"Mama Jazz," longtime host of WMUB, dies

Phyllis Campbell, known to public radio listeners in southwestern Ohio as "Mama Jazz," has died at the age of 89, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. She hosted jazz programming on WMUB in Miami from 1979 to 2006 and became one of the station's most popular and distinctive personalities during 27 years on the air. "She was feisty as all get-out, passionately devoted to jazz, and unabashedly loyal to her legions of fans," Cleve Callison, former WMUB g.m., told the Enquirer.

Ready TV will be Arizona version of Create multicast channel

Arizona Public Media is launching a local version of the Create multicast lifestyle channel, to be called Ready TV, starting Dec. 1, reports the Green Valley News & Sun. "Ready TV is very similar to Create but it is programmed locally to accommodate the local Southern Arizona time zone," said Sue DeBenedette, marketing manager for AZPM. "With Create, it was programmed and scheduled on the East Coast, so that primetime shows did not air in primetime here in Southern Arizona. Scheduling it locally gives AZPM the freedom to program those shows that resonate strongly here in this market rather than being dictated to by a national feed." The 24-hour channel will include Julia Child shows, Austin City Limits, This Old House and Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill.

APM acquires Spot.Us, will merge it with Public Insight Network

American Public Media has acquired community news funding website Spot.Us, and will incorporate it into the Public Insight Network (PIN), APM announced today (Nov. 29). Spot.Us and PIN each "believe in the power of the independent voice in journalism," said Joaquin Alvarado, senior vice president of digital innovation at APM. Spot.Us, founded in 2008 with a seed grant from the Knight Foundation's Knight News Challenge, lets the public fund journalism that is then distributed by newsrooms nationwide; PIN provides journalists with more than 130,000 self-identified news sources through its unique database.

House GOP offers spectrum bill

House Republicans today (Nov. 29) released their spectrum incentive auction bill, reports Broadcasting & Cable. It was introduced by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and is set to be marked up and voted on in the committee Thursday. It would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reclaim spectrum from broadcasters for auction and compensate them from the proceeds. It also would compensate broadcasters not giving up spectrum for the costs of moving to another channel or sharing channels with another broadcaster, as well as the cost to cable operators of carrying the new signals. A Senate version of a spectrum auction bill has already passed out of the Commerce Committee.