May 23, 2011
Huffington Post survey taking temp of viewers on PBS breaks question
Current's coverage of PBS's announcement that it will begin an experiment this fall to insert local and national promo breaks into two shows has prompted a pro/con survey at Huffington Post. As of 2:10 p.m. Monday (May 23), "I hate it" has 72 percent of the votes, with "Whatever" claiming 28 percent.
"Sherlock" wins top drama, supporting actor BAFTAs; none for "Downton Abbey"
While the Masterpiece hit Downton Abbey failed to win BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) TV Awards for any of its three category nominations, its Sherlock grabbed two top trophies at ceremonies Sunday night in London, according to TV Squad. The detective show won best drama series and best supporting actor for Martin Freeman, who plays Watson.
Freeman's co-star Benedict Cumberbatch lost out in the best actor category to Daniel Rigby (Flyboys) for his role as legendary British comedian Eric Morecambe in Eric & Ernie. Rigby also beat out Doctor Who star Matt Smith.
Downton Abbey was nominated for three major awards — drama series, supporting actor and audience favorite — but failed to win any. Full list of winners here.
Freeman's co-star Benedict Cumberbatch lost out in the best actor category to Daniel Rigby (Flyboys) for his role as legendary British comedian Eric Morecambe in Eric & Ernie. Rigby also beat out Doctor Who star Matt Smith.
Downton Abbey was nominated for three major awards — drama series, supporting actor and audience favorite — but failed to win any. Full list of winners here.
WTTW mulled leaving PBS; at least six other stations are "on the fence," NYT reports
PBS narrowly averted losing the membership of Chicago affiliate WTTW, the New York Times is reporting today (May 23). Earlier this year the board of WTTW-TV told management to consider withdrawing from the system, as KCET had done in January. “Our board, they are smart business people," says Dan Schmidt, WTTW president, "and when they look at our business model they scratch their heads and they say this is upside down from a business standpoint.” He says his station pays $4.5 million a year in PBS dues, and yet “viewers can see that content on other stations and increasingly, whenever they want to on PBS.org." WTTW had a $4.2 million operating deficit last year, Schmidt says.
The paper says there are "murmurs of half a dozen more stations, at least — no one will name them on the record — that are on the fence and could leave," depending on state and federal financing situations.
The paper says there are "murmurs of half a dozen more stations, at least — no one will name them on the record — that are on the fence and could leave," depending on state and federal financing situations.
May 22, 2011
Marfa pubradio made "difference between life and death" in Texas wildfires, story says
Marfa Public Radio continues to win praise for its April coverage of massive wildfires, the latest coming via a Texas Tribune story in today's (May 22) New York Times. "Had MPR not been around on April 9, when an electrical malfunction in a former storefront less than two miles west of downtown Marfa ignited the largest wildfire in Texas history, it might have meant the difference between life and death for some West Texans," it notes.
“It was like standing at the mouth of hell,” said Anne Adkins, MPR’s office manager. “We didn’t have a news team, so we became the news team.”
According to the story, half of the station's $250,000 budget comes from CPB. A membership drive that was "all but derailed by the wildfire," the story says, actually turned out to be the station’s most successful ever, raising more than $85,000.
The station posted a wildfire wrapup on May 21.
“It was like standing at the mouth of hell,” said Anne Adkins, MPR’s office manager. “We didn’t have a news team, so we became the news team.”
According to the story, half of the station's $250,000 budget comes from CPB. A membership drive that was "all but derailed by the wildfire," the story says, actually turned out to be the station’s most successful ever, raising more than $85,000.
The station posted a wildfire wrapup on May 21.
May 21, 2011
Twitter becoming "real-time news wire for the world," analyst says
New media analyst Mathew Ingram writes on GigaOM that there's a growing demand not only for careful curation of news, but also "the need to start looking at news as a process and not as a pristine, finished product." He cites the BBC, which has staffers assigned to pull in reports from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and other outlets for verification, similar to Andy Carvin's work for NPR. "Twitter is becoming the real-time news wire for the world, and we need people who can make use of it as such ... And we need new attitudes about how we look at journalism as well, now that everyone is doing it."
"The Fracking Song" is latest twist in explanatory journalism
A ProPublic series on the environmental threats of drilling for natural gas inspired a new kind of news explainer: A song. David Holmes, a journalism student in New York University’s Studio 20 program, which focuses on adapting news to the web in innovative ways, tells Poynter, "We were concerned with building a better entryway into that investigation and we figured a song would be the perfect way to do it — especially since it’s called fracking.”
"My Water's On Fire Tonight: The Fracking Song," has nearly 83,000 hits on YouTube since it was posted last week — along with lots of fans. "I don't understand how 'Charlie Bit Me' can have more views than this," quipped one.
"My Water's On Fire Tonight: The Fracking Song," has nearly 83,000 hits on YouTube since it was posted last week — along with lots of fans. "I don't understand how 'Charlie Bit Me' can have more views than this," quipped one.
Chicago's only noncom Latino radio station up for sale
WRTE/90.5 FM in Chicago, the city's only noncom Latino radio station, is for sale, and Chicago Public Media is interested. WRTE's licensee, the National Museum of Mexican Art, is parting with the youth-run station, known locally as Radio Arte, and the building housing it due to budget woes.
Museum President Carlos Tortolero tells WBEZ: “The funding, especially in radio, is going south. We have a building that’s costing us money. We tried to borrow some money to do some things and [banks] are saying, ‘No, no. You can’t.’ The banks are looking at us and saying, ‘Hey, you have to get rid of some of this stuff.’” Former Radio Arte volunteers are also forming a coop to attempt to buy the station.
"For all intents and purposes Radio Arte is the city of Chicago’s only true community radio station that isn’t affiliated with a college or university, and therefore more of a hybrid college/community station," notes Radio Survivor. "It is all the more unique because of its focus on Chicago’s large Latino population. Any significant change in programming brought on by a station sale would represent a real loss for the city."
Museum President Carlos Tortolero tells WBEZ: “The funding, especially in radio, is going south. We have a building that’s costing us money. We tried to borrow some money to do some things and [banks] are saying, ‘No, no. You can’t.’ The banks are looking at us and saying, ‘Hey, you have to get rid of some of this stuff.’” Former Radio Arte volunteers are also forming a coop to attempt to buy the station.
"For all intents and purposes Radio Arte is the city of Chicago’s only true community radio station that isn’t affiliated with a college or university, and therefore more of a hybrid college/community station," notes Radio Survivor. "It is all the more unique because of its focus on Chicago’s large Latino population. Any significant change in programming brought on by a station sale would represent a real loss for the city."
May 20, 2011
P.O.V. opens call for entries
The call for entries for the 2012 season of P.O.V. is now open. Series producer Yance Ford offers some tips for filmmakers here.
New first for NPR's Andy Carvin: the Twitter interview
"[W]hat could be more dull than two Twitter geeks with their heads buried in their laptops as the interview subject patiently waits for us to type?" writes NPR's Andy Carvin in this detailed account of his May 19 Twitter interview with Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser and author of the speech that President Obama delivered on U.S. policy on the Middle East. The ground-breaking interview may have been visually dull to those who watched it on video stream, but the tactics that Carvin used to solicit and ask questions, and NPR's rationale for allowing him to accept the White House's invitation to host the chat, turned out to be of great interest to Twitter heads and journalists.
May 19, 2011
WTF, an insider's emotional journey through world of comedy, comes to public radio
WTF with Marc Maron, a twice-weekly podcast that regularly ranks among iTunes' most popular, has been adapted for public radio broadcast. The 10-episode series features startlingly honest conversations between Maron and top comedians and entertainers, including Judd Apatow, Conan O'Brien and Louis C.K.
Maron launched the podcast during a dark time in his life — in fall 2009, when he was in the midst of a divorce and had just lost his job at now-defunct Air America. "I was in a very bad place," Maron said. "My career was relatively washed up. I was broke. My heart was broken. My bank account was broken, and I didn't have anywhere to turn."
The turmoil of Maron's personal life, combined with the candidness that he naturally brings to comedic performance and his need to resolve issues in his career and relationships, shaped the creative arc of the show. It also attracted an audience of devoted fans, who send him gifts and emotionally loaded e-mails about their own personal struggles, Maron told Current.
"He has become this huge phenomenon in the last 18 months, and managed to capture the zeitgeist in a way that I never managed to do," said Jesse Thorn, host and producer of The Sound of Young America, who is producing WTF: The Public Radio Show and distributing it through Public Radio Exchange. "The emotional journeys of these interviews are, to me, totally amazing."
Ira Glass of This American Life began talking up WTF to pubradio insiders last fall, and he's helping market the show via PRX. "Marc himself is such a fiercely bare, honest performer, that his interviewees can't help but give him what he's putting out with them, and the result is amazingly raw conversation," Glass wrote in a letter to public radio program directors. "They're special shows, and they deserve a place on the radio." Glass also cut a series of WTF tune-in promos.
Maron launched the podcast during a dark time in his life — in fall 2009, when he was in the midst of a divorce and had just lost his job at now-defunct Air America. "I was in a very bad place," Maron said. "My career was relatively washed up. I was broke. My heart was broken. My bank account was broken, and I didn't have anywhere to turn."
The turmoil of Maron's personal life, combined with the candidness that he naturally brings to comedic performance and his need to resolve issues in his career and relationships, shaped the creative arc of the show. It also attracted an audience of devoted fans, who send him gifts and emotionally loaded e-mails about their own personal struggles, Maron told Current.
"He has become this huge phenomenon in the last 18 months, and managed to capture the zeitgeist in a way that I never managed to do," said Jesse Thorn, host and producer of The Sound of Young America, who is producing WTF: The Public Radio Show and distributing it through Public Radio Exchange. "The emotional journeys of these interviews are, to me, totally amazing."
Ira Glass of This American Life began talking up WTF to pubradio insiders last fall, and he's helping market the show via PRX. "Marc himself is such a fiercely bare, honest performer, that his interviewees can't help but give him what he's putting out with them, and the result is amazingly raw conversation," Glass wrote in a letter to public radio program directors. "They're special shows, and they deserve a place on the radio." Glass also cut a series of WTF tune-in promos.
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