Rukeyser remembered

Washington Post business columnist Jerry Knight points up the differences between the iconic, pun-cracking Louis Rukeyser, recently-deceased original host of Maryland Public Television's Wall Street Week, and over-the-top stock modern stock pickers such as Jim Cramer. "Watching Jim Cramer on CNBC, ripping the head off a toy bear, then raking his audience with machine-gun sound effects, left me longing for the days when Louis Rukeyser was considered 'too showbiz' to be talking about stocks on television," he writes. (See earlier post for Rukeyser obit.)

Dennis Haarsager receives 2006 PRRO Award

Public Radio's Regional Organizations gave their 2006 PRRO Award to Dennis Harsaager, associate v.p. and g.m. of educational telecommunications and technology at Washington State University. "His is a constant voice pushing the envelope of exploration of the most effective ways in which technology can help public radio best enhance its service to the American people," said Ron Kramer, president of Western States Public Radio.

Sutton on New Realities

"One of my takeaways from the New Realities forum is that we simply haven't organized our thinking to effectively deal with the two separate but inter-related challenges of nurturing our core service while embracing new opportunities," writes John Sutton in his latest blog post. "About the time a station manager gets around to thinking about audience loss, she has to turn her attention to the latest big announcement about podcasting technology."

Cast and creators discuss PHC movie

"It's very simple and it's very complicated at the same time," says Meryl Streep of the new film adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion, which opens nationwide June 9. "Nobody says much about this, but the theme of this film is about death," says director Robert Altman in a Minnesota Public Radio article about the film. The Los Angeles Times says Keillor comes across onscreen as "a sort of hulking Jimmy Stewart."

Podcast with NPR's John Hendren

Talking Communications presents a podcast interview with John Hendren, NPR's Pentagon correspondent, who discusses his experiences reporting from Iraq.

NPR blog a "work in progress"

Answering a reader's complaint, NPR's Ken Rudin says the network's newish blog is "not seen by anyone here as a 'by the way'" and remains a "work in progress."