WGBH sues over "Famous 'Roadshow' Tour"

WGBH is suing a North Carolina antiques and collectibles trader for its use of the phrase "The Famous 'Roadshow' Tour" to promote its events in the Northeast, according to The Boston Herald. The trademark infringement lawsuit accuses WeBuyTreasure.com of damaging WGBH's reputation by using what it considers deceptive newspaper ads. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston Friday.

Was there a *#$!*% word on Georgia Public Broadcasting?

Viewers are still talking about Saturday night's Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards on Georgia Public Broadcasting: F-word or not? A posthumous tribute to inductee Shakir Stewart of Def Jam was given by members of his family. But as the segment ended, a woman in the groupwas heard yelling as the mics were still open, “Get the [expletive] off me! Don't touch me!” The Peach Buzz blog in Atlanta said there's been no explanation for what caused the ruckus, or even confirmation of what exactly was said.

Once again, PBS dominates news/doc Emmys

PBS scored the most statuettes of any network at the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards last night in New York. It's the ninth consecutive year the network has won the most awards. The six went to Frontline, with two; POV (team pictured), NOVA, Bill Moyers Journal and National Geographic's "Illicit: The Dark Trade." PBS had 38 nominations, also more than any other broadcast or cable network. A full list of the news and doc winners is at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences site. On hand to accept POV's honor, from left: Exec Director Simon Kilmurry; V.P. Cynthia Lopez; Director/Producer/Editor James Moll; “Inheritance” subject Helen Jonas and daughter Vivian Delman; Producer Christopher Pavlick; and Exec Producer Chris Malachowsky. (Photo: Marc Bryan-Brown Photography)

PubTV's classroom side develops in parallel with general-audience side

The Ford Foundation has finalized its $1 million grant to the PBS Foundation for the PBS Digital Learning Library (formerly known as EDCAR). The network revealed the grant to attendees at Showcase in May. The money will help create the online repository of pubcasting-created educational content for K-12 teachers and students, such as video, audio, images, games and interactive learning activities designed specifically for classroom use, flowing to teachers through local stations. CPB also will provide content grants to PBS member stations.

Purchase of classical WCRB opens door for WGBH-FM to go all-news against WBUR

Another commercial classical station will join the pubcasting fold under a deal announced yesterday by WGBH. The Boston pubcaster is acquiring WCRB-FM, a 27,000-watt station that draws a weekly audience of some 340,000 listeners, from Nassau Broadcasting Partners of New Jersey.

The purchase allows WGBH-FM to shift its music programming to a new channel and go all-news in direct competition with Boston NPR News powerhouse WBUR, the Boston Globe reports this morning. “This lets us save classical music and look at opportunities to expand our journalism and give folks in Boston more of the public radio journalism that they love,’’ WGBH President Jon Abbott tells the Globe. “This will lead us to build out and continue to enhance news’’ offerings.

WGBH, which has been cutting its budget by laying off staff and imposing furloughs and pay cuts, will finance the purchase through a special capital campaign.