Jan 22, 2012
Downton, American Masters, Sesame win Producers Guild awards
Three shows on PBS scored awards from the Producers Guild of America in ceremonies Saturday (Jan. 21) in Los Angeles. Masterpiece Classic's hit Downton Abbey continues its string of honors with the David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television, beating out Cinema Verite, Mildred Pierce and Too Big to Fail on HBO and The Kennedys on Reelz Channel. The outstanding producer of non-fiction television award went to Susan Lacy and Julie Sacks for American Masters. Also, Sesame Street won for children's television, a new category in the 23-year-old awards.
Minnesota governor proclaims Gary Eichten Day statewide as longtime MPR host retires
Jan. 20 was Gary Eichten Day in Minnesota, proclaimed by Gov. Mark Dayton to honor the retiring Minnesota Public Radio host and producer after a 45-year career. The proclamation noted that Eichten began his career at MPR as a student announcer at KSJR, Minnesota's first public radio station, in 1967. Over the years he has served as news director, special events producer, and station manager; for the past 20 years he's been host of Midday.
A "Heckuva Farewell" for Eichten took place Jan. 19 at the Fitzgerald Theater. For his last Midday show, Gary interviewed Vice President Walter Mondale.
A "Heckuva Farewell" for Eichten took place Jan. 19 at the Fitzgerald Theater. For his last Midday show, Gary interviewed Vice President Walter Mondale.
KSKA metro reporter Les Anderson to retire
Les Anderson, longtime metro news reporter for KSKA in Anchorage, Alaska, is retiring after a career in which he "once stood by a wet mule in a Wisconsin parking lot, wearing hillbilly clothes and promoting a new citrus pop for a commercial radio station," reports the Anchorage Daily News.
Anderson came to public radio in an interesting way, beginning as a college professor at University of Wisconsin. Decades ago, an English composition student asked him what can be done with an English degree; Anderson went to his office and pondered the question. "Then he decided to see if he, with a master's degree in English, could make a career in radio," the paper said. His first pubcasting job was at KEYA on the Turtle Mountain Indian Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota. In 1979 he moved to Alaska as manager of the Kotzebue radio station, KOTZ.
He told the paper how he ended up with his tribal name: "I gained my Inupiaq name through an on-air mispronunciation in Kotzebue. I was reading through a stack of Tundra Messages one late summer Friday morning. I came to one message from a little grandson to his grandmother to have fun in Point Hope where she was visiting and to pick — in Inupiaq — plenty of salmonberries. I knew the word but in haste to get through the stack, mispronounced it. I could hear the Inupiat laughter through two closed doors. I had the grandmother scouring the tundra outside Point Hope picking white owls. The next Monday, Nellie Moore announced on the air that White Owl was my new name."
The station plans a retirement celebration for Jan. 27.
Anderson came to public radio in an interesting way, beginning as a college professor at University of Wisconsin. Decades ago, an English composition student asked him what can be done with an English degree; Anderson went to his office and pondered the question. "Then he decided to see if he, with a master's degree in English, could make a career in radio," the paper said. His first pubcasting job was at KEYA on the Turtle Mountain Indian Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota. In 1979 he moved to Alaska as manager of the Kotzebue radio station, KOTZ.
He told the paper how he ended up with his tribal name: "I gained my Inupiaq name through an on-air mispronunciation in Kotzebue. I was reading through a stack of Tundra Messages one late summer Friday morning. I came to one message from a little grandson to his grandmother to have fun in Point Hope where she was visiting and to pick — in Inupiaq — plenty of salmonberries. I knew the word but in haste to get through the stack, mispronounced it. I could hear the Inupiat laughter through two closed doors. I had the grandmother scouring the tundra outside Point Hope picking white owls. The next Monday, Nellie Moore announced on the air that White Owl was my new name."
The station plans a retirement celebration for Jan. 27.
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