NPR has added its voice to the Federal Communication Commission’s proceeding on revitalizing AM radio. Although the filing supports the FCC’s general recommendations for improving the service, it also functions as a vehicle for promoting one of NPR’s favorite causes: getting the Commission to license more translators for Non-commercial Educational (NCE) FM radio stations. Still, […]
National Public Radio has received millions in grants that it will use to build a “seamless local-national listening platform,” the network announced today. The new mobile app will provide on-demand access to local station content combined with national programming, allowing listeners to create playlists. The point is to let listeners move from the car to […]
The office of Corporation for Public Broadcasting Ombudsman Joel Kaplan has released some details of its investigation of StoryCorps, prompted by the complaints of blogger Sylvia Kronstadt. StoryCorps is heard on NPR’s Morning Edition and seen on PBS stations. The CPB has given the show 23 grants worth more than $15 million since 2003. In […]
An interesting filing from NPR to the Federal Communications Commission concerning the impending wave of incentive auctions planned to “reassign” television broadcaster spectrum, ultimately for wireless broadband use. NPR reminds the Commission that a lot of the television towers that broadcast video signals stream radio as well, and public broadcasters could be affected by this […]
The revolving door at the top office of National Public Radio keeps spinning. Tuesday current CEO Gary Knell announced that he is resigning this fall to take over the much-bigger National Geographic, for about twice as much salary. Knell has been on the job at NPR for fewer than two years, and is largely credited […]
No doubt that just about everybody who cares about public radio spent the weekend debating NPR Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos’ massive takedown of NPR’s award winning feature: Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families. Schumacher-Matos concludes that the piece on South Dakota’s Indian foster care system should not have been broadcast as it was written. He […]
NPR ran a piece on Saturday about the impending wave of Low Power FM radio stations. The Weekend Edition story was about what you’d expect—a nice folks-helping-folks profile of a Germantown, Philadelphia Internet signal that hopes to get a LPFM license this October. This was followed by a general overview of Low Power FM applicants. “Low […]
Here is an excerpt from Boston NPR News Station WBUR, responding to the Federal Communications Commission’s request for feedback on its indecency rules. The station supports NPR’s position that the rules should be enforced only in “egregious” cases”: “Sometimes WBUR’s service to the community produces potential indecency violations under the Commission’s current ‘zero tolerance’ approach. […]
The Radio and Internet Newsletter covers Triton Digital’s online radio listening metrics for May, noting that growth is flat, in keeping with an expected “summer slow-down.” Pandora continues to lead the market by a wide margin, with more than 1.4 million average active listening sessions, and 1.5 billion session starts from 6 AM to midnight. […]
Broadcasters are filing comments on the Federal Communications Commission’s request for feedback on the agency’s indecency rules, key portions of which were struck down by the Supreme Court last year. NPR’s comments support replacing the FCC’s now defunct “fleeting expletive” policies (basically sanctions against even a few dirty words said on the fly) with an […]
