Current.org Blog

Idaho PTV faces "loss of service" in wake of capital funding cut

2012-01-27T17:24:00.000-05:00

Idaho Public Television needs funding for capital equipment purchases, General Manager Peter Morrill told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee of the state legislature Friday (Jan. 27). The network has not received its usual state appropriation for equipment for the past three years, reports the Spokesman-Review, and is asking for $1.5 million. “Our operating model is not sustainable with current capital funding levels,” Morrill told members. “Continued deferral of equipment repairs and...

Is "Downton" creating online pirates?

2012-01-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

Obsessive Downton Abbey fans are turning into programming pirates, reports Salon, poking around in what it calls "some dark corner of the Internet" to find episodes that have already run on Britain's ITV but not yet on Masterpiece. When the writer of the piece, John Sellers, confessed to Downton actor Hugh Bonneville (the Earl of Grantham) that he'd watched the Downton Christmas special online, Bonneville replied: “I wish you hadn’t told me you watched it illegally. That’s really pissing me...

W.V. pubcaster cutting programming due to budget squeeze, director tells lawmakers

2012-01-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

Dennis Adkins, West Virginia Public Broadcasting executive director, told state legislators that state funding reductions and loss of corporate underwriting have forced the station to make programming cuts, reports the Charleston Gazette. Speaking to lawmakers on Thursday (Jan. 26), Adkins said further program cutbacks may be necessary. "We're seeing erosion in our ability to provide a quality public broadcasting product to the citizens of West Virginia," Adkins told members of the House...

KPCC places billboard next door to rival KPFK

2012-01-27T12:46:00.001-05:00

Has KPCC "punked" fellow pubradio station KPFK with a "billboard prank"? So says an item on OC Weekly's Navelgazing blog written by Gustavo Arellano, a reporter for the paper who has also appeared on both stations in southern California. KPCC, an NPR member station, has erected a bold orange billboard on the the roof of building right next door to KPFK, a Pacifica outlet, that reads: "Ideas, not ideology." Perhaps a poke at left-leaning Pacifica? UPDATE: Craig Curtis, program director at...

PBMA rebrands as Public Media Business Association, launches new website

2012-01-27T11:34:00.001-05:00

The Public Broadcasting Management Association (PBMA) on Thursday (Jan. 26) announced a full rebranding of the organization, which serves financial, human resources, legal, information systems and administrative managers of public TV and radio stations. It's slightly twisting the current PBMA acronym into PMBA: the Public Media Business Association, positioning itself as the "go-to" association "focused on delivering programs and services that enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and...

Republican gives OPB $50,000, citing "Moyers and Company"

2012-01-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

Oregon Public Broadcasting received an unexpected $50,000 gift on Wednesday (Jan. 25), from a longtime donor who has "given consistently but nothing on that level," OPB President Steve Bass told Current. And here's a twist: The contributor told an OPB staffer that he's a registered Republican, and that one of the programs he especially enjoys is Moyers and Company, the latest show from veteran newsman Bill Moyers, widely considered a progressive voice. Several pubTV execs recently told the...

Pubcasting pic o' the week

2012-01-26T15:21:00.000-05:00

Is this a great photo or what? That's Terry Gross, host of WHYY's Fresh Air, alongside larger-than-life political satirist Stephen Colbert. In case you missed her appearance on The Colbert Report, here's the link on Fresh Air's Tumblr.

Months later, FCC still "obtaining additional information" on sale of WMFE-TV to Daystar

2012-01-26T07:20:00.000-05:00

Nine months after PBS member station WMFE-TV in Orlando announced its sale, the Federal Communications Commission has yet to approve its transfer to Community Educators of Orlando, the local entity representing religious broadcaster Daystar. Orlando Weekly reports that in a Dec. 7, 2011, letter, Michael Perko, spokesperson for the FCC Media Bureau, told U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas), whose includes Daystar headquarters, that the FCC had “recently completed a preliminary evaluation of...

WPSU developing Editorial Integrity Advisory Committee as it navigates scandal coverage

2012-01-25T14:12:00.001-05:00

In reaction to the Penn State University athletic department's ongoing sex abuse scandal, WPSU General Manager Ted Krichels is organizing an Editorial Integrity Advisory Committee for the station, which is licensed to the college, reports CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan. "WPSU, like many public broadcasting outlets, is inextricably tied to the university where it is located, and which also holds its license," Kaplan writes; WPSU is also a news operation. "There is no indication that any pressure was...

Public Insight Network broadens work to include original reporting

2012-01-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

The Public Insight Network from American Public Media is starting up its own news unit to generate original reporting, according to Nieman Journalism Lab, drawing on its massive database of some 130,000 self-identified news sources. “One of the things we learned early on,” Linda Fantin, director of the PIN initiative, told Nieman, “is the amount of intelligence and amazing insights and stories that people have shared with us quickly overwhelm a journalist’s ability to get that information out...

NewsHour's translation project presents State of the Union in more than six languages

2012-01-25T13:29:00.000-05:00

The PBS NewsHour's election-year translation project kicked off with President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday (Jan. 24). Online transcriptions of his speech are now available in its entirety in Arabic, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish and Portuguese; portions of the address are there in traditional Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, German, Korean and Spanish.

Random House and Sesame launch ebook initiative

2012-01-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Random House Children’s Books and Sesame Workshop are partnering on a new digital publishing initiative focusing on early learning and reading readiness. Titles from the Random House Children’s Books Sesame Street library will be available as ebooks for the first time beginning today (Jan. 25) with Elmo Says Achoo! and Elmo’s Breakfast Bingo. An additional 19 titles will be released this spring. Several titles will include audio narration by Sesame Street’s Bob McGrath, who has performed on the...

A tempest in a "Downton" teapot?

2012-01-24T22:34:00.005-05:00

Britain's Daily Mail reports that producers of the ITV drama — and current Masterpiece smash hit — Downton Abbey "are less than happy after an American TV network launched a collection of somewhat tasteless themed jewelry." PBS had featured several items similar to what Downton characters wear on its ShopPBS website. Supposedly, producers Carnival Films "were forced to call in lawyers" in an attempt to stop PBS "from naming jewelry after the show’s most famous character, Lady Mary Crawley."...

KPCC hires former Los Angeles Times editor to oversee content

2012-01-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

Former Los Angeles Times Editor Russ Stanton has joined pubradio station KPCC as its new vice president of content, the station announced Tuesday (Jan. 24). Stanton's arrival "is part of an aggressive effort by the nonprofit news organization to become the preeminent regional source for both broadcast and online news — with deeper, more enterprising and investigative coverage," according to a story on the KPCC website. Stanton had left the newspaper last month in what was called a "mutual...

Docs on PBS garner three Oscar nods

2012-01-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

Three documentaries on PBS have received Academy Award nominations, announced today (Jan. 24). In the documentary feature category are "Hell and Back Again" from Independent Lens, which follows a U.S. soldier back from Afghanistan after a serious injury; and POV's "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,” which explores both environmentalism and terrorism by examining a radical environmental group the FBI calls the country’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” POV also...

WNET releases second online game for middle schoolers, "Flight to Freedom"

2012-01-24T13:45:00.000-05:00

"Flight to Freedom," the second in the Mission U.S. series of educational role-playing online games for middle-school students, was released today (Jan. 24) by WNET/Thirteen in New York City, timed in advance of Black History Month. The game immerses players in the experiences of a runaway slave in the years before the Civil War, the station said in a press release. Its development was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The first...

I'll Make Me a World festival, inspired by PBS mini-series, to draw thousands in Iowa

2012-01-24T08:24:00.000-05:00

An annual event that began as an outreach for the 1999 PBS mini-series I'll Make Me a World is still going strong in Iowa, and organizers expect it to draw some 20,000 participants Friday and Saturday, reports the Des Moines Register. The celebration of African-American heritage, I'll Make Me a World in Iowa, kicks off Black History Month in the state. At the original gathering in 1999, "the prediction was for 300 people to attend, but 1,000 showed up — and now we’ve grown to 15,000 to...

Kentucky newspapers piloting a project to supply content to pubradio stations

2012-01-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

The Kentucky Press Association's News Content Service, which shares stories across dozens of newspapers, is starting a pilot program to supply the state's public radio stations. WEKU at Eastern Kentucky University and WNKU at Northern Kentucky University have signed on. "It's a way for us to extend the really great work that journalists are already doing around the state," Roger Duvall, g.m. at WEKU, told the Herald-Leader in Lexington. Greer added that "we know there's interest" in the...

Marfa Public Radio pushing ahead with KOCV work

2012-01-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

Marfa Public Radio General Manager Tom Michael told the Odessa (Texas) American that he hopes to re-launch public radio in Midland and Odessa by spring. In December 2011, Marfa finalized its purchase of KOCV-FM radio from Odessa College for $150,000 and another $150,000 in sponsorships over 10 years (background, Current, Aug. 8, 2011). Michael said the tower will be moved from the college campus to Gardendale, to bring back listeners who have seen the signal fade since the 1980s. "We’ve begun...

MPTV and Friends group officially merge

2012-01-23T12:02:00.000-05:00

Milwaukee Public Television and MPTV Friends, which had previously operated as two independent organizations, have merged, the groups announced Monday (Jan. 23) in a press release. Under the agreement, Friends will phase out operations in 2012, and many of its employees will join the MPTV staff to continue coordinating fundraising events including the popular Great TV Auction. “We’ve always shared the goal of bringing the community the best in public television programming," said...

Downton, American Masters, Sesame win Producers Guild awards

2012-01-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Three shows on PBS scored awards from the Producers Guild of America in ceremonies Saturday (Jan. 21) in Los Angeles. Masterpiece Classic's hit Downton Abbey continues its string of honors with the David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television, beating out Cinema Verite, Mildred Pierce and Too Big to Fail on HBO and The Kennedys on Reelz Channel. The outstanding producer of non-fiction television award went to Susan Lacy and Julie Sacks for American Masters. Also,...

Minnesota governor proclaims Gary Eichten Day statewide as longtime MPR host retires

2012-01-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

Jan. 20 was Gary Eichten Day in Minnesota, proclaimed by Gov. Mark Dayton to honor the retiring Minnesota Public Radio host and producer after a 45-year career. The proclamation noted that Eichten began his career at MPR as a student announcer at KSJR, Minnesota's first public radio station, in 1967. Over the years he has served as news director, special events producer, and station manager; for the past 20 years he's been host of Midday. A "Heckuva Farewell" for Eichten took place Jan. 19...

KSKA metro reporter Les Anderson to retire

2012-01-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

Les Anderson, longtime metro news reporter for KSKA in Anchorage, Alaska, is retiring after a career in which he "once stood by a wet mule in a Wisconsin parking lot, wearing hillbilly clothes and promoting a new citrus pop for a commercial radio station," reports the Anchorage Daily News. Anderson came to public radio in an interesting way, beginning as a college professor at University of Wisconsin. Decades ago, an English composition student asked him what can be done with an English...

BBC "prepared to take legal action" against CBS's Sherlock Holmes show, paper says

2012-01-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

A legal fight may be brewing between the BBC version of Sherlock Holmes, which airs on PBS as part of Masterpiece Mystery, and an upcoming CBS version of the detective stories. According to the UK newspaper The Independent, the Beeb producers feel that CBS's Elementary, which also places the character in a modern setting using laptops and cellphones, may be too much like their version. Sue Vertue, Sherlock e.p., said that CBS "approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, ...

WGBH modifying Roadshow web contact info, participation agreement after complaint

2012-01-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

After receiving and investigating an 11-page complaint from a former Antiques Roadshow appraiser (Current, Dec. 12, 2011), producing station WGBH is revising how it handles contact information for experts on the Roadshow website, and making changes in its Appraisal Event Participation Agreement. In a letter to Gary Sohmers, who had raised concerns over what he saw as "illogically restrictive" clauses in the contract signed by all the experts — who are not compensated for their work — WGBH...