Fred Jacobs on public radio's success

Consultant Fred Jacobs urges his audience of commercial radio execs to pay attention to public radio's success: "How is Public Radio pulling this off - without marketing, without Harley giveaways, and without two guys in the morning talking about Mel Gibson? They're about quality programming and a value system that comes through loud and clear day in and day out."

Where TV beats print's price

If you wanted some archival news, which would you buy? A video clip from ABC News @ $1.99 or an article from the New York Times archive @ $3.95? Noted in AdWeek and a World Association of Newspapers blog.

Mirren wins Emmy for HBO miniseries

Helen Mirren won a Primetime Emmy for her performance in Elizabeth I, an HBO/Channel 4 drama that also received the statuette for outstanding miniseries. Barry Manilow was PBS's winner in last night's live Emmy telecast, winning for his performance in a fundraising program.

Lawsuit revives interest in Barney parodies

The New York Times reports on a lawsuit filed last week that seeks to protect the First Amendment right to publish online parodies of Barney, the PBS Kids character that some adults love to hate.

Critics don't want ads on PBSKids.org

Some children's and consumer advocates aren't happy about PBS's plan to add banner ads to PBSKids.org beginning Oct. 1, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Children are basically inundated with marketing and the PBS website was in some ways a sanctuary," said Susan Linn, a psychologist and co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston. "This is just one more step in the commercialization of PBS and children's programming." Said a PBS spokesman: "This is going to be very smart and respectful, and anything that will appear online will be in the spirit of what is on PBS on air." PBS will sell banners across the tops of PBS.org and PBSKids.org. The former has included sponsored links since January, and individual show sites within PBSKids.org currently include logo links for kid- and mom-targeted sponsors such as Chuck E. Cheese and Kellogg's. National Public Broadcasting's new online sales division will represent PBS.org in its marketing efforts, the network announced last week.

adn.com | alaska wire : Money woes change Anchorage public television, radio

Alaska Public Media is laying off seven workers to offset a growing deficit, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The network's president attributes the shortfall to declining state support and rising costs in programming and other areas. Alaska Public Media operates the Alaska Public Radio Network and TV and radio stations in Anchorage.