Christopherson resigns as NJN director

New Jersey's state-owned NJN network confirmed yesterday that Elizabeth Christopherson, executive director for 14 years, will leave the job Dec. 1. She told the NJN staff in a memo on Monday. Spokeswoman Ronnie Weyl said the director has a new job, yet to be announced. Christopherson has not won state leaders' support for NJN's proposal to become an independent nonprofit. The blog PolitickerNJ.com reported yesterday that the proposal was pronounced "dead." That assessment came from an official of the state treasurer's office during yesterday's state Public Broadcasting Authority meeting, Weyl said.

Analog signals: Another one bites the dust

The University of Michigan's WFUM-TV in Flint, Mich., is the latest of a growing number of pubTV stations to plan an early turnoff of analog broadcasting. WFUM will turn off both its analog and digital transmitters Nov. 19 for three days while Thomson technicians move the DTV signal generators into its Channel 28 transmitter. The analog will stay off. On Nov. 22, the station will resume DTV broadcasts but on the old channel long used for analog, Director of Engineering Wayne Henderson tells Current. Starting Nov. 19 -- 90 days before the nationwide analog turnoff Feb. 17 -- the FCC allows analog turnoffs by stations that follow a streamlined notification procedure. More in our Nov. 10 issue.