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Jul 2, 2012

WAMU's Tom "Cat" Reeder dies at 77

Tom “Cat” Reeder, longtime country music broadcaster and host of The Tom “Cat” Reeder Show on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, died June 30, the station reports. He was 77.

Reeder joined WAMU in Washington, D.C., in 2001, as one of several rotating hosts of Bluegrass Overnight. His final broadcast was June 19.

A tribute will air at 9 p.m. Tuesday (July 3) on WAMU 88.5 and WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.

PRADO announces scholarship winners for PMDMC

The Public Radio Association of Development Officers (PRADO) is again providing travel scholarships for the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, July 12-14 in Seattle. This year’s winners: Cindy Sweat, KSTK, Wrangell, Alaska; Amy Kramer Johnson, KCAW, Sitka, Alaska; Macadio Namoki, KUYI, Kearns Canyon, Ariz.; Astha Shrestha, WICN, Worchester, Mass.; Leslie Ross, KHNS, Haines, Alaska; Lila Strode, KEDM, Monroe, La.; David Steffen, KZYX, Philo, Calif.; Brianna Ezzell, KVMR, Nevada City, Calif.; and Mindy Anderson, KFSK, Petersburg, Alaska. PRADO has offered the scholarships since 2001, to allow development professionals to attend the conference, hosted annually by Development Exchange Inc. This year, conference co-host is PBS.

NJTV, one year later

One year after NJTV replaced the state-run NJN, "reaction to the service is decidedly mixed," reports the Star-Ledger. "Supporters applaud the station’s progress. Critics are more numerous and more blunt."

“It’s a wake, not an anniversary,” Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said. “Effectively, NJTV is dead. Nobody watches it.”

Fewer viewers are tuning in, the newspaper said. This spring, NJ Today averaged around 22,000 viewers total for its three nightly broadcasts — about half of the viewers who tuned into NJN news during the same period last year.

But progress should be put into context, others say. “When you look at what NJN did in the range of $22 (million) to $30 million a year and look at what this new entity has done with a budget of about $10 million, I think they have done incredible things,” said Liz Thomas, board member of Public Media New Jersey, the nonprofit corporation behind NJTV.