Gates incorporates genealogy into new mag

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard professor and host of the PBS series African American Lives, is heading up The Root, a new online magazine launched this week by The Washington Post Company. The magazine, aimed at a black audience, covers politics and culture and features interactive tools for readers to track their ancestry.

PBS puts free educational content on iTunes U

PBS is now offering free multimedia educational content on iTunes U, the educational area of iTunes. Housed in the "Beyond Campus" section, the offerings--video, lectures, interviews, teacher guides--come from KQED, WETA, WNET and WGBH.

Competition for Colorado news listeners

The channel swap planned for Colorado Public Radio's KFCR News and KVOD Classical stations will cut off service to music lovers in Fort Collins and bring competition for news listeners now served by Greeley's KUNC, reports the Coloradoan.

Summit for state ed officers and pubTV

Rob Lippincott, PBS’s senior v.p., education, is urging stations to invite their states' chief public school officers to a Council of Chief State School Officers executive summit about educational media (scroll down to third item) in New York March 6, preceding WNET’s Teaching & Learning Celebration. The third annual Celebration, March 7-8, will offer 90 workshops for teachers plus such events as a forum on future schooling, moderated by Judy Woodruff. For info on the summit: Scott Frein, CCSSO, 202-336-7015.

Indecency police are on patrol

Images of a nude woman's backside, broadcast in February 2003 before 10 p.m. on ABC stations in the Central and Mountain time zones, prompted the FCC to fine the network $1.43 million, the maximum allowed at the time. "We find that the programming at issue is within the scope of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs--specifically an adult woman's buttocks," the FCC wrote in a decision issued on Friday.

NTIA: Converter boxes coming next month

Electronics manufacturers and retailers will have digital-to-analog converter boxes on store shelves by Feb. 18, said Meredith Baker, acting head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The NTIA, which is running the federal converter box program, also announced plans for special consumer education projects, including a "application completion" week in September in which churches and other community organizations will help people apply for $40 coupons for the converters. As of Wednesday, consumers had applied for 3.7 million of the coupons, the NTIA said. A recent APTS survey found that 40 percent of over-the-air households would rather get their digital TV via converters, as opposed to 12 percent who said they'd subscribe to cable or satellite. Some electronics execs have been nervous that the industry would be able to meet the demand.

NYT: Kernis's TV job is at CNN

Jay Kernis will leave NPR to become managing editor at CNN, according to the New York Times' TV Decoder blog. NPR announced Kernis's departure internally Jan. 23. Kernis has served as NPR's senior v.p. for programming for seven years.

Humble Farmer angles for TV placement

Maine's Humble Farmer, booted from the state's public radio network after refusing to tone down his political rants, is mounting a return to broadcasting via public-access TV, reports the Kennebec Journal. The Farmer, whose real name is Robert Skoglund, has said that 28 stations plan to air his show or consider it. "I see public access TV as one of the last bastions of free speech, and I really disagree with what happened to him," said a manager at one station.

Crossroads film gets Oscar nod

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, which aired as part of PBS's America at a Crossroads series, has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. The Documentary Group production dramatized writings by veterans of the Iraq War in a variety of styles and featured vets from previous wars talking about their experiences. Operation stirred up less controversy than the other Crossroads films (previous coverage in Current) but earned positive attention from critics.

Funding boost moves WTVP closer to survival

WTVP in Peoria, Ill., is $1.5 million closer to staying in business, reports the (Bloomington) Pantagraph. Several major donors contributed the sum, bringing the station's outstanding debt to $500,000. As Current has reported, WTVP hit financial trouble after borrowing to build new facilities and failing to reach the fundraising levels agreed on by its creditors.