Mediavore blog aims to highlight best of public media

Kentucky’s Louisville Public Media has launched The Mediavore, a blog that points listeners to don’t-miss content offered throughout public media. In a post on his blog, Todd Mundt, LPM’s director of new media strategies, explains the purpose of Mediavore. “It’s launching with a heavy tilt toward news/talk, but we expect to balance it over the next few months with more music and cultural content,” he writes. “We’re also looking to beef up our exploration of content produced by local stations, and we will add much more video content.”

Sesame Street, the overseas export

An Utne Reader article looks at the international reach of Sesame Street, using The World According to Sesame Street, a documentary, as a starting point. “Sesame Street has to reprove itself in every country where it goes,” says one of the doc’s directors. “Here is an American organization coming in and wanting to teach their children. That’s alarm-bell city.”

Alaska fundraiser wins national honor

The Association of Fundraising Professionals named Gretchen Gordon, director of development and outreach at KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska, its Outstanding Professional in Philanthropy this week, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Gordon doubled the station’s donations from listeners over four years to $1 million despite cutting back on on-air fund drives. “Saying it is a huge honor would be an understatement,” she said of the award.

Former CPB president dies at 89

Henry Loomis, president of CPB for a stretch in the 1970s, died Nov. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., at the age of 89, according to the New York Times. Loomis was appointed by President Nixon in 1972 and “set about wresting control over programming and production” from PBS. He also steered more funds to stations rather than national programs. Before joining CPB, Loomis led Voice of America until resigning in 1965, resisting pressure from the White House to cut back on coverage of the U.S. military’s involvement in Southeast Asia.