Current.org Blog

Current.org relaunched, though with a hiccup

2012-08-02T13:20:00.001-04:00

Last night's relaunch of Current.org took off splendidly, though somehow it left behind the links to many older stories not yet ingested into its database. Technicians are laboring to restore proper connections at this moment! With the new combined site at at Current.org, breaking-news items previously seen at this Blogger address are now integrated with our longer reported stories into a comprehensive RSS feed. They're also seen on the same home page, though the less momentous short...

Exclusive interview: Alabama Public Television COO Grantham resigns

2012-08-01T12:36:00.004-04:00

Charles Grantham, chief operating officer of Alabama Public Television, has resigned, effective Aug. 31. Grantham told Current that the “additional stress and frustrations” at the station in the wake of the controversial terminations in June of Executive Director Allan Pizzato and his deputy, Pauline Howland, have taken a toll on him. Since the firings by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, Grantham had been publicly voicing his concerns about the future of the station. “I’m...

Alabama ETV commission hires law firm for defense against Pizzato complaint

2012-08-01T09:23:00.002-04:00

In a special meeting Tuesday, the Alabama Educational Television Commission voted to hire a Birmingham law firm to defend it against a complaint filed by the former head of Alabama Public Television, Allan Pizzato, whom they fired in June. Commissioners, meeting in a conference room at APT headquarters in Birmingham, entered into executive session to discuss the issue, filing past portraits of nine lay leaders from APT's fundraising organizations that still hang on the walls despite their...

We've got something new in store for you: a blog that's integrated into Current.org

2012-07-31T18:35:00.000-04:00

Our news blog is moving on Wednesday, Aug. 1 to the new Current.org, where it will reside on the left-hand side of the homepage under a new column headed Quick Takes. It's part of a major upgrade of Current's web service, a redesign that gives readers more tools for keeping current with public media news that fits their needs and interests. If you read our blog through an RSS feed, you'll have many more options from which to choose, or you can subscribe to a feed of everything that's posted on...

Former associates announce first Tim Emmons scholarship

2012-07-31T15:00:00.000-04:00

Applications are now being accepted for the first Tim Emmons Memorial Mentoring Scholarship. Emmons, former program director and general manager of Northern Public Radio, died in February after a long battle with cancer. The scholarship was announced today by Peter Dominowski and Scott Williams, longtime friends of Emmons and business associates with him in Strategic Programming Partners. The recipient, a current or aspiring public radio program director, will work directly with Williams...

Radiolab producers don't believe Lehrer's contributions to be "compromised"

2012-07-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

WNYC, the producer of public radio’s Radiolab, has found “no reason to believe” that frequent contributor Jonah Lehrer's appearances on the show are "compromised." Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker Sunday after Tablet magazine revealed that he had made up quotes attributed to Bob Dylan in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. Here’s the full statement from WNYC: Jonah Lehrer has been a regular contributor to Radiolab as an “explainer,” making technical science more accessible and...

Ford Foundation backs second for-profit newsroom: The Washington Post

2012-07-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

The Ford Foundation, a frequent backer of pubmedia, has awarded another grant to a for-profit media company. Ford will give $500,000 to The Washington Post to support reporting on accountability in state and local government, according to a Post memo to staff posted on Poynter.org. The Post will use the funds to hire four new staffers. In May, Ford awarded the Los Angeles Times $1.04 million to cover new beats including immigration and the California prison system. At the...

Moyers celebrates 100,000 Facebook fans with online message

2012-07-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

Veteran newsman Bill Moyers posted a special video message on the Moyers and Company Facebook page on Monday, to mark a milestone. "In just a few months, we've acquired 100,000 Facebook fans," Moyers said. "I know because I counted each and every one of you myself." Moyers said he and his team are proud and "deeply grateful" for the support of the online community "dedicated to truth-telling and democracy."

Jacobs Media shares findings from annual tech survey

2012-07-30T11:44:00.001-04:00

Jacobs Media has shared some data from its fourth annual Public Radio Tech Survey. Among the statistics: The number of respondents using tablets such as Apple’s iPad increased 407 percent over last year. Use of smartphones continues to grow as well. Nearly half of public radio members have been members for five years or less. Four of 10 listeners do most of their radio listening in cars. One in 10 owns a vehicle with a “digital dashboard” such as the Ford SYNC. Texting and use of social...

GPB laying off staffers as it outsources station master-control operations

2012-07-30T10:29:00.000-04:00

Georgia Public Broadcasting is laying off eight full-time employees and nine part-timers as it outsources its master-control operations over the next 90 to 120 days, station spokesperson Nancy Zintak told Current. Transitioning its master control to Encompass Digital Media in Atlanta will save the state network around $300,000 annually, Zintak said. Zintak said GPB “looked very carefully” at the two CPB-backed public-broadcasting centralcasters, the Jacksonville Digital Convergence...

New Orleans journalism venture won't compete with T-P, Wilson says

2012-07-27T17:46:00.001-04:00

The new nonprofit newsroom that NPR and WWNO announced today will not compete directly with the Times-Picayne, NPR's Kinsey Wilson told Current in an interview. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on plans for a hybrid radio-digital news operation covering New Orleans, played up the potential for competition between the news outlets, but Wilson sees it differently. "I wouldn't characterize it as a competitor," said NPR's chief content officer and digital strategist. "Frankly I...

NPR, WWNO launching new nonprofit newsroom in New Orleans

2012-07-27T10:29:00.000-04:00

NPR is launching a new nonprofit newsroom in New Orleans in conjunction with WWNO, the local public radio station owned by the University of New Orleans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The partners announced the changes today. The new venture, which will include a revamped, local-news–focused WWNO lineup as well as the website NewOrleansReporter.org, is a response to the declining resources of the city’s daily for-profit newspaper, the Times-Picayune. On June 12 the owners of the T-P...

Alum group "implores" NPR's Cokie Roberts to consider heading up Louisiana State U

2012-07-27T09:55:00.000-04:00

Several Louisiana State University alums are attempting to persuade NPR contributor and former congressional correspondent Cokie Roberts to become its next leader, reports LSU's Daily Reveille. Chancellor Mike Martin is leaving for Colorado State in August, and former LSU System President John Lombardi was fired in April. There's even a Facebook page, Cokie Roberts for LSU. Alum Kyle Alagood, leading the effort to draft Roberts, said her “independent clout” would be valuable. Roberts,...

PBS Kids apps: "learning moments on-the-go"

2012-07-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

Sara DeWitt, vice president of PBS Kids Interactive, discusses PBS's approach in the mobile realm for children's educational content in an interview on Wired. "PBS has assembled two advisory boards to help us make sure we’re being thoughtful, purposeful and appropriate as we develop on these new platforms," DeWitt said. "Advisory board members include academics, teachers, organizations that advocate for children, and digital content experts." DeWitt said there's currently 17 PBS Kids apps...

Pacifica Foundation Board won't renew contracts for two top executives

2012-07-26T16:06:00.001-04:00

The national board of the Pacifica Foundation voted Sunday (July 22) to begin a search for two new top executives. The board will not renew contracts for Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt and Chief Financial Officer LaVarn Williams, which both expire Nov. 30. The two were invited to apply for new terms in their positions. The action was reported in an email to the SaveKPFA listserv and confirmed by Margy Wilkinson, chair of the local station board at KPFA, Pacifica's Berkeley station,...

WGBH, the top producer of PBS programs, now owns Public Radio International

2012-07-26T14:27:00.002-04:00

In a move signalling its ambitions to extend its clout and influence in public radio, Boston's WGBH has acquired Public Radio International, the Minnesota-based program distributor of radio programs such as This American Life, The World and The Takeaway. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the sale will help to stabilize the nonprofit program distributor PRI, which ran an operating deficit of $2 million in 2011, according to PRI spokesperson Julia Yager. "This...

Piven to star in Masterpiece/ITV's "Mr. Selfridge" next year

2012-07-26T14:00:00.004-04:00

Masterpiece and Britain's ITV Studios have inked a deal for Mr. Selfridge, a period drama starring Jeremy Piven, according to Hollywood Reporter. Piven is best known for his role as the excitable Hollywood super-agent Ari Gold in the HBO hit Entourage. The co-production centers on American Harry Gordon Selfridge — nicknamed Mile a Minute Harry — who founded the London department store Selfridges in 1909. His mission was "to make shopping as thrilling as sex," according to an ITV description....

Former APT head Pizzato addresses "bigger issue" of his termination

2012-07-26T13:01:00.000-04:00

Former Alabama Public Television Executive Director Allan Pizzato spoke with CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan in a column posted today (July 26). The interview provides Pizzato's first detailed statements since his termination by the Alabama Educational Television Commission on June 12, under pressure from the commission to run shows from conservative activist David Barton. "The programming decisions of what is put on the air and what is said on the air," Pizzato told Kaplan, "is the responsibility...

Spokane School District okays negotiations to turn over KSPS license

2012-07-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

The board of the Spokane Public Schools voted unanimously Wednesday (July 25) to explore severing ties with its KSPS public television station, according to the local Spokesman-Review. If the KSPS board agrees at its meeting tonight (July 26), it would signal the end of a 45-year relationship. The license would be held by the nonprofit Friends of KSPS. “As we get more and more budget and funding challenges, it got to a point where we asked: Should we really be in the public television...

Bob Ross, remixed

2012-07-26T10:46:00.001-04:00

PBS Digital Studios has released the second in its "Icons Remixed" series. This time, it's the "happy little clouds" painter Bob Ross. The first video in the series, posted in June, featured Fred Rogers and went viral with more than 5 million views. UPDATE: As of Monday morning July 30, the Bob Ross video has received 1,657,150 views.

Sesame Workshop launches educational franchise business in India

2012-07-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

Sesame Workshop is getting into the for-profit educational franchise business, starting with India, where it's launching Sesame Schoolhouse preschools and after-school clubs, reports the Wall Street Journal's India Real Time blog. The Workshop has had a presence in the country since 2006 with Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Hindi version of Sesame Street. Sesame Workshop India also takes the show on mobile screens into slum communities in five cities. Sesame Workshop aims to have 20 franchised...

Group to present 100,000 signatures to APT to keep "Religious Right propaganda" off air

2012-07-26T10:12:00.004-04:00

Faithful America, an online, multi-faith, social-issue advocacy organization, will deliver petitions with more than 100,000 signatures to Alabama Public Television headquarters in Birmingham at 11:15 a.m. Central today (July 26). The petitions from Faithful America and CREDO Action, a progressive advocacy group, demand that the network "keep Religious Right propaganda off their stations." APT Executive Director Allan Pizzato and his deputy, Pauline Howland, were fired by the Alabama Educational...

OPB Radio overhauls schedule; drops six shows, adds seven

2012-07-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

Oregon Public Broadcasting is making major changes to its broadcast radio lineup as of Aug. 6, reports The Oregonian. "All the long-form music programs are going away from OPB radio," John Bell, director of member communications for OPB, told the newspaper. Gone are The Thistle and Shamrock, the Celtic music show the station has carried since the 1980s; the local In House and American Routes are moving to opbmusic.org and HD radio. The variety show eTown is canceled, as are the comedy...

Blumenauer hits back at Rubio for pubcasting funding comments

2012-07-25T09:15:00.000-04:00

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is defending federal support of public broadcasting in a column on the Huffington Post. Blumenauer mainly addresses The Diane Rehm Show appearance of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last week, during which Rubio — on a talk show on NPR — spoke about how NPR should be defunded. Rubio told Rehm that "plenty of other commercial outlets" would run her show. "I beg to differ," Blumenauer writes. "If there were a strong market in commercial radio for programs like The...

Make the most of YouTube with these tips

2012-07-24T16:15:00.000-04:00

Kevin Dando, PBS's director of digital marketing and communications, recently attended a "Partners Summit" during which YouTube staffers "walked us through a number of strategies and tactics for ensuring that our YouTube videos are seen by as many people as possible." He shares tips for stations here.