FCC sets date for NCE filing window

The FCC announced last week that it will open a filing window for noncommercial educational FM stations Oct. 12 (PDF). The window will be open for a week, and applicants must file electronically. The commission has not accepted applications for new noncommercial stations since April 2000.

WBEZ's sister station, ":Vocalo"

WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio's hitherto Secret Radio Project, intended to attract a distinct new audience, has gone public with the name of its new radio-Web service, :Vocalo.org. (That colon is part of an emoticon. The name combines "vocal" with "zocalo, a Spanish word for public square.") Sign in and read more. In May the licensee plans to launch a newly developed public-affairs/talk format to air on WBEW, its outlet in northwest Indiana that now barely reaches into the South Side of the city but will get a stronger signal, the Chicago Reader reports. The g.m. is Wendy Turner, former membership director at WBEZ. Station spokesman Daniel Ash tells the Reader the station won't be "a junior 91.5" and it won't be labeled "public radio."

Want to count some translators?

To prepare for the digital broadcasting transition, CPB is looking for someone to audit and analyze the status of all translators that are a) owned and operated by pubcasters, or b) owned by other public or private entities but carry some pubcasting content. RFP available here, May 14 is the application deadline.

Ifill on Imus

NewsHour correspondent and Washington Week moderator Gwen Ifill recounts her own brush with embattled radio host Don Imus' race-baiting shtick in this New York Times editorial. In 1993, Imus reportedly said in reference to Ifill, the Times' White House reporter at the time, that it was wonderful that the newspaper "lets the cleaning lady cover the White House." Imus' "sincerity seems forced and suspect because he’s done some version of this several times before," Ifill writes. "I know, because he apparently did it to me."

Fans, critics speak up about Burns' series

Associated Press reports on the controversy over The War, the Ken Burns series slated to air in September, and PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler shares more viewer feedback on Latino activists' campaign for revisions to the documentary.

Landscape Artist: Television: The New Yorker

A New Yorker writer reviews This American Life's TV debut and along the way shares some criticisms of its radio incarnation: "Sometimes, after reading certain magazines or watching certain TV shows, people speak of feeling as though they needed to take a shower; after listening to "This American Life," sometimes I feel I need to roll around in the dirt."

DCist: Considering NPR

DCist, a blog about the nation's capital, interviews All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton about the show's series of live webcasts from local concert venues. "In general we look for bands that have something to say; bands that are breaking new ground or simply doing something interesting, however you define that," Hilton says. (Via PRPD News.)

PRPD News for Programmers: Stations named for CPB Community Engagement Initiative

CPB and the Harwood Institute have selected 12 public radio and TV stations to take part in a Community Engagement Initiative that will develop "new ways to make public television and radio stations more significant and deeply involved local organizations."

WQED originates teleconferences to steakhouse chain

Pittsburgh's WQED Multimedia has begun generating revenue by originating high-def satellite teleconferences and musical performances beamed to specially equipped suites in 67 Morton's Steakhouses around the country, to be demonstrated in a live news conference this afternoon. Velocity Broadcasting -- a division of Elias/Savion Inc., Morton's ad agency -- is offering the "precision marketing" service to businesses as well as closed-circuit entertainment events in the Higher Definition Private Performance Series, which launched in October with a concert by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, also originated by WQED.