FCC GOP Commish Steps Down

Deborah Taylor Tate, a Republican from Tennessee, has announced her resignation as commissioner of the FCC, according to the Huffington Post.

Tate, who was appointed by President Bush, served as an FCC commissioner since 2005. Her term expired and she was not reconfirmed.

A new FCC chairman is expected to be appointed after Barack Obama is sworn in as president.
.

Reporter Gets 'Perfect Ending' ... Sadly

NPR veteran reporter Ketzel Levine was in the midst of a series of stories about how Americans were dealing with tough economic times when she became part of the story herself.

Levine was reporting her series American Moxie: How We Get By when she learned she would have to come up with her own way of getting by. Levine was one of the editorial employees NPR dropped recently when making budget cuts.

Levine told The New York Times: "Every story that we all do, we’re always looking for the perfect ending. And suddenly it was handed to me. It was not one of my choosing, but as a storyteller, what could make a better story?”

'Best of ...' Fundraiser Topped $130,000

Organizers of Saturday's one-of-a-kind, end-of-the-year, on-air, national public radio fundraiser are pleased with its outcome.

Hosted by Peter Sagal and Fred Child, Best of Public Radio 2008 raised $130,000. Some 70 stations participated. They gave away no tote bags, accepted only credit card payments and relied primarily on one central website to receive contributions.

John Sutton blogged about the details.

The program was produced by Sutton, Jay Clayton, Sonja Lee and Matt Martinez in collaboration with NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International, Public Interactive and DEI/The Development Exchange Inc.
.

Satellite Radio's 2009 Cloudy ... At Best?

As 2008 is about to sign off, it's time to reflect on the headlines of the last year and see if those stories will continue to hold our attention in 2009. One such example: the merger of the two satellite radio services.

Today, The New York Times said, "... five months after regulators approved a merger of Sirius and XM, satellite radio’s pioneers and former rivals, in a deal that was supposed to deliver their industry to the promised land of profits and permanence, the company faces an uncertain future."

In 2009, the new company created by the Sirius/XM Radio merger has some $1 billion in debt that comes due. And, since many of satellite's subscribers join up when they buy new cars with the receivers built in, the future gets more overcast as Detroit struggles to keep its life-support system plugged in.

NPR on the iPhone

NPR Mobile is now available on the iPhone. This app is described on the Apple Store as follows:

Browse NPR content by Program, Series, On-Air Personality and more.

NPR Mobile provides you with an easy to navigate application interface for fidning the program segment you'd like to hear.

The NPR website also has a way to set a button for the NPR Mobile website:

Link to NPR.org from your iPhone® screen to get local and national NPR news on your phone, hear the Story of the Day, play the Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! quiz, or find NPR stations while traveling.
.

KGOU Switches News Directors

As the old year ends, so does Scott Gurian's time as news director of KGOU at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, according to The Oklahoman. He has been with the station since 2004 and will be returning to New Jersey for family reasons.

Stepping into Gurian's spot on Jan. 1 will be Kurt Gwartney (pictured at left), a radio veteran. He has been KGOU's operations manager and public service director since 2005.
.

KUVO Makes Cuts

The parade of pain continues, even on Christmas Eve.

Denver's KUVO a.k.a "Jazz89" announced Tuesday that it was laying off two on-air hosts and cutting two part-time positions in the development department, according to the Denver Post.

KUVO's President and CEO Gene Graven sent an email to members announcing that Ed Danielson's and Rodney Franks' shows will go dark in January. He blamed the bad economy and new expenses.

Danielson is the host of "The Morning Beat" and Franks hosts "Drive Time Jazz". The two will continue to substitute for other hosts and held create an online program.
.

WBGH Lays Off Twelve Staffers

WGBH, Boston, will layoff 12 staff members because of declining returns from it endowment and sagging corporate underwriting; that's about 2 percent of the staff of the public radio and television station.

According to the Boston Business Journal, the layoffs are the latest cost-cutting measure by the Boston public broadcaster. In September, a hiring freeze was imposed, operating expenses reduced and managers agreed to a wage freeze. The union representing employees of the station also agreed to a smaller wage increase in 2009.
.

Weekend America Closing Down

PDs at several stations are confirming that APM's Weekend America is closing up shop at the end of January.

The show rolled out as a pilot called Public Radio Weekend in May of 2004 and went national five months later. Bill Radke and Barbara Bogaev were the original hosts. Today, the show is hosted by John Moe.

This past summer, the program was consolidated, moving some of the operations from Los Angeles to St. Paul, MN. That is when Radke exited and Moe became host. At that time, APM said the program was carried on some 140 stations.
.

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network today announced it was laying off eight people -- 7 percent of the staff -- and asking employees at all levels to take temporary pay cuts. Network President Jim Dowe -- who had his pay cut by 20 percent -- blamed the cuts on the sagging economy and the state's failure to fully fund the network, according to a news release posted on MPBN's Web site.

MPBN is also shutting down a television transmitter in Calais for six months, and radio transmitters in Calais and Fort Kent.

The reduction in salaries are to last through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Three executives besides Dowe will lose 15 percent of their paychecks, while most other senior managers will have their salaries cut 10 percent. Pending approval by the union membership, the rest of the staff will see their pay cut by 5 percent.

MPBN is also suspending contributions to employees’ retirement plans.

MPBN Vice President David Morse says some financial problems date back to 1992 when the network was formed. He says the state agreed to pay for the network's construction and operation. But, while costs have gone up, the state's contribution has declined slightly, leaving MPBN to cover a $1.3 million annual shortfall, according to Morse.
.

PRI Releases New iPhone App

iPhone users can now download a free app that lets them listen directly to the PRI stream.

The programming schedule includes the BBC World Service, The Takeaway, The World, Studio 360, and This American Life.

Gallup On News Sources

On Monday, Gallup released their latest poll on how Americans get their news. Not surprisingly, only the Internet and cable news are increasing as a daily source while the much discussed decline in newspaper readership is clearly shown.

National Public Radio was included in the choices and their conclusion is:

National Public Radio, which last week announced its first organization-wide layoffs in 25 years owing to a steep decline in underwriting, has actually maintained steady listenership over the years. The 18% of Americans this year who say they turn to National Public Radio daily is in fact exactly on par with the 18% who said the same in 1995.

Nightly Network TV news has dropped from 62% to 34% in the same period, local newspapers and local TV news both dropped since the last survey.

A caution in looking at these results - there is a bit of apples and oranges in the inclusion of NPR. Cable TV news includes all cable channels (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.), Talk Radio includes all such programs on all stations, Nightly Network News Programs include CBS + NBC + ABC, etc.

With that in mind, one might be impressed at NPR's performance. According to this poll, more than double the number of people listen to NPR news daily than read the Wall Street Journal, New York Times (national) and USA Today combined.

While the 46% say they never get news from NPR, that means that more than half of all Americans (54%) use NPR is a news source, if only very occasionally - well above our audience estimates.

This is just one poll of about 1,000 people but it does remind us that "growing the audience" does not require finding people who are not aware or never use us. There is great potential among those who don't show up in the WEEKLY cume that defines our audience. Increase their listening and they will be counted, too.
.

The Future of the Internet III

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released their latest look at the Future of The Internet. A survey of "leaders, activists and analysts" looks forward to what might become of the internet and technology in 2020. Among their prognostications were:

• The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
• The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
• Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
• Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
• The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
• Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

The full report is available as a downloadable pdf.
.

NPR Adds Features to API

MYOP?

Mix You Own Podcast is the latest tech toy for listeners created by National Public Radio. It allows the listener/user to create customized podcasts using content from NPR and member stations.

In addition, Station Finder API allows users to type in zip codes, city/state, station call letters or latitude/longitude information, and this new application will return a list of stations that can be heard in that location. Results also include information about the stations, such as links to their home page, schedule page, audio streams, RSS feeds, podcasts, station logo and more.

And, NPR is making available to listeners archived programming from Fresh Air and Story Corps.

These new features to NPR's API were rolled out today.

Ramsey 'Making Waves' with New Book

Just in time for your holiday giving is Mark Ramsey's new book, Making Waves: Radio on the Verge.

The book is a paperback collection of Ramsey's interviews and essays, most of which originally appeared on his blog, Hear 2.0. Ramsey also is the man behind Mercury Media Research.

You can read the introduction online as well as the forward by Peter Smythe.

Ramsey's interviews range from one with futurist Douglas Rushkoff on How to Make Radio Relevant Again to one with Mark Stevens about Radio's Marketing Sucks.

A nice holiday bonus included in Making Waves is a brief graphic novel, Radio Noir, written by Ramsey and illustrated by Dany Boom.
.

NHPR Broadcasts from New Digs

As it continues to report on a massive winter storm that crippled much of the Northeast, New Hampshire Public Radio begins broadcasting from its new $6.5 million facilities.

NHPR's new broadcast center includes updated studios, office space and a large community space where local shows will be broadcast with in-studio audiences. Its new home more than doubles the square footage of the previous NHPR location.

Laura Knoy (above) inaugurates the new space with the broadcast of The Exchange today.
.

More on NPR Cuts

Discussion and speculation continue as the public radio system sorts out the impact NPR's cuts and cancellation of two programs will have nationally and for local stations. The following two interviews offer some illumination on those topics.

KCPW's Jeff Robinson's interview with NPR's Dana Davis Rehm, senior vice president for strategy and partnerships.

From the Online News Hour, Jeffrey Brown's interview with Ellen Weiss. NPR's senior VP for news.
.

Arbitron Speeds Up Cell Phone Sample

Arbitron has announced that it will expand its plan to introduce sampling of cell phone-only households to all markets by the end of 2009. For the Spring 2009 survey, they will use this methodology in 151 markets. This will be extended to all markets for the Fall 09 survey.

The lack of cell phone-only users in the Arbitron diary sample has been an increasing concern as this segment has grown rapidly in recent years:

The number of households that can be reached only by cell phone is growing rapidly and these households are more likely to include persons between the ages of 18 and 34. By including cell-phone-only homes in the sample frame we will be better able to improve young adult proportionality in diary markets,” said Owen Charlebois, president, Technology and Research & Development, Arbitron Inc.
.

NPR & Stations Collaborate on Christmas Music

Q. What do you get when you ask 10 public radio entities to share their top 10 favorite holiday songs?

A. One monster playlist suitable for any holiday gathering.

Called Jingle Jams, the 100-song list is posted online at NPR as a continuous loop that listeners can just jump into. The selection ranges from Waltz of the Flowers (WGUC) to Louis Armstrong's Zat You, Santa Claus? (WBGO/WDUQ), and about anything in between.

Participating were WDUQ, WXPN, WGUC, Folk Alley, KUT, WGBH, WNYC, WFUV, American Public Media and WBGO.
.

Sheila Rue Named WUSF PD

Long time PD Workshop trainer, Sheila Rue, is packing her bags and moving to Tampa to be WUSF's new PD. She returns to the ranks of programming after 8 1/2 years as a programming and fundraising consultant in her business, SR Sound Programming. Before that she was PD at KUSC, WUNC, WMRA, WNKU and Humanities Producer at WKMS.

Welcome back to the world of PDs!

Radio Listening Increases

In its press release about the upcoming RADAR 99 National Radio Listening Report, Arbitron reports that 2 million more Americans listened to radio in the past year than a year ago. Around 234 million people 12 years of age and older listened to radio, up from 232 million last year.

The report will say that radio reaches 92% of Americans each week. 90% of teens (12-17) listen at least once a week.

The full report is scheduled to be released next Tuesday, December 16.
.

Day To Day, News & Notes Fall In NPR Cuts

In a memo to NPR stations, Interim CEO Dennis Haarsager just announced severe cuts at National Public Radio made to address what is now a projected $23 million deficit in the current fiscal year.


Day To Day and News & Notes have been canceled with last shows to air on March 20, 2009. A total of 64 filled and 21 unfilled positions in the network will be eliminated:

Today, we are announcing the cancellation of News & Notes and Day to Day, and significant budget reductions across the organization. These cuts include the elimination of 64 filled and 21 unfilled positions, many of which are associated with the two cancelled programs. Positions have also been eliminated across NPR, including reporting, editorial, and production staffs; station services; digital media; research; communications; and administrative support. Overall, this is a 7% reduction in NPR’s current workforce.

It is important for you to understand why we chose to cancel News & Notes and Day to Day, and the implications for programming strategy and commitments. Neither program was attracting sufficient levels of audience or national underwriting necessary to sustain continued production under these tough financial circumstances.

Senior staff has also been reorganized:

I have personally focused on the alignment of NPR’s senior team, our current executive position vacancies, and the roles of our senior vice presidents, in an effort to better align work and make changes that will contribute to the net savings for NPR. This resulted in the decision to reclassify several positions: Ellen Weiss, VP for News; Kathleen Jackson, VP for HR; and Joyce Slocum, VP for Legal Affairs and General Counsel are promoted to the SVP level. Debra May Hughes, Executive Director of Public Interactive, is promoted to VP. These changes were made to better reflect the scope of their responsibilities and contributions. Three of these were title changes and did not involve a change in pay.

Additionally, the Board of Directors has asked me to stay on as an Executive VP during the first six months of new CEO Vivian Schiller’s transition. I have also made a decision to eliminate the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships position, and Dana Davis Rehm has accepted a new role as SVP of Marketing, Communications and External Relations. This expanded position replaces the currently vacant VP of Marketing and Communications.
.

NPR West, Two Programs Reported to be Cut

Blogs FishbowlDC and LA Observed are reporting that NPR West in Culver City, as well as two programs produced there -- Day To Day and News & Notes -- are facing the budget cutting block. Richard Prince at the Maynard Institute blogs that even the holiday party was scaled back.

NPR's Senior VP for News Ellen Weiss is said to be out west to announce the changes. NPR West opened in 2006.

FishbowlDC reports: "There is a great deal of bitterness over the fact that as the company cuts into its core business, radio, it is spending millions on NPR.org, and yet has no business plan that would make the Web site pay for itself."
.

Greased Cheetahs (Cheetos?) Win NPR Relay

If you put your money on the Greased Cheetahs (at right) to win the NPR (sort of) annual holiday relay last Friday, step up to the window and collect your winnings.

(Cue Chariots of Fire theme!) Four teams raced around the NPR building in Washington, D.C. Fortunately, for the history of sports, much of it was captured on video. Of equal importance was the email banter that occurred between teams, which was intercepted by mediabistro.

No word yet on injuries.
.

Iowa Public Radio Names CEO

Iowa Public Radio's new CEO will be Mary Grace Herrington, assistant vice president for advancement operations at Creighton University in Omaha. she begins her new job Jan. 20, according to a statement by the organization.

Herrington will become the second executive director in the history of Iowa Public Radio, a structure established in late 2004 by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, to consolidate the public radio stations at Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa into a statewide network. The first executive director of Iowa Public Radio was Cindy Browne, who died after a long illness in November.

Herrington has been at Creighton University since 2005. She was named assistant vice president for advancement in 2006. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

WMNF's Vicki Santa Dies

Vicki Santa, who was station manager at Tampa's WMNF community broadcaster, died this morning in St. Joseph's Hospital. She had stepped down earlier this year due to health reasons.

In an article on the Pacifica Network's website, Dr. Michael W. Huntsberger of Furman University said in an article earlier this year, "Vicki Santa is one of the greatest organizers community radio has ever known. Her patience, wisdom, and good humor exemplify the best in grassroots media, and humanity."

Just recently, WMNF announced that Jim Bennett, was coming on board as station manager in January. In a letter to WMNF's listeners he wrote, "I was Production Director, Operations Manager, Chief Engineer, General Manager and fundraiser over my 28 years at KPFA."
.

Pulitzer Adding Online News Prize

According to Editor and Publisher, the Pulitzer Prizes will add an award for online news in 2009. The new category "will accept submissions from online-only news outlets, but require that they be "text-based" submissions from news organizations that are updated at least weekly and include original reporting."

Citing an interview with Pulitzer Administrator, E&P says:

Gissler stressed that Web sites of magazines and broadcast and cable outlets will not be eligible because they are primarily part of news outlets that are not connected to newspapers. Also, sites that call themselves online "magazines" would be ineligible (this might pertain to Slate and Salon).

WBUR Serves Up Food Blog

WBUR, Boston, has created a blog for those with an appetite for cooking called Public Radio Kitchen. The blog describes itself thusly:

"For Passionate Public Radio Fans & Hopeless Gourmands ... And featuring recipes and cooking tips & opinions on all things edible served up by You Our Listeners. From locavores to omnivores, professional chefs to local food bloggers, all are welcome!"

Many of the entries are by Kathy Gunst, the "resident chef" of the midday program Here and Now.
.

Neenah Ellis New GM in Yellow Springs

Long-time producer Neenah Ellis will assume the general managership of WYSO, public radio in Yellow Springs, OH, early next year, according to the Dayton Daily News. Ellis replaces Paul Maassen now in New Orleans.

"She'll be awesome — it's pretty cool for us," Antioch University spokesperson Lynda Sirk told the Daily News.

The newspaper adds:

Ellis is married to well-known public radio personality Noah Adams, who will be joining her in town, Sirk said. The couple now lives just outside Washington, D.C.

'"He's still kind of negotiating what he's going to do, but he will be living in Yellow Springs,' she said."

Aside from her radio and television work, Ellis is the author of If I Live to be 100.

.

Tribune Files For Bankruptcy

Media conglomerate The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy today. The first major newspaper company to file for bankruptcy, Tribune owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun and 7 other papers. They also own 23 TV stations and are the parent company of news/talker WGN, Chicago and the Chicago Cubs.
.
.

Eby Named KWMU GM

Tim Eby will be moving from WOSU, Columbus to St. Louis to assume the post of General Manager at KWMU according to reports in the St.Louis Business Journal and Riverfront Times. He has been GM at WOSU since 2004. Before that he was Station Manager at WVPE in Elkhart, IN.

Eby was a member of the NPR board of directors from 2002-08, twice serving as chairman. He begins his new job on January 20.
.
.

Layoffs and Cuts at Chicago PR - TCF Impacted

On Friday on chicagotribune.com and the Chicago Reader blog reported cuts at WBEZ/Vocalo. Nine positions have been eliminated amid severe budget cutting due to funding shortfalls.

An article on the WBEZ site said:

The layoffs affect every department. The cuts include 11 full-time positions at the organization as well as a number of open positions. Senior staff members have also taken salary cuts.

The layoffs will not change the program schedules for WBEZ or vocalo.org.

Organization management says poor financial conditions forced the decision—it projected a $1.5 million revenue shortfall. That’s caused, in part, by a drop in individual donations and smaller than expected growth in corporate underwriting.

The following post from The Third Coast Audio Festival was also issued on Friday:

I wanted to let all of you know (thank goodness for AIR, you can hear the news directly and quickly from us) that due to budget considerations, Chicago Public Radio has decided to stop funding the TCF at of the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 2009. CPR still feels a commitment to the project, which it founded eight years ago, and which it still believes in, so we’ve been told that we’ll receive some in-kind support.

We are considering all of our options, including fundraising and partnerships, and we are hopeful that the Third Coast Festival can live on as a strong independent organization. We'll definitely keep you posted!

This decision was part of a much larger set of cutbacks at the station that went into effect immediately. There's more information here:

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/news-bites/2008/12/05/layoffs-wbez-vocalo/

Best;

Johanna, Julie, Delaney

APM Releases Public Radio iPhone App

American Public Media has developed a new application, the Public Radio Tuner, that allows iPhone users to "find and play the public radio stream from their favorite station or try out other stations."
In a release late Friday, they said:

American Public Media invited public radio stations to have their Internet streams listed in the Public Radio Tuner. Currently, more than 150 public radio stations are participating. The Public Radio Tuner is available in the iTunes App Store. American Public Media is continuing to add new streams and will update the Public Radio Tuner stream list weekly.

iPhone users can find the app at the iTunes store.
.
.

Arbitron's Morris: Stay the Course

At today's Consultant Fly-In, Arbitron CEO Steve Morris said the company plans to "stay on strategy" despite changes in radio, the sagging economy and its recent loss to Nielsen of service to some stations 50 small markets. He added that Arbitron stands behind its Portable People Meters, adding that the more radio personnel work with the data, the more comfortable they become.

Internet Radio Skips the Computer

Now you don't need a computer to listen to radio on the Internet.

Next month Sanyo rolls out its Internet Radio R227, which connects direct to the Internet via wi-fi or an Eathernet connection.

The R227 allows the user to locate Internet radio stations and podcasts by country or genre (MP3, WMA, AAC, AIFF, RM and WAV) It has eight Internet station presets. It also has an FM stereo digital tuner with eight station presets.

Price: $169.99.

NPR on Controversial Underwriters

Thursday's edition of Talk of the Nation included a session on underwriting spots for the Department of Homeland Security, an issue that was also address recently by Alicia Shepard, NPR's ombudsman. The current Blog of the Nation also discusses other underwriting issues.

Shepard wrote:

"Immigration is an especially hot-button topic. So it's not surprising that when NPR began running a funding credit on Nov. 10 for the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program, my office heard from listeners and a few concerned public radio station managers.

"They all questioned NPR's judgment in running the credit about the federal computer program that employers use voluntarily to check the legal status of new hires. At the least, some said, it is not a good fit for NPR. Some suggested NPR is endorsing E-Verify."

.

Lehrer Answers Questions from Times Readers

WNYC's Brian Lehrer is normally on the asking end of most questions. Now he is on the receiving end. Lehrer has been featured in The New York Tim's City Room column, fielding emailed questions from Times readers.

Lehrer's answers include:

• He thinks The Takeaway is "fresh and newsy":
• Lehrer on the broadcast/Internet convergence: "Frankly, I don’t consider my program a radio show anymore. I think of it as a radio-based multiplatform interactive news and issue … media thing. If we come up with a short, cogent name for that, I’ll use it. Ideas welcome."
• On WNYC expanding its political reporting: "... the station is building a small performance space of about 150 seats in our new home, and we will do my show from there occasionally with the goal of making it “Democracy’s Living Room” in Lower Manhattan."
• And, Lehrer on colleague Leonard Lopate: "Leonard is one of the all-time great interviewers."

.

Yahoo & CBS Join Radio Forces

Two media powerhouses -- one on the internet and one a terrestrial giant -- are joining forces.

Yahoo has announced it is adding CBS' 150 digital radio stations to its struggling LAUNCHcast site. This will add everything from music to news to sports to talk, doubling the size of Yahoo's offering.

CBS will handle ad sales for the two companies. Yahoo and CBS will share ad revenues from the arrangement set to begin early in 2009.

Fortune magazine's website says, "In short, CBS gets a bigger footprint on the Web. And Yahoo will probably do better because it's effectively outsourcing its radio ads sales to a company with a great deal of experience in the field.

"The partnership is also consistent with Yahoo's strategy to shift its music business from providing content to creating community."

.

Klose on Changing Media, New NPR Chief

Kevin Klose, former NPR president, was visiting WKSU, Kent, Ohio recently and the station's Morning Edition host Jeff Sinclair had the opportunity to ask him about a variety of issues. In addition to discussing the changing media landscape, Klose also commented on how NPR can fill the media gap and Vivian Schiller, the new CEO of NPR.

Klose is now head of the NPR foundation.

Listen to the interview.
.