Free Press proposes new definition of pubmedia; GFEM renames itself

PHILADELPHIA — A new Free Press report released at this week’s annual Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media conference here envisions an expanded, more inclusive and better coordinated public media for America.

Craig Aaron, president of the media-reform group, presented “Greater Than the Sum: Creating Collaborative and Connected Public Media in America” Thursday (June 28) to some 100 media makers and funders.

Drawing from the report, Aaron proposed six categories for inclusion in a broader definition of public media:

•  Noncoms such as NPR, PBS and Link TV;

• Community media, including radio stations owned by local nonprofits and nonprofit online journalism projects;

• Independent producers in film, radio, print and digital multimedia, such as the Association of Independents in Radio;

• Independent nonprofit publications and websites, such Mother Jones and ProPublica;

• Information media, including websites that aggregate information or offer informative interactive applications, such as SeeClickFix; and

• Capacity-building organizations, like the National Center for Media Engagement, that provide resources and analysis for the field.

Aaron said that while he recognizes the hurdles in bringing the diverse groups under one umbrella, only through such collective action can public media access adequate funding and move forward.

In the meantime, GFEM itself is doing a little redefining. The group, an association of grantmakers working in the fields of media arts and public-interest media, unveiled a name change at the conference, meant to reflect its own broader mission. The organization will now be called Media Impact Funders. — Debra E. Blum

"Fresh Air" heading into Radio Hall of Fame

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the popular talk show from WHYY in Philadelphia and distributed by NPR, is being inducted into the Chicago-based Radio Hall of Fame, reports Chicago media writer Robert Feder. Other honorees, with details from Radio Info: Legendary shock jock Howard Stern; Cincinnati on-air personality Gary Burbank; Ron Chapman of Dallas; Art Laboe, who coined the phrase "oldies but goodies"; 90-year-old Luther Massingill, still on the air at WDEF in Chattanooga, Tenn., after more than 70 years; and a posthumous induction for Jack Cooper, an African-American announcer in Chicago in the 1930s. They'll all be honored at ceremonies Nov. 10 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, set for national telecast.

"No strip club on Sesame Street!"

Looks like WPBT2 in Miami may be getting a nudie bar as a new neighbor — literally on the road dubbed Sesame Street, where the station is located. The Miami Herald reports that Thursday night (June 28), the North Miami City Council lifted a ban on alcohol sales in strip clubs, which the owners of Sunny Isles Eatery had requested. They want to invest $2 million in a building next to the studio for the club.

A previous Herald story said Sunny Isles Eatery also ran Thee Dollhouse in Sunny Isle Beach, "where female dancers performed friction dances and participated in onstage showers with each other –– or with customers."

“For me this isn’t about adult entertainment and their [having a] right to exist. Of course they do," said WPBT2 President Rick Schneider. "This isn’t about morality or free speech.” Schneider said that children are often at the station. “Alcohol is what makes it problematic," Schneider said. "It’s the combination of alcohol sales at adult entertainment venues that creates a concern.”

A website from opponents declared, "No strip club on Sesame Street!"

Pubcasters form new group, Kentucky Public Radio Network

Pubradio stations in Kentucky have created the Kentucky Public Radio Network to promote statewide collaboration and advocate for public broadcasting, according to member station Louisville Public Media.

KPRN also will run public radio’s state capital bureau in Frankfort.

The founding officers are Donovan Reynolds, Louisville Public Media, board chair; Roger Duvall, WEKU, Richmond, vice-chair; Kate Lochte, WKMS, Murray, secretary; and Tom Godell, WUKY, Lexington, treasurer.

Other charter members of the organization are WKYU, Bowling Green; WMKY, Morehead; and WNKU, Highland Heights.

SoCon drops deals with four public TV stations for game coverage

The Southern Conference has cut short its three-year deal with four public television stations, reports news site GoBlueRidge.net in Boone, N.C.

SoCon, a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, announced the deals last year with South Carolina ETV, UNC-TV, Georgia Public Broadcasting and WTCI in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Current, Dec. 12, 2011). But SoCon wanted its games televised statewide in all five states within the league, which also included Alabama.

"We also had a second broadcast package last year with ESPN3," SoCon spokesman Jason Yaman told Current. "This year all of our events will be shown through ESPN3 and we will not have a conference package with public television."

Nancy Zintak, spokesperson for GPB, told Current: "We enjoyed our relationship with SoCon last year and we wish them well with ESPN3.  Our core sports business is really in the high school arena, which is where we're able to connect with our communities all over Georgia and celebrate academic excellence both on and off the field."

"The Takeaway" goes from four hours to one hour in September

Starting Sept. 3, The Takeaway, the weekday live drivetime pubradio news show that launched in April 2008, is shrinking from four hours to one hour.

Jennifer Houlihan, spokesperson for co-producer WNYC, told Current that the show's staff was informed of the decision today (June 28). Some positions will be eliminated; those will be determined by mid-July, Houlihan said. All employees are guaranteed jobs through Aug. 30, and some may continue to work in other roles at WNYC.

The show's format "will be refined," but still focus on news, conversation and analysis, Houlihan said. The show also was tweaked 17 months after its premiere (Current, Sept. 8, 2009).

Currently, 65 stations carry the program, according to Houlihan. "Some stations had already begun airing parts of The Takeaway outside of morning drive," she said, "and we're enthusiastic about its potential as a strong mid-morning/daytime news offering, as well as a digital property available on multiple platforms."

"Radio Ambulante" strives to give Latino stories a radio home, in Spanish

Because public radio "isn't creating permanent spaces" for "introspective stories about Latinos," Peruvian-American novelist Daniel Alarcon and a group of veteran writers and radio producers are nurturing Radio Ambulante, writes poet and KPCC Reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez on KCET's SoCal Focus blog. Guzman-Lopez describes Radio Ambulante as "a sort of This Latin American Life in Spanish."

Guzman-Lopez writes that in do-it-yourself tradition, "Alarcon and his crew didn't find the radio program they wanted to hear, so they set out to create it." Radio Ambulante, which loosely translates to "walking radio," currently is available streaming and as a podcast; producers hope to air on stations in Latin America and the United States.

"National Public Radio is dismayingly white," Alarcon said, "and I think they know that and we all know that. That's not news. The question is what are they going to do about it."

Guzman-Lopez notes that organizations like Youth Radio in California, NPR's training unit and schools of journalism "are giving more of these motivated Latinos the critical ingredient, the analytical tools, and the storytelling formulas, to fashion compelling stories."

Alabama PTV legal memo, meeting minutes and two mission statements now online

Now on Current.org, additional background content on the Alabama Public Television firings (Current, June 25). In a May 23 legal memo from longtime pubcasting attorney Todd Gray to former APT Executive Director Allan Pizzato, Gray said he believes there is "a systemic risk to AETC [Alabama Educational Television Commission] and its public broadcasting mission if specific programming decisions come to be made by the Commissioners." Also, minutes of the AETC's March 20 and June 12 meetings reveal the brewing controversy. And both APT's rewritten mission statement, adopted at the commission's June 12 meeting, and its former "Mission, Vision, Values, and Diversity Statement" are now online for comparison.

Oregon university names interim director of JPR network

Southern Oregon University has appointed Paul Westhelle as interim director of Jefferson Public Radio, as longtime executive director Ron Kramer prepares to depart June 30. Westhelle has worked at JPR since 1990 and has served as the network’s associate director for 12 years.

The new interim director is grateful for his time working with Kramer, Westhelle said in a press release. Kramer “has been a friend and mentor,” he said.

SOU, which holds the licenses of some JPR stations, dismissed Kramer in March after a university audit found that his leadership of both JPR and a sister nonprofit, the JPR Foundation, presented a conflict of interest. (Current, April 9, 2012.)

Meanwhile, Kramer told KOBI-TV in Medford, Ore., that he’s unsure how the JPR Foundation will finish restoring the Holly Theater in Medford. Work on the building, which the JPR Foundation bought in 2010, has stopped while SOU and the foundation attempt to resolve a dispute about how JPR is operated. The parties recently agreed to take a 90-day breather and to give mediation another try. (Current, June 25, 2012.)

“There’s no glory to have a building whose facade has been restored and its interior unusable, so I would hope something is going to happen to put the theatre back to life,” Kramer said.

Rhode Island PBS to transition from state to community licensee

The Rhode Island Public Telecommunications Authority voted Tuesday (June 26) to transition WSBE/Rhode Island PBS from a state licensee to a community licensee, the station said in a statement on its website. The vote followed approval of the state budget that extends the station's funding only through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2013.

"We are pleased that the state budget restores much of the funding WSBE needs to give us the time necessary to execute a comprehensive and viable plan for alternative funding and operating strategies, without crippling the station during the process," said WSBE President David Piccerelli. He estimates the FCC application and review process for the license transfer could take up to 90 days.

Authority Chair Michael Isaacs called the board's action "an important first step toward WSBE's independence."

The station already has one unique revenue stream: It receives $200,000 annually for its management oversight and operational support of the state's public access channels (Current, May 29).