An Enclave of Entertainment in Cleveland

WKSU's Mark Urycki alerted us to a piece in yesterday's New York Times about the vital entertainment scene just blocks from the site of this year's PRPD Public Radio Programming Conference.
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Prometheus: If HD Wants More Power, Increase Public Service Requirements

The Low Power FM advocacy group, Prometheus Radio Project, thinks if the FCC approves a 10-fold power hike for HD Radio signals, it should come at a price.

Prometheus says tougher public interest obligations should be required of broadcasters. And, it wants proof that stronger stations won’t interfere with low-power FMs, which is similar to NPR's position. NPR supports increasing HD transmission power provided it avoids harmful interference to analog radio services.

Happy 10th Birthday to WNYC's Radio Rookies

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, WNYC's Radio Rookies will broadcast “Growing Up, Getting By”, the first ever special created by young people in the program that teaches radio skills. Host Marianne McCune, who started the program, will revisit some of the stories that Rookies worked on, and follow up with some to see what they have done since being in the program.


WNYC's website explains the genesis of the program:

McCune started the program as a summer radio and photography workshop with a group of kids in Harlem. The stories were a hit, so WNYC management took a risk and gave the go-ahead for more workshops. Since then, we’ve been making our way across New York City’s five boroughs–working with dozens of teens willing to devote themselves and their time to an old-school medium. After the multi-month production process and after their stories air, we stay in touch with most of the Rookies for years, via email, text, and telephone, at reunions and, of course, on Facebook.

Ira Glass Receives Murrow Award

I'm at the PRDMC in San Diego at the CPB awards luncheon... Ira Glass is receiving the annual Edward R. Murrow Award.

Ira is best known for his program This American Life, distributed by PRI.

Some quotes:

"...radio is in a particularly good position in media these days, because of its intimacy"

"as other journalism becomes more endangered, the fact that we have healthy audiences and abusiness model that still works... it makes it that much more important what we are doing."

"Its time to be more ambitious... we need to stay bold... we need great new shows... our mission is innovation..."

"There needs to be a place in this country where the people are doing broadcasting not for the money, but because there are things that need to be said..."

Public Radio People Make Power Grid Listing on New Media Site

There is a new power grid in town and this one has nothing to do with delivering electricity to you home or your radio station.

Power Grid is a feature on the new media website Mediaite.com overseen by Dan Abrams. It tracks media issues and Power Grid ranks media folks -- including radio hosts -- base on a formula* based on a variety of things from listeners/viewers to blog mentions and Twitter followers.

A number of public radio folks are among the 84 folks ranked on the radio-related Power Grid:

10. Michele Norris
11. Steve Inskeep
13. Melissa Block
14. Renee Montagne
20. Scott Simon
24. Ira Glass
30. Tavis Smiley
40. Garrison Keillor
48. Monica Crowley
54. Frank DeFord
56. Cokie Roberts
63. David Folkenflik
64. Daniel Schorr
67. Bob Garfield
70. Peter Sagal
77. Deborah Amos
83. Karl Kassel

For comparison's sake, Rush Limbaugh is number one and Rose Somma Tennent is 84th.

*This page ranks 84 Radio Hosts who serve as the primary host, announcer, or commentator on a given radio program. Their rankings are determined based on: Radio Ratings of the host’s program, Online Buzz of proper name, Blogs Buzz of proper name,and Twitter Followers (if applicable). You might at times see an individual ranked higher than any of their individual metric rankings -- keep in mind that our algorithm weights some metrics more than others.

CandowTrains the Trainers - Pre-Conference Interviewing Workshop

http://prpd.org/training/workshops/candow_workshop.aspx

...to help you improve your staffs interview skills.




We've arranged for David Candow to work with uo to 12 PD's in a 2-day workshop on Sunday and Monday September 13 and 14th, before the conference.

Designed to train the trainers – that is, help PD’s go back to their stations with the knowledge to help improve their staffs interview skills. It will be held just prior to the 2009 Public Radio Programming Conference in Cleveland.

This workshop is specifically customized for Program Directors. In short, the objective of the work shop is: Learning how to better direct your staff to produce better interviews.

Go to: http://prpd.org/training/Conference/conference_general.aspx for all conference and workshop links

PRPD Office Goes Virtual This Week

We are not in the office this week as we are having the floors refinished - due to a water pipe breaking in winter freeze... Everything disconnected there but David Hollis will be working from home and I will be online from the PRDMC in San Diego. We hope to be back at the office next Monday, July 13... (fingers crossed on getting the network back up quickly!).

You can still contact us at info@prpd.org - our phones should be forwarded, but it might be a little less reliable this week. Please be patient and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Brand to Give ATC a West Coast Feel?

"There's value and virtue in having people in different parts of the country. We are interested to see how this actually changes our show."

That's what All Things Considered EP Chris Turpin told the LA Times' James Rainey recently. He was commenting about Madeleine Brand, who previously hosted the late Day to Day from Los Angeles, being part of the All Things Considered team while Michelle Norris is on leave.

Brand told the Times:

They [NPR execs] are really embracing the idea of having the show sound like it's coming from the West and doing something different. I am excited about that.

Conference Speakers

An outstanding lineup of keynote speakers have agreed to be part of the the upcoming PRPD Public Radio Programming Conference, Sept. 15-18 in Cleveland. We have confirmed the following keynoters and general sessions:

• Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of National Public Radio – her first address to the programming community.
• Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Center for the Internet and American Life.
• Bob Garfield, host of On The Media and author of “The Chaos Scenario”.
• “New Results From the 2nd Annual Public Radio Technology Survey”, presented by Paul Jacobs, General Manager, Jacobs Media.
• “Journalism in the New Media Ecosystem “with Bill Buzenberg, Executive Director, Center for Public Integrity; Ellen Weiss, Senior Vice President of NPR News; and Mark Effron, Executive Producer, The Takeaway.
  

We have a lot more in the planning process, including a full slate of “Third Coast at PRPD” joint sessions, focus on Talk Programs and multi-platform developments. Watch for more announcements in the coming weeks.

And, there's our “Private Evening at the Rock Hall of Fame and Museum”, a special Thursday night event for conference attendees only, sponsored by American Public Media, National Public Radio and Public Radio International.

Register for the conference now to receive the lowest, Early Bird rate.

Iowa Public Radio Trims Staff

Iowa Public Radio announced earlier this week it would cut nine positions in the final steps of a reorganization that began several years ago, and that combined three station groups into one statewide organization.

IPR CEO Mary Grace Herrington said staff resources will be moved "... into critical areas such as news reporting, talk show programming and marketing services." She said several employees will take early retirement, while others are being offered severance packages, and four vacant positions will not be filled.

The realignment was meant to reduce IPR's reliance on funding from Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.

Herrington attributes much of IPR's increased donor support to changes in programming that began in 2007 when it adopted separate formats: news and information, classical music, and alternative music. Since the programming changes, IPR listenership has increased 22 percent.

Pellegrini Passes

We note with sorrow the passing of legendary WFMT broadcaster Norm Pellegrini at the age 79. He joined the station and became program director in 1953, holding the position until 1996. In a Facebook posting, WFMT Executive VP for Radio, Steve Robinson, wrote:

No one in WFMT’s 58 year history had more influence on WFMT’s sound, style and programming than Norm Pellegrini and he shaped that sound every day for the nearly 45 years he worked as our program director. Over the decades, many have admired and praised WFMT’s programming for its diversity, richness, breadth and integrity. All of those elements, and so much more, are Norm’s legacy and we honor him today and every day by our devotion to maintaining the standards he set so high. He will be missed.

WFMT will pay tribute to his memory throughout the day today. Anyone wishing to share a memory, recollection or comment about Norm can do so via email to: comments@wfmt.com or by phone at (773) 279-2174.

Grehn Exits Connecticut Public Broadcasting

Kim Grehn is leaving Connecticut Public Broadcasting. As of July12, his position as VP/Station Manager for WNPR has been eliminated.

Kim says:

I'll miss working with a very talented staff that helped transform the station from dual format to a news and information service. WNPR's transition resulted in audience growth, increased membership and increased revenue from underwriters even in our current economy. The growth is evidence of WNPR's increased value as a community service.