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Feb 9, 2012

He's a fan, by George

Who loves NPR? George Clooney, reveals this photo posted by Tanya Ballard Brown, an editor at NPR.org, currently ricocheting around the Internets.

UPDATE: Fishbowl LA reports that Clooney was at NPR West — surrounded by female staffers — to record a segment on All Things Considered.

Coeur d'Alene Tribe's KWIS-FM now on the air

KWIS-FM, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's radio station, is now on the air from Plummer, Idaho, one of more than two dozen Native stations that received FCC construction permits in 2008. KWIS, pronounced "kwee-ss," means "to be called" in the Coeur d'Alene language, according to the Coeur d'Alene Press.

Kansas House committee turns down $800,000 extra for pubcasting

The Republican Kansas House Appropriations Committee chairman broke a 10-10 vote deadlock to reject a request for an additional $800,000 for public broadcasting, the Lawrence Journal-World reported Thursday (Feb. 9). Gov. Sam Brownback's budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 included $600,000 for public broadcasting, down from $2 million; a House budget subcommittee added $800,000, bringing the total to $1.2 million. Rep. Marc Rhoades (R-Newton) cast the deciding vote.

CPB to present Community Lifeline Awards for station response during disasters

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has established a Community Lifeline Award (PDF) to recognize pubcasting stations "that have provided exceptionally exemplary service to their communities" during "local emergencies, natural disasters, and other urgent situations." Any station that receives a Community Service Grant may apply. The station must have provided information and updates in close coordination with government agencies and first responders, presented extensive coverage of the situation, and station staff "demonstrated strong personal commitment" during the crisis through long hours or "calmness under pressure." The number of recipients of the award will vary; CPB estimates presenting two to three annually.

Knight "evolves" its News Challenge grants program

The Knight Foundation is revamping its Knight News Challenge for 2012, "evolving the challenge to be more nimble and more focused," it announced Thursday (Feb. 9), with three distinct application rounds. The first concentrates on networks, and ways entities might use existing platforms to drive innovation in media and journalism; applications open Feb. 27 and close March 17. Subsequent rounds will be an open competition, "looking for new ideas broadly," the foundation said, and a third on a specific topic. First-round winners will be announced in June. The Knight News Challenge is part of  the Foundation’s $100 million Media Innovation Initiative, working to identify new ways to meet community information needs in the digital age. Over its first five years, the foundation reviewed more than 12,000 applications and funded 76 projects, including in pubmedia, for $27 million.

Contributions, grants to KCET fall 41 percent in first year away from PBS, paper reports

Contributions and grants to KCET have plunged 41 percent since its departure from PBS membership in January 2011, according to the Los Angeles Times, including corporate as well as individual giving. But the station also received $28.8 million from the sale of its historic studio to the Church of Scientology; the newspaper noted that while the purchase price was $45 million, the station temporarily leased back the property). KCET also "sharply trimmed its spending on programming and production," the paper said, down 37 percent to $21 million. "We saw an uptick in the fourth quarter 2011," Al Jerome, the station's president and chief executive, told the Times in an email. "We're hopeful this trend continues through 2012."