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Dec 6, 2011

PBS to produce public TV track at 2012 PMDMC

Next year's Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, the annual event organized by pubradio's Development Exchange, will include a new track for pubTV professionals, produced by PBS, on pledge practices, fundraising and community engagement around children’s programming, and television-specific research. DEI and PBS announced the collaboration in a statement today (Dec. 6). "For the first time, the whole public media family will have the opportunity to focus together on the very best fundraising ideas and practices," said DEI President Doug Eichten. The partnership "demonstrates the spirit of institutional collaboration that is critical at the national and station levels," said PBS President Paula Kerger. The 2012 PMDMC takes place July 12-14 at the Seattle Sheraton.

CPB supports more Latino-focused programming in Los Angeles

CPB announced today that it has awarded Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles $1.8 million to support the One Nation Media Project, which will focus on reporting and programming for and about Latinos and other people of color in the Los Angeles area.

As one element of the project, SCPR will expand The Madeleine Brand Show, its locally produced morning newsmagazine, into a national two-hour show “with a focus on the Latino and other ethnic communities/interests/issues,” according to an SCPR job listing. In addition, SCPR will launch “three distinct online channels,” says the CPB release, each hosted by a dedicated journalist. The channels will cover emerging communities, public education and criminal justice.

The grant will also support a series of live events that will explore issues affecting Los Angeles. SCPR is holding the first event tonight. All in the Familia: L.A. Latino Business in the 21st Century will feature a conversation about how the involvement of younger generations is changing the city’s Latino-owned mom-and-pop businesses.

SCPR, a sister organization to Minnesota’s American Public Media, has explored expanding service to Latinos with CPB backing in the past. In 2006 it conducted research that informed the creation of the now-defunct L.A. Public Media (Current, July 20, 2009). The broadcaster considered collaborating with Fresno-based Radio Bilingüe as the service developed but eventually withdrew from the project.

WHYY and KPCC new journalism partners with NBC

Pubcasting stations WHYY and KPCC are two new noncom partners with NBC, effective immediately. The network is making good on its promise to join forces with nonprofit news organizations, made as part of NBC Universal's merger with Comcast approved by the Federal Communications Commission in January. The New York Times is reporting that NBC stations in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles will partner with noncom outlets in those cities, and all 10 NBC stations will collaborate with ProPublica, the investigative journalism organization.

NBC in Chicago will work with The Chicago Reporter blog and magazine. In Philadelphia, NBC is partnering with with NPR station WHYY and its community site NewsWorks. In Los Angeles, the collaboration is with pubradio KPCC.

In selecting partners, “we cast a wide net,” Valari Staab, president of the NBC-owned television stations, told the Times. She said the local stations “looked for what organizations we thought could contribute unique content we couldn’t otherwise have.”