. She began producing and self-distributing her podcast in 2010 while caring for her infant daughter, whose “sunny-side up” reversal in the womb rendered her mother unable to walk for months after giving birth. “I just felt like I couldn’t be the mom that I wanted to be,” she said of her convalescence and recovery. “What I really wanted was to connect with other moms.”

Frank wanted to counter what she described as the “black and white” philosophy of most parenting books.

Programs/Content

NPR tweaks Composer 2.0 software for classical stations

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NPR Digital has altered the latest version of its Composer software used by stations for tracking playlists and scheduling programs. Composer 2.0, which replaced the earlier Composer Pro product, rolled out in beta this spring. The changes respond to feedback from classical-music stations, who said the new version, as well as its predecessor, didn’t fit their needs. The software couldn’t accurately track scheduling of symphonies and extended performance credits, according to St. John Flynn, p.d. of Classical 91.7/Houston Public Media and president of the Association of Music Personnel in Radio. Composer’s developers plan to adapt the software by revamping the user interface for classical music and adding new playlist entry fields, said Stephanie Miller, director of station relations for NPR Digital Services.

Programs/Content

Public TV connects to feds’ new emergency alert system

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A $56.8 million technology project equipping public television stations to help deliver geo-targeted emergency messages to mobile devices has reached an important milestone. PBS WARN (Warning Alert and Response Network) connected to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s alert aggregator on Aug. 6.

Programs/Content

Online resource PBS LearningMedia registers more than 1 million users

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PBS LearningMedia, a digital classroom resource for K–12 educators, topped more than 1 million registered users this month. Operated through a partnership of PBS and the WGBH Educational Foundation, the website offers more than 30,000 pieces of content to its users. The site is also rolling out a new premium tier with enhanced features; that service is now distributed statewide in Kentucky, New York and South Carolina. As part of its ongoing effort to promote classroom use of digital technology and build its user base, PBS LearningMedia launched “Get Your Tech On,” offering free access to its webinars and how-to guides through Nov. 1.

Programs/Content

New PRI.org highlights network’s focus on global news

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Public Radio International has revamped its website to absorb the web presence of PRI’s The World, reflecting the network’s aim to develop a higher profile in international news. The new site gives greater prominence to international news from The World and other PRI programs. The World “is increasingly, for us, a journalism brand,” said Michael Skoler, PRI’s v.p. of interactive media. Previously, The World had its own website at TheWorld.org. It now redirects to PRI.org. PRI has combined the previously separate staff and resources for the two sites.

Programs/Content

KCRW brings live Morning Becomes Eclectic performances to YouTube

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Select musical performances from KCRW-FM’s signature show Morning Becomes Eclectic are now streaming live on YouTube. The Los Angeles station kicked off the new feature Sept. 17 with a six-minute song from the U.K. buzz band King Krule; until this month, KCRW posted only prerecorded performances on its channel. Created in September 2006, KCRW’s YouTube page has 44,000 subscribers and has received more than 35 million views worldwide — including four from within Vatican City. The most popular single video, Gotye’s live version of “Somebody That I Used to Know,” has about 16 million views.

Programs/Content

Detroit PTV looks to bring cultural groups together through its new arts series

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Detroit Public Television is using its new arts series, Detroit Performs, to showcase the Motor City’s talents on a wider scale. Local reaction to the show, now 10 weeks into broadcast, “has been tremendous,” DTV President Rich Homberg said in a note to his Major Market Group (MMG) pubTV coalition colleagues. “Every day we are hearing from new producers, emerging organizations and raving fans.”

The series grew out of the MMG Arts content initiative, curated by WNET in New York City, and DTV’s five-year-old “category strategy,” which set a course for engagement and partnership around specific topics. Similar efforts include DTV’s Great Lakes Now, which evolved from a reporting focus into a conservation conference attracting more than 300,000 participants. “We wanted to find a way for Detroit Performs to create a voice beyond our city,” Homberg said.