MPB reducing power to analog transmitters

Mississippi Public Broadcasting will reduce power to four of its eight analog transmitters before the Feb. 17, 2009 shut-off, starting with its Raymond site, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. That signal currently reaches 50 miles from Raymond but will only reach around 20 miles from the city after the reduction, potentially making things tough for over-the-air viewers outside that radius. In the next few months, MPB will reduce analog power to stations in Bude, Greenwood and Meridian. "We're going to be able to save a couple hundred thousand dollars by doing it this way rather than doing it all at once," said Marie Antoon, MPB's executive director, told the newspaper.

NYT: A time of redefintion for pubradio

This Sunday Times article rounds up pubradio efforts to reignite the stalled growth of its audience, from WNYC's new The Takeaway to projects including the Public Radio Talent Quest and Chicago Public Radio's :Vocalo.

Aaron Brown to host Wide Angle

Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown is the new host of Wide Angle, PBS's international current affairs documentary series, produced by WNET in New York. The former host was Daljit Dhaliwal, who anchors the pubTV international news program Foreign Exchange and also the recent pilot of Global Watch, a program from KCET about international perceptions of the United States.

Philly's WYBE: All shorts, all the time

WYBE's new model, based on 5-minute programs that run online and on-air, aims for "a marriage of the often-frustrated community-TV ideal of locally produced original programming and the convenience and short-attention-span exuberance of free digital media-on-demand," reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. On the new Mind TV, paying WYBE members get production training and a platform for their videos, which station execs hope will provide about one-third of all content. The rest will be produced by station staff or chunked from existing pubTV programs. Resources for the change came in part from NBC, which--in exchange for one of WYBE's digital channels--provided the pubcaster with new studio equipment and training. (See Current's story on WYBE's revamp in the April 21 issue.)