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June 10, 2013 | Vol. 32, No.11 Obama action cheers podcasters, but will it thwart patent troll?

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MPB’s Think Radio network puts Fresh Air back in middays Libertarian who won Emmys for WGBH nominated to CPB Board

Current FOR PEOPLE IN PUBLIC MEDIA

State of the System 2012

Gains, losses spread unevenly across pubcasting stations

By Ben Mook

R

eductions in tax-based support for pubcasting have shortened the financial gap between public television and radio stations, accelerating public TV’s decade-long financial decline and demonstrating resilience within segments of the public radio system.

Taken as a whole, public TV stations lost more than $142 million in revenues from 2011 to 2012, according to CPB’s latest report on the financial health of public stations. Radio revenues increased by more than $3 million, but the gains were concentrated among the largest radio stations.

In 2012, television stations recorded $1.75 billion in total revenue, 7.5 percent less than the previous year, when revenues totaled $1.91 billion. The 2011–2012 financial reporting period coincided with deep cuts in state aid to public broadcasters, including complete elimination of subsidies to stations in New Jersey, Florida and New Hampshire.

On the radio side, in 2012, revenues totaled $1.108 billion, a .3 percent increase

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from the $1.105 billion recorded in 2011, which marked the first time that annual pubradio revenues exceeded $1 billion.

“There is a clear, diverging trend,” said CPB financial analyst Moustapha Abdul, who presented this year’s “State of the System” study May 30 during the Public Media Business Association conference in Washington, D.C. “And, needless to say, radio is in a little better position.”

The study was compiled from data that stations report to CPB and found that financial distress is spread unevenly across the pubcasting system and in divergent patterns between public TV and radio.

While revenue gains among the biggest public radio stations are driving that system’s growth, $4.5 million in increased support for TV stations operating on budgets of less than $5 million couldn’t make up for the losses of larger outlets with budgets of at least $10 million. This segment of the public TV system — which makes up 30 percent of CPB-qualified TV stations — lost a total of $147.2 million in revenue.

Continued on page 6

Wisconsin GOP targets reporting unit housed by university Measure bars pubcasters from news collaborations

By Andrew Lapin

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epublicans in Wisconsin’s state legislature are looking to bar the state’s public broadcasters and biggest university from contributing to an investigative-journalism center that they collaborate with on reporting projects, a move that would severely hinder the site’s newsgathering and educational capabilities.

Last week, the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee added an amendment to the proposed state budget to prohibit the nonprofit, nonpartisan Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism from housing Continued on page 11

Jobs 8 Output 3 People 5

Shift in strategy at PBS Stations fear exclusion from show production

By Elizabeth Jensen

W

hen PBS unveiled its fall slate of primetime programs during its recent conference in Miami Beach, Fla., in May, many of the featured titles were notably missing one thing: presenting or producing stations that typically help shepherd series through the PBS editorial process.

While PBS has always purchased some national programs directly from producers, the volume of such acquisitions appears to be growing, in part because PBS’s program budget has been bolstered by ancillary revenues from its latest hit program Downton Abbey.

The windfall is a boon to both PBS and its member stations, but some of those who have financial stakes in public TV produc-

tion question PBS’s strategy of taking a more active role in production.

In Miami Beach, Chief Programming Executive Beth Hoppe spoke of efforts to take “greater control of our pipeline and our fate.”

The narrative accompanying PBS’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal also described plans to continue to “strengthen core primetime series while experimenting with more efficient production models” and to tap new producers for shows that freshen the schedule.

Many public TV insiders said they understand that these activities support Hoppe’s goal of bringing more coherence to the national schedule. Yet they also cause worry because they test the limits of PBS’s traditionContinued on page 7

Talking dog bites back Author sues ‘GBH for share of moneymaking deals

By Ben Mook

T

he author and illustrator of the book that inspired the PBS Kids series Martha Speaks is claiming that producing station WGBH owes her thousands in unpaid royalties after misleading her about ancillary revenues generated Martha Speaks, the animated series about a dog that learns to speak, from the series. is entering its fifth season on PBS Kids. Author Susan Meddaugh Susan alleges that producing station WGBH has cut her out of revenues Meddaugh filed a generated by the show. (Photo: WGBH) lawsuit against the Boston station Jan. 28 in Middlesex County Superior Court of finance the series as evidence that she’s been Massachusetts. The complaint claims WGBH denied compensation. paid her only $30,000 in royalties since 2005, According to the complaint, WGBH paid when she signed a licensing contract. WGBH Meddaugh $30,000 only after she questioned officials told her that the show was not makstation officials about a book-publishing deal ing money, as the station secured a distributhat the station secured in violation of her tion deal and sponsorships that generated original licensing contract. In the lawsuit, funding for the show.

Meddaugh claims that accounting methods Meddaugh had no say in these additional WGBH used in reporting on the show’s earncontracts and received no compensation ings purposefully misled her to believe that from them, she said in the complaint.

Martha Speaks was losing money. Meddaugh The lawsuit requests that the court or claims that the show was one of the station’s a jury determine how much she is owed most lucrative properties. and points to sponsorships and third-party Martha Speaks was written in 1991 and licensing agreements that WGBH secured to Continued on page 3

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2 | June 10, 2013 | Current

White House, digital rights advocates take on ‘patent trolls’ Executive action may relieve podcasters from litigation

By Andrew Lapin

A

brewing legal fight initiated by Personal Audio, a Texas-based company that claims to have invented podcasting technology, has entered a new policy arena.

The company has five lawsuits pending against producers of popular podcasts, and independents who contribute to public media claim they’re being harangued by the company to negotiate licensing agreements. Policymakers and digital advocates in Washington, D.C., recently began to weigh in on the dispute.

In a June 4 announcement of legislative recommendations and policy initiatives to be taken up by his administration, President Obama issued executive actions to curtail patent lawsuits in the technology industry.

Depending on how federal agencies such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) interpret the president’s order to protect “end-users” of technology, the move could prevent Personal Audio from pursuing claims against companies that produce podcasts.

The term “patent troll” has been leveled at Personal Audio, which has filed lawsuits against companies that produce some of the most popular podcasts on iTunes. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights advocacy group, recently established a legal fund to challenge Personal Audio’s claim with the Patent Office and asked its supporters to submit evidence that could help disprove the patent.

The foundation’s fundraising campaign reached its stated goal of $30,000 within 10 hours of its May 30 launch. As of June 6, contributors had donated more than $68,000.

‘No interest’ in public media?

Personal Audio, which filed for a patent in October 1996 on a “system for disseminating media content representing episodes in a serialized sequence,” has targeted Jesse Thorn, host of the NPR-distributed Bullseye, and comedian Marc Maron, whose popular WTF podcast is edited to broadcast standards and distributed to stations by Public Radio Exchange.

Personal Audio’s V.P. of Licensing, Richard Baker, Jr., said in February that the company “is not interested in public media at this point in time.” Yet Thorn and Maron say they have continued to receive licensing requests from Personal Audio over the past several months.

As recently as late May, Maron received an invitation to join a “conference call” to reach “a business solution” regarding the licensing of podcasting technology, he said in an interview.

Personal Audio also initiated contact with Steven Levitt, an occasional guest of the Freakonomics Radio podcast based on his book, according to Jennifer Roussel, spokesperson for New York’s WNYC. The letter “seems to have been misaddressed,” Roussel said, because Levitt is not directly involved in production of the podcast, which is co-produced by WNYC and American Public Media.

Freakonomics Radio also airs as a standalone public radio program and as a recurring segment on American Public Media’s Marketplace. Roussel said WNYC is “looking into the matter.”

Personal Audio has recently expanded its litigation against major podcast producers.

Two lawsuits filed April 12 against NBC and CBS claim that the networks are “unauthorized users of Personal Audio’s podcasting technology.”

Meanwhile, three lawsuits filed in January are gradually working their way through the court system. HowStuffWorks, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, and Togi Entertainment, which runs a network of special-interest talk shows, have responded to the suits by denying Personal Audio’s allegations of patent infringement.

Another suit, which had been incorrectly addressed to ACE Entertainment, has been amended to identify ACE Broadcasting, which produces a popular podcast hosted by Adam Carolla, as the defendant.

With Obama’s actions and recent mainstream media coverage, a once-niche legal issue has taken on broader national significance. Four days before the executive order was announced, NPR’s Planet Money economics unit and Public Radio International’s This American Life reported on Personal Audio’s

litigation. Both Planet Money and TAL offer popular podcasts that could be affected should Personal Audio’s suits go forward.

Little incentive to talk Thorn and Maron produce their podcasts out of for-profit corporations, which is the criterion Personal Audio uses to determine whom to contact as it seeks licensing agreements, according to Baker. The company consulted the top-ranked podcasts in iTunes and other markets, disregarding any that Baker could discern were obviously connected to NPR, he explained.

None of the podcasters that Personal Audio contacted have acknowledged the company’s requests, let alone informed Baker of their involvement with public broadcasting, Baker said. “I would assume that they would call me up and talk to me,” he said. For legal reasons, he said, he deals with each podcaster on a case-by-case basis and could not guarantee Personal Audio would stop contacting any individual.

“I don’t bite,” he said. “I’m not going to say, ‘You don’t have to pay.’ But [public media] should be part of the discussion.”

Thorn and Maron acknowledged that they have no plans to contact Personal Audio.

According to Jorge Contreras, a patent-law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, they have little incentive to do so.

Baker’s assurance that Personal Audio is “uninterested” in public media “has no real binding effect,” Contreras told Current. “You’re really at the mercy of this patent holder, so I wouldn’t take a heck of a lot of comfort from that. And why would you? This is a moneymaking entity. Once they’re successful with some suits, they could do anything.”

Since its initial round of letters soliciting licensing deals, Personal Audio hasn’t undertaken additional research to determine which podcasters fall within the category of public media, Baker said. “We’re a very small organization that’s incredibly busy, and we don’t have any spare time,” he said. “Honestly, it is not a high concern.”

“You can spend weeks doing Google

searches,” Baker added. “It probably would be a couple hours’ worth of work.”

But the Electronic Frontier Foundation has begun research as it prepares to challenge Personal Audio’s patent claim. The foundation is soliciting examples of “prior art” — proven uses of relevant technology that predate Personal Audio’s patent filing date of Oct. 2, 1996.

Though podcasters and the EFF expressed confidence that President Obama’s executive action would provide relief, Contreras warned that the fight isn’t likely to end so easily.

“I think nothing is going to happen this term,” he said, referring to President Obama’s remaining years in the White House. “There’s a pretty significant lobby that is behind patent holders. . . . They make billions of dollars off of these suits, and so it’s going to be a fight.” n Questions, comments, tips? lapin@current.org

Current

6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 350, Takoma Park, MD 20912 Web: Current.org Phone: 301-270-7240, extensions below Fax: 301-270-7241 Managing Editor Karen Everhart, x 33, karen@current.org Senior Editors Dru Sefton, x 39, sefton@current.org Ben Mook, x 32, mook@current.org Assistant Editor Andrew Lapin, x 34, lapin@current.org Associate Editor Mike Janssen, mike@mikejanssen.net Project Editor Steve Behrens, stevebehrens@mac.com Business/Circulation Manager Laura Rogers, x 38, rogers@current.org Advertising Director Kathleen Unwin, 877-745-8776, x 1 unwin@current.org Administrative Assistant Dorian Jones Director of Strategic Initiatives Mark Fuerst, 877-745-8776, x 2 Contributing Editors Louis Barbash, Theodore Fischer Editorial Interns Erica Sanchez-Vazquez, Graham Vyse Founder of Current, 1980 James A. Fellows, National Association of Educational Broadcasters Published 23 times a year as an editorially independent service of American University School of Communication, Washington, D.C., and funded in part by a grant from the Wyncote Foundation.

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“After Innocence,” a special series presented on APM’s The Story this week, examines wrongful imprisonment and exoneration.

A man spends nearly two decades behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit.

A woman sends an innocent man to jail by misidentifying him as her rapist.

A sister in Seattle works to free her brother from an insect-infested prison in Nicaragua.

These might sound like the plotlines to Hollywood movies, but they are all true stories to be featured in “After Innocence: Exoneration in America,” a series airing June 10–13 on public radio’s The Story.

The special coverage from American Public Media provides an in-depth look at

Martha speaks Continued from page 1

made the New York Times Best Illustrated List in 1992. Meddaugh hatched the story idea after her son asked whether the family dog would be able to speak if she ate alphabet soup. The book and the animated PBS Kids show feature a talking dog and promote vocabulary skills for young children.

The show has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy and launches its fifth season on PBS June 24. PBS has ordered a sixth season, which is to go into production next spring.

In a statement, WGBH said it has had a “positive working relationship” with Meddaugh over the years, but contests the claims made in the lawsuit.

“It is unfortunate that a lawsuit has been filed about the series, and that anyone would lay a claim to the charitable donations made by viewers and listeners to support WGBH TV and radio,” the station said in a statement. “WGBH has moved to dismiss the complaint, and looks forward to resolving this matter so that our focus can return to supporting literacy efforts for children.”

A hearing on WGBH’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for June 11.

Meddaugh did not return a call for comment. PBS, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

According to the lawsuit, Meddaugh and WGBH entered into a licensing agreement in 2005, but details of her compensation and financial stake in the property were withheld from court documents because of a confidentiality agreement.

Since then, the lawsuit says, Meddaugh received no compensation from the contract until last year. As she recalls in the lawsuit, WGBH officials explained that overhead costs were attributed to her and outpaced any earnings. Only after learning of the third-party book deal and receiving a $30,000 cut from WGBH last year did she ask her attorney to dig deeper.

Among the side deals that Meddaugh challenged in court is a partnership with DHX Media Ltd., a publicly traded children’s entertainment company headquartered in Nova Scotia, to sell Martha Speaks to overseas markets. DHX recently announced that Belgian broadcaster VRT-Ketnet had acquired rights to the first season of the

Current

wrongful imprisonment in the U.S. Producer Phoebe Judge, who works on The Story with her colleagues at North Carolina Public Radio in Chapel Hill, said she had considered a look at the subject for some time, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that she fully realized the topic’s timeliness or the number of stories waiting to be told.

“We thought, ‘Well, we can do a show. We can do an interview,’” Judge said. “And very quickly, once we started reading about the number of exonerees, about the number of potentially innocent people in jail . . . it was clear that this was going to be more than one show, that this deserved to become a series.”

Host Dick Gordon said producers benefited from the close proximity of the 2013 Innocence Network Conference, which was held in Charlotte, N.C., in late April.

Considered “the largest annual gathering of innocence advocates in the world,” the event provided Gordon and Judge with the opportunity to interview about 15 people, including many exonerees.

Both journalists found the conversations emotionally exhausting.

“It shouldn’t happen, what happens to

series. DHX, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, describes itself in promotional literature as the series “co-producer.”

“Under the contract, WGBH has no right to enter into the foreign joint venture with DHX,” the complaint states. “Significantly, Meddaugh has not received even one payment from that joint venture.”

Meddaugh also cried foul over digital products developed from her property, including three iOS apps offered by PBS Kids through Apple’s iTunes service. The apps, including Martha Speaks Dog Party, range in price from $1.99 to $2.99. Downloads of individual programs and entire seasons are also for sale on Apple’s iTunes store. In the lawsuit, Meddaugh claims that her contract does not include a digital-rights provision.

Meddaugh challenges WGBH’s assertions that Martha Speaks is unprofitable. Both WGBH and PBS feature the series in marketing literature soliciting donations, which generate tens of millions of dollars of revenue a year, the lawsuit says. Broadcasts are underwritten by major sponsors including Kiddie Academy Child Care Learning Centers and Chick-fil-A. Meddaugh also objects to Chick-fil-A’s involvement with the series and especially a promotional tie-in with its children’s meals.

The author complains that she received no compensation for the arrangement and that she was given no say in the decision to associate her intellectual property with the fastfood company. “. . . The Internet is replete with information about Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay position which Meddaugh abhors,” the complaint reads.

The complaint also blasts WGBH for taking on too much debt and overly compensating employees with earnings from her creation. Citing WGBH’s tax filing from 2010, the lawsuit notes that 21 WGBH employees were paid more than $100,000 that year, and 14 of the six-figure salaries were above $200,000.

“And yet, WGBH maintains that Meddaugh’s Martha Speaks has been unable since 2005 to provide any income to her despite the fact that she is a widow in her 60s with a financially dependent adult child,” the complaint states.

Meddaugh requested a jury trial in the case. She is seeking damages and attorney’s fees that will be determined at trial. — Reported with assistance from Dru Sefton

| June 10, 2013 | 3

A welder works in the Rochester studio of modernist metal sculptor Albert Paley. Local pubTV station WXXI featured the artist’s work in a multipart series that premiered online. (Photo: WXXI) these people,” Gordon said. “You realize that the system messes with [them] . . . right at the beginning of investigation, when somebody ought not to be even considered as a suspect. Then you look at all the time they spend in prison, trying to insist on their innocence, when nobody is listening.”

Judge said she was particularly moved by exonerees who spent years in prison waiting for letters to be returned, sustained simply by the desire to be free.

“I don’t know how you don’t give up,” she said. “I don’t know how you do that.”

Gordon and Judge estimated that as many as 20,000 innocent Americans are sitting in jail today, citing information provided by The Innocence Project, a group dedicated to exonerating the wrongly convicted, which is featured in the series. — Graham Vyse

Mississippi’s statewide public radio network will remove classical music from its midday lineup starting July 1, while adding locally produced shows and NPR’s Fresh Air to its morning schedule.

Fresh Air will air during daytime hours on MPB’s Think Radio network for the first time since 2010, when the network’s then– Executive Director Judith Lewis took the interview show off the air, citing concerns about host Terry Gross’s discussion of sex with her guests. The network later reinstated Fresh Air to its schedule, but at the hour of 9 p.m. Starting in July, it will air at 11 a.m.

“We’re excited about bringing it back into lunchtime listening,” said Margaret McPhillips, MPB spokesperson.

In making the schedule changes, the network is responding to feedback from many listeners who have asked for more news and information programming on MPB, McPhillips said. The network now airs four hours of classical music each weekday. After the change, classical will air around the clock on HD Radio channels.

The new schedule adds a strip of hourlong local news, talk and public affairs shows at 10 a.m. weekdays, as well as both hours of WBUR’s Here & Now, which is expanding under a new partnership with NPR. MPB now airs the one-hour edition of the show.

To the Point, the talk show originating from KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., will move from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. In the evenings, MPB will pick up Q with Jian Ghomeshi.

The network’s new local shows include Next Stop, Mississippi, a show co-produced with the Mississippi Development Authority’s Division of Tourism. The MDA will help develop show topics and provide a co-host

for the program.

Other new local shows include Now You’re Talking with Marshall Ramsey, featuring Mississippi political cartoonist and commercial radio host Marshall Ramsey; and a sports program featuring MPB host Jay White. — Mike Janssen

For the first time, Rochester’s WXXI has premiered a series on the Internet. Paley on Park Avenue: New York City follows modernist metal sculptor Albert Paley as he creates 13 original works of art.

The six-episode series, which debuted online May 16 and is broadcast Thursday nights through June 20, also is airing in segments on the Friday evening community-affairs show Need to Know Rochester.

In addition, WXXI radio and television producers are tracking completion and installation of the sculptures for a future pubTV documentary.

Paley is the 20th participant in the Park Avenue initiative, which began in 2000 to encourage artists to exhibit work on the tree-studded median strip of the famous avenue.

“The content actually drove the decision to make a web series,” Elissa Orlando, WXXI’s television v.p. told Current. “Paley’s Park Avenue sculpture project was so ambitious that producing it as a web series was the best way to capture both the artistic process and the drama of producing many large sculptures in a truncated time frame.”

If WXXI had waited until the works were installed, “viewers would have missed the real-time experience of seeing the art being created on deadline,” she said.

In what Orlando calls the “cliffhanger” episode, which goes online June 13, viewers will see trucks leaving Rochester carrying the sculptures. “Then we’ll work in real time to document the New York City installation, and we’ll work super-quickly to get the finale up the next week,” Orlando said. “So viewers will see the project as it’s unfolding.”

WXXI.org/paleynyc provides a detailed look at each piece as it is made, along with interviews, photographs from Paley’s studio and social media links for additional information.

The Rochester-based Paley is the first metal sculptor to receive an Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects, the group’s highest award to non-architects. He has completed more than 50 site-specific works.

Paley’s exhibit will remain on Park Avenue through November. — Dru Sefton

4 | June 10, 2013 | Current

Obama adds conservative to slate of CPB Board nominees President Barack Obama has named Howard Husock as his latest nominee for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors.

Husock is vice president for policy research at the Manhattan Institute, a libertarian think tank in New York City.

A graduate of Boston University, Husock was a producer, director and reporter at WGBH from 1979 to 1986, earning three Emmy Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He has completed fellowships at Harvard University and Princeton University.

Husock must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, beginning with the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

Three additional nominees also await Senate confirmation: Bruce Ramer, a Los Angeles entertainment attorney and former CPB Board chair; Jannette Lake Dates, a Howard University communications professor; and Brent Nelsen, a political science professor at Furman University and chair of the Educational Television Commission that oversees SCETV in South Carolina.

Research center publishes fair use guide for journalists The Center for Social Media at the American University School of Communication has released “Set of Principles for Fair Use in Journalism,” which provides guidelines for journalists using copyrighted material in their reporting, analysis and criticism.

“This guide identifies seven situations that represent the current consensus within the community of working journalists about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials,” it says. “It identifies some common situations encountered by journalists, principles for the application of fair use in those situations and the limitations that journalists recommend to define the zone of greatest comfort for employment of this right — all consistent with the development of the fair use doctrine in the courts.”

The set of guidelines notes that the growth of digital journalism, social media and aggregation among journalism organizations has heightened awareness and uncertainty about the use of copyrighted material in journalism. U.S. copyright laws stop short of a strict definition of fair use, allowing flexibility in legal interpretation of the doctrine.

Pat Aufderheide, director of the CSM, presented the principles June 7 during a TEDx event about the future of media, sponsored by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Current is an editorially independent journalistic service of the School of Communication.)

The guidelines are available at centerforsocialmedia.org/journalism.

Master-control alliance in Florida gets $7 million from CPB The Digital Convergence Alliance, a single master-control facility in Florida ramping up to serve public television stations in four states with customized programming streams, has received $7 million in support that CPB initially announced last April.

Over the past year, the DCA has grown from six stations to 11 as it worked to secure vendor contracts for a network operating center in Jacksonville. Alliance founding members now include Florida stations WJCT, Jacksonville; WFSU, Tallahassee; WEDU, Tampa; WUCF, Orlando; WBCC, Cocoa Beach; WFSG, Panama City; and WPBT, Miami. Also, from three other states, WPBA, Atlanta; WTTW, Chicago; WILL, Urbana, Ill.; and KERA, Dallas. Each founding member station has a representative on the nonprofit’s board of

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CPB grants will expand four Ready to Learn projects CPB announced June 5 that it will grant a total of $110,000 to four licensees to support local outreach related to pubTV’s Ready to Learn early-childhood education initiative. The licensees will use the funds to extend PBS Kids programming and learning materials to children in low-income communities, focusing on math and literacy improvement.

Two of the grantees will expand efforts in communities where they already have a presence. KBTC in Tacoma, Wash., will expand its efforts in the city’s Hilltop neighborhood, while Cleveland’s ideastream will conduct a deeper analysis of the children the station works with in Cleveland’s Slavic Village.

One grantee, Iowa Public Television, will expand its statewide Ready to Learn efforts to an additional community, adding outreach in Council Bluffs to its work in Storm Lake and Waterloo.

Finally, joint licensee WFSU in Tallahassee, Fla., will expand its “WFSU Math Mentors” kindergarten-level outreach, which it operates in local elementary schools.

Ready to Learn has made a push into digital learning in recent years, even as President Obama continues to recommend the program be consolidated into other Department of Education initiatives.

Listeners flocked to Boston news radio after bombings Boston’s news radio stations saw sharp increases in listening in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings April 15, a finding highlighted by a new analysis of Arbitron Portable People Meter data by the Radio Research Consortium.

Listening to public radio news stations WBUR and WGBH, as well as commercial WBZ, was higher than average throughout much of the week, peaking on April 19 — the day a manhunt for bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shut down the city.

On that day, about one in four Boston residents tuned into one of the three stations, a 53 percent increase above the stations’ average combined cume for April. Average-quarterhour listening to WBUR and WGBH jumped 50 percent higher than their combined average for the entire month, according to RRC. Commercial WBZ outperformed its noncommercial competitors and saw a larger jump in audience from April 18 to April 19. Meanwhile, public radio music stations saw audience declines.

Cumes for many public radio news stations around the country peaked for the month of April on April 19, and many stations saw higher-than-average listening through the whole week as well. The full report is available on RRC’s website.

Correction The Friends of the NewsHour website that launched last month is not directly accepting donations, as stated in a headline in the May 28 issue of Current. The site offers a contact form for people interested in donating to the PBS NewsHour.

Syndication The Queen’s Diamond Decades, (6x45) • Agatha Christie’s Poirot I (3rd Release), (10x50) • Agatha Christie’s Poirot IV (2nd Release), (3x103) • Agatha Christie’s Poirot V (2nd Release), (8x50) • The Ambassador, (6x49) • Martin Clunes: Heavy Horsepower, (1x46) • Monty Python Conquers America, (1x55) • The Spice Trail, (3x57)

Eat! Drink! Italy! With Vic Rallo

Releases

directors. JCT Services, a for-profit entity of WJCT, will run the operation.

Susan Howarth, president of WEDU and current DCA Board chair, said the alliance hopes to have several stations online this summer and add one or two per month until all are broadcasting from the facility by the end of 2013.

“We’ve talked to several stations already about potentially being clients,” Howard told Current. “There’s quite a bit of interest.”

The DCA is the second such facility in the pubcasting system. In September 2011, CPB approved $6.6 million for Centralcast LLC to serve all nine pubTV stations in New York state plus New Jersey’s four-station network from one master control in Syracuse, N.Y. CPB estimates that each centralcast facility could save participating stations up to $20 million over the next 10 years.

Exchange

• Eat! Drink! Italy! With Vic Rallo, (13x30) • Food Trip With Todd English: Malaysia, (1x60) • Growing A Greener World IV, (26x30) • Infinity Hall Live II, (8x60) • Live From The Artists Den VI, (6x60)

Food Trip With Todd English: Malaysia

Infinity Hall Live II: Tori Amos

Martin Clunes: Heavy Horsepower

Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Current

| June 10, 2013 | 5

Commission. Devis reports to Mary Mazur, KCETLink c.o.o.

Management

Cara Mertes will succeed Orlando Bagwell as head of the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms, a fund that backs social-justice documentaries.

Mertes will depart as director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund, a job she held for six Mertes, left, will direct grantmaking for the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms program; Stern years, later this summer. She previously moves from MPR to Appleby Arganbright. served as executive director of American Documentary Inc., a job that includes overdigital officer of the restructured organizain America, the 1998 multipart series prosight of POV, one of PBS’s showcases for tion, which was forged from the October duced at WGBH in Boston. independent film, as executive producer.

Sundance and the Independent Television 2012 merger of independent pubTV station Under her leadership, from 1999 to 2006, Service are partners with Ford in JustFilms.

KCET and satellite broadcaster Link Media.

POV won eight news and documentaPreviously, Hanamura was Link TV’s v.p. of ry Emmys, three George Foster Peabody PubTV finance veterans Pauline How- strategy and general manager. In her new awards and two duPont-Columbia Batons. land and Frank Marshall have joined role, Hanamura oversees developers, proIn addition, three films she shepherded to ducers, designers, videographers and editors the National Educational TelecomPBS broadcast were nominated for Oscars: creating media across multiple platforms.

Street Fight; My Country, My Country; and munications Association Business She works at KCETLink’s digital lab in San The Betrayal: Nerakhoon. In 2006 she created Center as controllers.

Francisco. and executive-produced POV’s award-winHowland is former deputy director and Among the staff now reporting to ning original online project — Borders — a chief financial officer for Birmingham-based Hanamura is Gary Dauphin, who joins the showcase for interactive storytelling. She will Alabama Public Television. She and APT executive team as v.p. of digital. He previousbegin work at Ford in September.

Executive Director Allan Pizzato departed ly worked as digital director. Dauphin manBagwell, who departs from Ford this the state network last summer after clashing ages the creative, development and product month, is returning to filmmaking after with members of the governing board over teams in Los Angeles and San Francisco. His more than eight years as a grantmaker. He program and management decisionprevious jobs in digital media have included joined Ford in 2004 as a program officer and making (Current, June 25, 2012). Marshall founding and editing AOL Black Voices and initially led its five-year initiative, Global was chief operating officer and c.f.o. at KCPT managing Africana.com and BlackPlanet.

Perspectives in a Digital Age, Advancing in Kansas City, Mo., 2000–07. com. He also worked with several nonprofits Public Service Media. He also directed grantAs controllers, each will lead teams that and media organizations, including NPR, on making for public media, media rights and provide accounting, financial reporting, technical and strategic issues around digital access, arts and culture, and religious issues. annual audits and benefits administration for content and community.

In 2010 Bagwell established the foundation’s pubcasting stations and related organizations.

Juan Devis was also promoted to v.p. of five-year, $50-million JustFilms project, The NETA Business Center provides arts and culture programming, moving up which supports films on social justice topics. accounting and financial support services to from his previous position as director of Prior to joining Ford, Bagwell produced 18 public television stations and 12 related production and program development at many acclaimed documentaries for PBS. He organizations and projects from its headKCET. Devis produced several web-based began his television career as a cameraman quarters in Columbia, S.C. projects for the station, including Artbound, but later joined Blackside Inc. as a producer exploring the arts across southern and cenof Eyes on the Prize, the landmark series on KCETLink of Los Angeles has protral California; Departures, highlighting Los the civil rights movement presented on PBS moted three staffers to lead digital Angeles’ diverse neighborhoods; and Live @ in 1987 and 1990. He later produced historimedia and production of cultural The Ford, showcasing multicultural music cal films on Frederick Douglass and Malcolm content. and dance performances through a co-proX, contributed to Frontline and Great Current_AH-print.pdf duction with the Los Angeles County Arts Performances, and led production1 of 6/5/13 Africans5:12 PM Wendy Hanamura ascends as chief

Ginny Berson will step down as v.p. of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters effective June 30. “I’m leaving because it’s time for me to leave,” she told Current. She has held the job for 15 years.

“It’s not a bad thing to bring somebody else in with fresh energy and insights,” she said.

Berson made the announcement May 30 during the 38th annual NFCB conference in San Francisco, which she was in charge of planning as the organization’s v.p. She joined NFCB after working as p.d. of Pacifica’s KPFA in Berkeley, Calif., for 11 years, a job that she said burned her out. After seeking a new job after Pacifica, “I wanted something that I could do without caring about it,” she said. “And, I have to say, I failed miserably.”

Amy Burkett, former executive v.p. of WLVT-TV in Bethlehem, Pa., took over May 28 as general manager of North Carolina’s WTVI-TV. Burkett succeeds Elsie Garner, who is retiring after leading the Charlotte station for a decade. Burkett joined WLVT in 1999 as host of its weekly newsmag, Tempo, and also served as senior v.p. of production.

Michael Dunn, general manager of KUED-TV at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, is stepping down July 4 to accept a position as chief marketing officer of Surefoot, a ski boot and athletic footwear retailer headquartered in Park City, Utah.

“Between my 25 years as a volunteer and three years as g.m., I obviously have a great love for KUED and the work we do in the public media space,” Dunn said. “But this was just one of those unexpected opportunities that was just too good to pass up.” Rebecca Davis, KUED c.f.o., will serve as acting general manager while a search committee recruits Dunn’s successor.

Lynn Brown, executive v.p. at WPBS-DT in Watertown, N.Y., will succeed outgoing President Thomas Hanley, who is retiring June 29 after 17 years in the job. “Lynn has been employed at WPBS since June 1999 and has held various offices at WPBS over the years, giving her a unique perspective in the day-to-day operations at the station,” members of the board of trustees said in a joint statement. Brown joined the station as an Continued on page 11

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6 | June 10, 2013 | Current

System revenues Continued from page 1

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gest stations, although with an effect opposite of that felt in public TV. Total revenues at public radio stations climbed $3.06 million year-to-year. But the biggest stations — the 11 percent that operate on budgets of more than $5 million — boosted their earnings by a total of $7.7 million.

The gains buoyed the public radio system against losses at stations with budgets of $5 million or less.

The smallest pubradio stations — those that operated on less than $2.5 million annually — made up 74 percent of the field and

CPB attributed most of public TV’s revenue losses to cuts in state, university and federal subsidies, which provided approximately 40 percent of TV stations’ total revenues.

Federal assistance to public TV stations — provided through CPB and other federal grant programs and contracts — declined 16 percent during the two years covered in the report, from $452 million in 2011 compared to $376 million in 2012. State funding for public TV dropped nearly 6 percent, from $272 milTotal System Revenue 2005-2012 (In Thousands) lion to $256 million in 2012.

Public TV stations did see a combined $1 million increase in individual donations in 2012 and a $23 million increase in business and foundation support. Despite those gains, stations lost $74 million from other revenue categories.

Losses mounted in other indicators of public TV’s financial status. The number of donors dropped 14 percent, hitting a fiveyear low of roughly 3 million.

Source: CPB Annual Revenue Reports Public TV’s weekly cume, a measure of the system’s reach and relevance to TV viewers, dropped As pubTV’s total combined revenues dropped to $1.75 to 38 million in 2012, marking billion in 2012, radio’s increased, topping $1 billion a 17 percent drop from the 2007 for the second consecutive year. This chart was compeak of 46 million. piled from CPB financial data for the pubTV and radio To help adjust to the financial systems from 2008 – 2012. losses, TV stations reduced their payrolls, shedding 185 positions between 2011 and 2012. The reductions lost a total of $3.6 million in revenues from left a public TV workforce of 11,062, 15 2011–2012. Stations in the middle, with budpercent smaller than in 2007, when stations gets between $2.5 million and $5 million, saw employed 13,088 staffers. revenue dip $1.09 million during the twoyear period.

Radio’s donor base expands But since public radio relies less on government support than public TV, the field Public radio’s performance from 2011 to was better able to absorb cuts in tax-based 2012 was also tied to the fortunes of its bigfunding. Federal and state subsidies providTV Revenue by Source 2012 (Figures in millions) ed 16 percent of public 273 radio’s total revenues 376 in fiscal 2012. State aid for public radio Federal remained flat at $35 State million in 2011 and University 2012. Federal assis325 Individual tance dropped nearly Business/ 276 2.7 percent, from $149 Foundation Other million to $145 million in 2012.

77 Radio stations also raised more funds 443 from individual donors Source: CPB Annual Revenue Reports than television stations, with donations CPB’s latest analysis of revenue trends contrasted public TV and providing 37 percent radio revenues by source. PTV stations are much more reliant on of radio’s revenues in federal and state support, which in 2012 dropped by 16 percent 2012 and 25 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, public radio revenues from of revenues for the TV system. Radio’s fundindividual contributions grew by $17 million. raising revenues grew to $412 million, a gain Radio Revenue by Source 2012 (Figures in millions) of $17 million from 145 174 the previous year’s $395 million.

35 Public radio expeFederal rienced 14 percent 77 State growth in its donor University base from 2005 to Individual 2012, putting it roughBusiness/ 265 ly on par with its Foundation Other pubTV counterparts with 2.8 million contributors. n 412

Source: CPB Annual Revenue Reports

Questions, comments, tips? mook@current.org

PBS

Continued from page 1

al role as a distributor.

In recent months, members of Hoppe’s programming staff have told several independent producers that PBS prefers to work directly with them to bring their programs to air, rather than involving producing or presenting stations, according to several station and programming executives, each of whom requested anonymity to speak frankly.

The arrangement gives PBS more influence in shaping programs and ensures that more money can be invested in raising overall production values. Each of the executives independently described what they had been told by producers who had met with PBS programmers.

If PBS pursues a more active role in production, the shift could undercut producing stations’ ability to participate in high-profile projects, the station execs said. And if the volume of productions going to PBS grows substantially, the change could eventually destabilize the business model for public TV production, said a senior executive from a producing station.

“It really is like PBS trying to act more and more like a cable distributor or network without seeming to have had the vital discussion around the relationship” with the producing stations, said the executive, who worries that the station infrastructure supporting the development of high-quality shows will crumble if PBS pursues this “end run.”

Hoppe and PBS President Paula Kerger denied that PBS is trying to cut producing stations out of their longstanding role.

“I would never encourage producers not to work with a station,” Hoppe said, refuting claims that PBS programmers are explicitly advising producers to work directly with them. “The stations are our clients. We wouldn’t want to cut them out of the process.”

PBS recently played the role of matchmaker, Hoppe said, by bringing New York’s WNET in as producing station on the special TED Talks Education.

Kerger also denied that any change is in the air. “The presenting-station concept is key to our system,” she wrote in an email.

“It ensures that our programming includes a wide array of viewpoints and perspectives.”

Hoppe began her career as a producer, working at Boston’s WGBH, WNET and in independent production. She left to work at Discovery Studios, returning in 2011 as a deputy chief programmer. She was promoted to chief programmer last December after programs that she brought to the network — including Steve Jobs: One Last Thing and Call the Midwife — proved popular with both viewers and stations.

Primetime programs coming to PBS next season without a station partner range from Last Tango in Halifax, a British drama for Sunday night that needs little more than editing, to new shows that are being developed from scratch, including the American drama Alta California, which is still at script stage. Among the limited-run series on tap are Wes Moore’s Coming Back and Genealogy Roadshow.

Last season’s titles that came direct to PBS included the limited-run Sunday night Brit imports Call the Midwife and The Bletchley Circle, the Steve Jobs film and two films that aired as part of After Newtown, a special week of programming that Hoppe instigated shortly after her promotion as chief programmer. Hoppe won praise from stations for moving swiftly on the latter projects.

Current

Power of the purse Hoppe has been able to add more programming as chief programmer partly because she has more money to spend.

Thanks in part to ancillary revenues earned from Downton Abbey DVD and streaming sales, PBS is investing $11 million more in new programs for this coming season. Hoppe has directed much of the money to series produced by stations, especially the icon strands, ordering extra episodes of WGBH’s Antiques Roadshow and Nova, and an additional sixpart miniseries from WNET’s Nature.

Her spending decisions are sitting well with at least one station-based production exec. “I’d be the first to say I was concerned if PBS were to shrink established series in order to do more direct producing, but I don’t think it is happening,” said Stephen Segaller, programming v.p. at WNET. For Hoppe, PBS’s direct engagement with producers isn’t new. “PBS doing programs directly with producers has been part of our history for a really long time,” she said, noting that many shows simply don’t need the editorial oversight of a station. If station execs perceive an increase in the volume of direct-toPBS productions, she said, the change reflects the increase in new PBS content overall.

Some station execs who challenge Hoppe’s approach question whether PBS has the authority to engage so extensively in production. The PBS Editorial Guidelines state that “PBS does not itself produce any television Program Content. Instead, Program Content and often other content distributed by PBS is produced by people who are not employed

by PBS. An explicit prohibition on PBS’s involvement in production was written into its 1969 charter, which states that PBS “shall not engage in the production of broad cast [sic] programs.”

Has PBS given its programmers too much leeway to become involved in production?

“It’s in a gray area,” said one executive at a producing station.

“Stations send money to PBS, which acts as a clearinghouse and amalgamator of funds to produce programs,” said another executive.

“The idea always was and has been that by and large the money would go back to stations to produce programs.”

Beyond PBS programmers’ more active role in managing the production pipeline, Hoppe’s team has also asserted more editorial control over programs, executives said.

“They’ve shown interest in getting far more involved in the sorts of details that producers have traditionally been involved in,” said Steve Bass, president of Oregon Public Broadcasting, from requesting a consistent videographer on every show to discussing incidental music. Hoppe’s ideas are generally good, he said, adding, “I think the lines between helping and guiding and providing input and making actual decisions becomes thin.”

Independent producers have also noticed a shift. “The main change from my point of view is a desire on the part of PBS to get involved much earlier in the producing process than they previously were,” said Michael Schwarz, founder of Kikim Media, which has three major projects in the pipeline, all coming through KQED in San Francisco.

In the past, Schwarz said, his company would send nearly completed programs to PBS for review. But more recently, “I’ve shown rough cuts that I wouldn’t have shown before and gotten feedback that I wouldn’t have before. That can be valuable.”

At the same time, Schwarz said he values the role of presenting stations, which smooth Continued on page 11

| June 10, 2013 | 7

10 2013 2013 || Current Current 8 | June 10,

Current Classifieds

About our new Public Media Career Center: Current and PMBA are pleased to announce the launch of the Public Media Career Center, a new online career center designed specifically for people in public media. Its purpose is to connect you with the best talent in public media. You’ll find the new site through the jobs page at Current.org or directly at jobs.current.org.

For Employers:

For Job Seekers:

• Create an account to easily manage your print and online job advertisements—even boxed display ads.

• Enjoy new flexible packages for both online and print • Set up pre-screen filters for employers to filter qualified candidates • Accept online applications directly through our site • Search and utilize our anonymous resume database

• Search by state or job function Create personal job alerts to be notified of opportunities in their field.

• Post your resume in our anonymous resume database. (Prospective employers will onl your personal information with permission) If you are a member of PMBA or have a Current Group Subscription of 5 or more copies coming

Management/Finance

Business Manager WUCF TV, Orlando, FL

Executive Director Iowa Public Radio, Des Moines

This position is a member of the senior staff and is the chief financial manager for WUCF TV, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station licensed to the University of Central Florida.

Preferred candidate will have a current C.P.A. license and have experience in a university setting. Strong experience in preparation of financial statements and knowledge of general human resource practices. Knowledge of federal grant reporting and compliance procedures is preferred, as is experience managing the services of an outside auditor.

Position will require development of sound fiscal practices and procedures for a new unit in a university setting.

Short and long-range planning experience helpful. Complete description: http://www.jobswithucf.com:80/postings/35333

Iowa Public Radio seeks a dedicated and experienced professional to join our staff as Executive Director. Based in the Des Moines office and reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director is responsible for overall leadership in supporting and promoting the mission, vision and goals of the organization in upholding the integrity and trust of Iowa Public Radio in multiple locations. The major responsibilities of the Executive Director include: providing management and guiding strategic direction of the organization, maintaining and nurturing relations between the Board of Regents, Board of Directors, industry and community leaders; and assisting in achieving the goals of strengthening the impact, reach and performance of our organization; growing and engaging our audiences and becoming financially independent from university funding by increasing private support. Additionally, the Executive Director is responsible for being the statewide “face” of Iowa Public Radio. Visit iowapublicradio.org for information on how to apply. Iowa Public Radio is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

General Manager and News/ Operations Director KACU-FM, Abilene, TX KACU-FM is a well-established, NPR-affiliate in Abilene, Texas, with a 26-year history of excellent university and community support. We are

Jobs in the Pacifica Network KPFA, Berkeley, CA: KPFA is the flagship station of the Pacifica Network, which is a mission-driven organization dedicated to free speech, peace, social justice, and cross-cultural understanding. The world’s first listener-sponsored broadcaster, it serves much of Northern and Central California with an eclectic mix of arts, cultural, music, news and public affairs programming. ➤

GENERAL MANAGER: Full posting and application instructions at www.kpfa.org/jobs

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PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Full posting and application instructions at www.kpfa.org/jobs

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Pacifica National Office, Berkeley, CA: ➤

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR — BROADCASTING — country’s oldest public radio network: KPFA, KPFK, KPFT, WPFW, WBAI and two business units.

See job description and APPLY ONLINE — www.pacifica.org

to your station you are eligible for a 15% discount on all job postings. Contact Kathleen Unwin for details.

Please Note A Few Important Housekeeping Details: • All credit card processing and invoicing will be handled by our partner, JobTarget. Credit cards will be processed securely and instantly.

• Current will post an electronic

searching for two key staff members to lead the station and its professional and student staffs for the future. Apply via the links provided. http://acu.hrmdirect.com/employment/job-opening. php?req=124704&&#job or http://acu. hrmdirect.com/employment/job-opening.php?req=124706&&#job

Programming/Production Producer/Directors Iowa Public Television, Johnston Iowa Public Television (IPTV) is seeking qualified applicants for two positions of Producer/Director. With a major focus on early childhood education, distance learning and local programming and a national reputation for excellence, IPTV is one of public television’s mostwatched statewide networks. IPTV is seeking experienced broadcast journalists to produce engaging segments and programs for broadcast and on-line.

The producer/directors will research, develop, produce, direct, write, and edit material for IPTV local productions.

Applicant must have proven journalism expertise and capability to provide creativity and judgment on content and treatment of assigned video features and programs. Applicant also must have effective and creative writing skills.

The positions require travel in and out of Iowa. Applicant must be willing to work a varied schedule, including nights and weekends. See IPTV web site (www. iptv.org) for greater detail regarding each of these positions. Applicants should submit a complete resume, an IPTV application found at www.iptv.org, a video sampler of previous work, along with three professional references.

Applications must be received by June 24, 2013.

News Director Public Broadcasting Atlanta, GA Summary: This is a Director position reporting to the COO and is responsible for overseeing the news department, news staff, freelancers, and interns.

The individual selected will build upon the station’s existing news criteria guidelines, policy coverage and content standards. The News Director will also help to plan and develop station’s 1 to 3 year long and short term strategic goals and objectives for the news department, and oversee the local daily news content, news inserts, and special news features for local and national

version of the classifieds on our website for tear sheet purposes.

If your station requires a hard copy tear sheet of your classified, please contact Kathleen Unwin to request one.

We value your feedback. Please let us know how your experience is.

Best, Kathleen Unwin, Advertising Director unwin@current.org 877-745-8776 x1

broadcast. Accountabilities: Further develop and implement news policy and procedures for news department; Plan and develop news department’s long and short term strategic goals; Provide editorial guidance and oversight to news staff on news coverage, content and production; Oversee the daily newscasts, news inserts and special features for local and national broadcast; Oversees and directs the development of news content across PBA’s platforms (Radio, Mobile, Web, TV, etc.).

View full posting @ http://www.wabe. org/current-opportunities. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from an accredited college or university and or related equivalent work experience. Must have five (5) years of experience in news/journalism of which three (3) have been in the supervisory capacity with an extensive background and proven track record in news, news gathering, news writing and news reporting. Must have excellent organizational and managerial skills as well as skills in news writing, editing, interviewing, production communication and interpersonal skills. Must have excellent knowledge of NPR’s newsmagazine clocks and how best to utilize local news breaks to ensure local and national sound and quality uniformity.

News Director WBHM, Birmingham, AL Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM, Birmingham, Ala., seeks a News Director to lead the station’s award-winning journalistic efforts. Take a leadership role as we listen closely and give voice to the community we serve. Work with broadcast and online content, social media, and evolving technology and trends. WBHM, a listener-supported service of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), reaches a significant radio and online audience. PC/ MAC/Linux friendly, “digital first” shop.

Upgraded digital production, routing and automation chain. Annual salary range: $45,198.40 – $72,321.60, plus excellent university benefits. http://www. wbhm.org/News/2013/newsdirectorjob for details. You must apply online at the Human Resources section of www.uab. edu. Reviewing candidates now, open until filled. AA/EOE. Job Requirements: Supervise, direct, and edit the work of others. Collaborate within the station and throughout the community. ExContinued on next page

Current

| June 10, 2013 | 9

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10 | June 10, 2013 | Current

Classifieds

Continued from page 8

perience and willingness to work with independent producers, other media entities, content creators, and other partners.

Announcer NPR, Washington, DC Want to be the voice of NPR Funding Credits? https://careers-npr.icims.com/ jobs/1673/job Classical Music Host New England Public Radio, Amherst, MA New England Public Radio (WFCR and WNNZ) seeks an experienced classical music broadcaster to program and host WFCR’s long-running and successful daytime classical programming, and to be the “classical voice” on-air, in online media and in the community. The ideal candidate will possess a comprehensive knowledge and well-honed sense of judgment of classical music

and radio programming, close familiarity with classical music’s history and discography, keen awareness of current trends in classical music, eagerness to participate in the classical community, and sharp focus on the classical listener. He/she will have an engaging and informative on-air style, one which will carry through into the classical blog and community outreach activities. Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree with five years experience in announcing and programming music, preferably in public radio. Extensive knowledge of classical music, recordings and sources of music programming. Excellent judgment in evaluating performances of classical music. Excellent communication skills with an appropriate “on-air” voice and conversational-style delivery.

Hiring salary range: $40,100 - $50,300.

Normal starting salary: $40,100 $45,200. Excellent benefits. Send cover letter, resume and aircheck to Search R40802, Employment Office, 167 Whitmore Building, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.The aircheck should include examples of hosting

experience. Review of applications will begin July 8, 2013 and continue until position is filled. Women and Members of Minority Groups are Encouraged to Apply. The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Engineering/Technology

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WKAR at Michigan State University seeks applicants for a telecommunications engineering technician to maintain the WKAR-AM and FM/HD existing physical facilities. Application deadline is June 25, 2013. Qualified applicants can apply online by visiting jobs.msu.edu and referring to job posting #7842. MSU is committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The University actively encourages applications and/or nominations of women, persons of color, veterans and persons with disabilities. MSU is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer.

Director of Community Engagement KCUR-FM, Kansas City, MO KCUR’s Director of Community Engagement will be responsible for creating and managing KCUR’s community engagement strategy, encompassing broadcast programming, digital media, social media, events, and partnerships with other community organizations.

This position reports directly to the General Manager. For more information and instructions on how to apply, please refer to http://www.kcur.org/employment-opportunities

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its offices at the University of Wisconsin– Madison. The center, which has four full-time employees, works with the university’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.

The university hosts the center as part of a resource-sharing agreement in exchange for the center providing opportunities to paid student interns and gaining access to faculty assistance and guest speakers.

The motion, which passed through the committee 12–4 June 5, also would “prohibit UW employees from doing any work related to the Center for Investigative Journalism as part of their duties as a UW employee.”

Because WPR and WPT are university-owned and operate under the jurisdiction of its Board of Regents, the bill would prevent Wisconsin pubcasters from working with the center, which they do periodically. So far this year, WPR has aired five stories reported by the center.

Michael Leland, news director at WPR,

People

Continued from page 5

administrative assistant and human resources coordinator and later spent nine years as director of programming and development.

Houston Public Media, the restructured public media service licensed by the University of Houston, dismissed two managers last week: Debra Fraser, the director of operations who oversaw management of all three broadcast stations; and Emily Binetti, director of communications. Fraser joined KUHF-FM in 1988, when it operated under a separate management structure from HoustonPBS; she had also served as news director, reporter and local host of All Things Considered. Binetti had been with the station since 2006. “Houston Public Media began a major restructuring of its personnel and operations in October 2011,” said Richard Bonnin, University of Houston spokesperson, in a statement. The two job eliminations are “a continuation of that restructuring initiative to position Houston Public Media for the future.”

Fundraising Nicole Anderson Stern, director of member giving at Minnesota Public Radio for the past four years, is departing to join Appleby Arganbright, a fundraising consulting firm founded by her former MPR colleagues Barbara Appleby and Valerie Arganbright.

Previously, she also served as sustaining

Current

and Christine Sloan-Miller, e.p. of news and public affairs at WPT, issued a joint statement to Current expressing their disbelief.

“We were very surprised by this item in the state budget. It appears to place untenable constraints on both academic and press freedoms,” they wrote. Leland and Sloan-Miller pointed out that they cannot speculate on what will appear in the final budget, which the full legislature will vote on within the next few weeks and pass on to Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

“The language we have seen certainly seems to say that we can’t work with the WCIJ. That would place unprecedented limits on our ability to access all resources that help us serve the public’s need for current, accurate and in-depth information,” they added. Both WPT and WPR are headquartered in the campus building that also houses the center.

The motion was authored by the committee’s Republican co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling. Assembly leaders do not identify which legislators introduce individual amendments.

The center, which launched in 2009, receives no money from the state. It has a $400,000 budget, which is funded primarily

by individual donations and support provided by funders such as the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute, according to its website, WisconsinWatch.org. Its full-time reporters and rotating cast of student interns collaborate on stories with the editorial teams at WPR and WPT. Despite its public broadcasting connections, the center is not seen by either the statehouse or the pubcasters themselves as an extension of public broadcasting. Leland told Current the center is independent of its pubcasting neighbors.

During a Thursday media briefing, when asked why the state should refuse to support the center while continuing to fund WPR and WPT, Nygren described public radio and pubTV as unique entities that lack competitors.

At the same briefing, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the amendment was intended to ensure what he called “separation of the press and the state.” Vos also told reporters he believed the center’s reporting was biased.

However, other assembly members, including some Republicans, have criticized the amendment.

Nygren has come under scrutiny from the

membership manager and on-air fundraising manager at the station. Stern also created and managed the member program at Classical South Florida, a multistation network owned by American Public Media Group.

In her new role, Stern will help Appleby Arganbright clients focus on strengthening their monthly giving programs. Stern begins work at the St. Paul, Minn.–based firm July 1.

125-year-old society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. It reaches more than 450 million people monthly through its National Geographic Channel, numerous print publications, media productions, exhibitions and live events.

Digital Azmat Khan, digital producer and reporter for Frontline, June 10 signs on with Al Jazeera America’s flagship nightly news program, America Tonight. “Relentless, fiercely objective journalism has always been paramount to my work,” Khan wrote in a post on her blog, “and I see in AJAM’s new channel a bold, radical opportunity to raise the bar in cable news: to do it differently and more seriously, with integrity, fairness, respect, transparency and independence.” Kahn will report and produce digital news coverage for the show. Before joining Frontline in May 2010, Khan was a user operations analyst at Facebook. She also spent several years reporting in Pakistan for the English news television channel Express 24/7 and for Samaa TV.

Fellowships Three NPR journalists will start academic fellowships this fall: Dina Temple-Raston and Alison MacAdam join the Nieman

| June 10, 2013 | 11

investigative center, which in 2011 pressured him to release communications from insurance agents who had contacted him for lobbying purposes. Nygren’s office had obscured the agents’ names, in violation of the state’s Open Records Law. WCIJ reporter Kate Golden later wrote an online op-ed criticizing Nygren’s office.

Greg Downey, director of UW-Madison’s journalism school, criticized the amendment in a June 5 statement. The proposed changes “would harm our research, teaching and service mission” and “would be a direct assault on our academic freedom in research, teaching and service,” he said.

The Investigative News Network, a national hub of nonprofit newsrooms that WCIJ helped to found, also condemned the legislature’s actions. “Attempts to suppress or limit the Center not only undermine the educational experience offered by the University of Wisconsin at Madison, but also the level and quality of civic information available to the citizens of the state of Wisconsin,” Kevin Davis, c.e.o., said in a statement June 6. n Questions, comments, tips? lapin@current.org

Fellowship program at Harvard, and Louisa Lim will attend the University of Michigan as a Knight-Wallace fellow. Temple-Raston, who covers counterterrorism for the network, will study the use of big data in intelligence gathering. MacAdam, a senior editor of All Things Considered, will study the business of the art world. In Michigan, Lim will study the sustainability of China’s current political structures. She currently reports from Beijing. n Please send People items to sefton@current.org

Governance The National Geographic Society has appointed NPR President Gary Knell to its board of trustees; Knell already is a member of the board of governors of the National Geographic Education Foundation. The

NEWSHOUR JUST GOT MORE FLEXIBLE .

PBS

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the way for wide carriage and bring another critical editorial eye to a project.

When PBS takes a production in-house, it can save the 6 percent to 30 percent of a show’s budget that presenting stations generally charge to cover costs associated with fundraising, editorial fact-checking, clearance, publicity and outreach efforts.

Stations also assume the risk if a proposed project doesn’t raise enough funding to cover costs. If PBS has to hire freelance consultants or extra staff to handle those functions — money that will come from station dues — the savings that PBS expects may prove to be

a “false economy,” said one executive.

“We add a lot of value,” said Bass. He questioned whether PBS has the capacity to handle all the work associated with bringing a program to completion, noting, “It’s not a platoon of executive producers and others that they have on staff to do this.” Bass worries that PBS will, as a result, acquire only “the easy stuff,” particularly British drama, that doesn’t need much oversight. “We have to be investing in our own production capability, and that takes resources.”

Hoppe, while insisting that PBS is “staffed up here to shepherd projects through,” said PBS is not adopting a cable model. “What we are able to do at PBS is look at the whole schedule very broadly; it gives us a perspective no individual producer has.” n

Starting July 1, Newshour’s clock will include more minutes for your local news, weather, traffic, fundraising or underwriting. This improved flexibility helps you get the most out of BBC World Service’s 24/7/365 global news service.

Find more details at apmstations.org.

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