Friday, November 18, 2016

READER COMMENTS: DISSING THE TEST KITCHEN • "WAIT AND SEE" ABOUT FUNDING FOR CPB


COMMENT ONE: DID CHRIS KIMBALL DISS AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN” BEFORE HE LEFT?

Christopher Kimball
Our report about the legal battle between Christopher Kimball and America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) on November 4th [link] brought several comments. They were evenly divided between “Kimball fans” and “Kimball critics.” 

Here is a comment from someone who thought Kimball had started dissing ATK on-the-air even before he was out the door:

“Thank-you for posting this; I found it very interesting. I listen to ATK radio and noticed that at the time that Chris was "fired" from ATK, Chris went from saying things like "best recipe ever" to sounding doubtful about some of their cooking techniques/ideas.

He also started recommending different cooking techniques which reminded me an awful lot of the new style of Milk Street Kitchen. I wish I had more specific examples, but I haven't listened in a few months. I just remember thinking several times that he was probably not a good person to have remaining on the ATK radio show, since he was no longer trying to help ATK as a company.”


KEN SAYS:

I have no way to confirm the reader’s remarks but what he observes seems to fit the pattern described in ATK’s complaint. 

Lets review where things stand now:

• ATK’s new hosts are Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster.

• The ATK radio series distributed by PRX is over as of the end of 2016. 

• ATK will continue in radio as a contributor to American Public Media’s (APM) program The Splendid Table.

• Kimball’s new Milk Street Radio began distribution via PRX as of October 22, 2016. It is recorded in the studios of WGBH. 

Milk Street Radio is available to all stations from PRX.org and is free for two years if picked up by July, 2017.

• Each Milk Street Radio program is 59 minutes long, is newscast compatible, and includes two, 1-minute floating ID breaks. The clock for Milk Street Radio is above.

COMMENT TWO: CPB & TRUMPLAND

Regarding our opinion column A TIME OF RECKONING published Wednesday, November 9th [link] an anonymous reader wrote:

“Over the years, attempts to defund public broadcasting have come more frequent, and I agree that we are going into an environment where all the pieces may be in place to finally make it happen. It’s hard to have a rallying cry of, “Don’t Kill Big Bird” when he’s nesting at HBO.

Small, rural, and minority stations will be disproportionately impacted if CPB funding disappears. Now is the time to begin proactively activating public media supporters to tell their stories and build your base of vocal advocates. We pitch all the time that we have supporters from all walks of life and across the political spectrum. Let’s prove it.”

KEN SAYS:

I agree with the reader. The case for public radio should begin now. The prevailing mood in DC is “wait and see, we've been through this before.” Things are different now. De-funding CPB might wind up as a small item wrapped up in a "big deal."

An article in Current published Thursday morning [link] seems cautiously optimistic about continued funding. The operating theory is we've always won before, so lets keep our heads low.

Current quotes Patrick Butler, president of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), saying we have important allies in the new administration such as incoming VP Mike Pence. APTS gave Pence an award in 2014 for help restoring state support to public stations in Indiana. Don’t count on Pence's goodwill on the national level.

Allies are now bending like willows in a blizzard wind. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the GOP leadership is making a lot of changes. And he promises quick, big and bold action as soon as the new Republican government is in place.

If you are concerned, start mobilizing support at home. Last Friday [link] I wrote about how Senator Larry Pressler’s (R-SD) effort to defund CPB backfired. It turns out that Pressler was “privatized” during the next election by the people of South Dakota,

COMMENT THREE: IS THE NEW FM STATION IN BOULDER A “LPFM” OR JUST A “LP” TRANSLATOR

On Thursday this week I wrote about a new FM station that has signed on in Boulder [link].  I referred to the new FM as a “LPFM” station.  Reader Aaron Read commented:
FYI Ken, KVCU's new FM repeater is not an LPFM licensee. Absent a waiver, that wouldn't be legal (LPFM licensees cannot own full-power AM/FM licenses).

98.9 appears to be just a regular FM Translator license: K255DA. Although looking at Radio Locator, it seems a bit iffy in covering the campus...often a practical necessity for any college radio station. :)

More to the point, though, KVCU has a good daytime and critical hours signal, but at night it's pretty small. Just 110 watts. That FM translator will go a long ways towards having a 24/7 audience.

KEN SAYS: Aaron knows more about this kind of thing than I do, so he is likely correct. The LPFM reference was made in Daily Camera source story and I did not double-check it. I blame sloth, perhaps my major sin.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

NEW NONCOM STATIONS IN MAINE & COLORADO • PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT FOR RADIO GEEKS


MAINE CLASSICAL ADDS ANOTHER SIGNAL

Maine Public Radio is adding another new signal to its emerging statewide Classical music service. Maine Public announced this week that is acquiring commercial station WRMO 93.7, licensed to Milbridge. 

The purchase price was $150,000. 93.7 covers coastal Maine (map on the right) including Bar Harbor, Ellsworth and Calais.

In just over a year Maine Public Classical net has gone from being a single HD channel to become a viable second service covering most of the population centers in the state. 

Maine's other channel now features NPR News 24/7 statewide.



Maine Public Classical’s flagship is 91.5 WFYB Fryeburg, which provides a signal to Portland. Maine Public says 93.7 should be fulltime Classical by December 1st.









ANOTHER ROCK FM NOW ON-AIR IN BOULDER

The Front Range of Colorado has another rock oriented FM signal.  Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper reports [link] that Colorado University’s student station, KVCU-AM Radio1190, is now being simulcast on 98.9 FM.

Mikey Goldenberg, Radio AM 1190's general manager and the station's only full-time employee told the Daily Camera:

"Don't get me wrong, AM radio is quaint, AM radio serves a multitude of amazing organizations and people, but AM radio specifically is a little tough to listen to at times. FM legitimizes what we are on a bigger level, in a bigger way because people take it more seriously; the students take it more seriously of wanting to get involved through our educational component."

(I can’t recall hearing AM radio being called “quaint” recently. But I guess it fits.)

KVCU-AM [link] has been serving a steady diet of independent music on 1190 AM since 1989. The station's programming is also available online at Radio1190.org.

The new FM signal is unique because technically it is a LPFM station. The FCC granted the construction permit for 98.9 in May. KVCU AM/FM is a training ground for CU students, who can get hands-on experience in everything from marketing to journalism to engineering. Radio 1190 has 10 paid students managers and more than 100 volunteers.

RADIO GEEK GIFT IDEA

A few years ago my wife bought me a terrific, inexpensive gift: Scott Fybush’s Tower Site Calendar. Fybush is a consulting engineer and publisher of the blog North East Radio Watch [link]. 

The calendar features 12 broadcast tower sites in unusual and often picturesque locations.  Many of the sites have historical significance. The calendar costs around $20.00.  More information is available at [link].

LAST YEAR'S CALENDAR

Last year’s calendar featured South Mountain, home of Phoenix's TV and most of its FM stations, Grimsby, Ontario tower farm overlooking Lake Ontario and The Empire State Building tower farm.

Why have a tower site calendar on the wall?   

It is a great conversation starter. You might have noticed that erect towers are phallic symbols.



In case Fybush or others are looking for new ideas for a calendar, I present these suggestions:

MOST OVER-CROWDED PATCH BAYS



ON-AIR STUDIO CHAIRS THAT ARE CERTAIN TO CAUSE BACK PAIN



GREATEST STATION VANS



Wednesday, November 16, 2016

DAVID DYE STEPPING DOWN AS HOST OF “WORLD CAFÉ” • CPB BOARD MEMBER WANTS NPR TO REFLECT “THE ENTIRE AMERICA”


David Dye
David Dye announced to listeners of WXPN on Monday that he is retiring as full-time role as host and producer of World Cafe as of Friday, March 31, 2017. Dye will continue in a part-time capacity as a regular contributor to the program.

Dye has been host of World Cafe since its launch on October 14, 1991. WXPN will honor Dye and World Café’s first 25 years of musical discovery with special events in March
and the establishment of World Cafe Next Fund.  WXPN, the producer of World Café, will pay tribute to Dye with two celebratory concerts scheduled for March 3 and 4, 2017 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

Dye talked about the change in a press release:

“For years I have had the opportunity to sit in the same room talking with the likes of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock and thousands of others. Our 25th anniversary seems like the perfect juncture to get off the treadmill of daily radio and see what is next.”

WXPN GM Roger LeMay praised Dye:

“It’s impossible to measure the impact that David Dye has had on artists and audiences with World Café.

WXPN says a new host of World Café will be determined after the first of the year.

CPB BOARD MEMBER: TIE STATION FUNDING TO PROGRAMMING THAT REFLECTS “A COMPLETE PROFILE OF AMERICANS”

Howard Husock, a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board of Directors, wrote in an op-ed for the conservative publication National Review [link] that NPR should provide more coverage of “red state” America. Huscock’s opinion piece was published a week before the November 8th election.

Huscock seems to be advocating that CPB become a referee of “ideological boundaries.” This is a change from the founding principle of CPB, that it be a “heat-shield,” protecting public TV and radio from the control of elected officials and government bureaucrats. Huscock focuses on the viability of CPB’s federal funding citing what he sees as NPR's coverage of only a part of America:

They also have reason to be concerned because they, as taxpayers, are media investors. Each year, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, of whose board of directors I’m a member, distributes a $445 million federal appropriation to “public media,” including, directly and indirectly, to National Public Radio.

Indeed, its popularity divides roughly along red-state/blue-state and economic lines. Notably, of the ten highest-rated NPR stations, according to publicly available ratings data, only one, Raleigh-Durham, is located below the Mason-Dixon line; none can be found in a clearly red state.

[P]ublic-radio programming — whose mission must be an overall informed citizenry — attracts only a small slice of the body politic: Seventy percent of listeners are college graduates; listeners are 74 percent more likely than average to earn more than $100,000 in household income.

TAKE HUSCOCK’S OPINIONS SERIOUSLY
  
Howard Husock
Howard Husock is NOT a right-wing tea bagger. Howard He is vice president for policy research at the Manhattan Institute, where he is also director of its Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. Husock was nominated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board of Directors by President Barack Obama in June 2013 and confirmed by the Senate in August 2013.

Husock knows the public media world first-hand. He is a former broadcast journalist and documentary filmmaker whose work at WGBH in Boston won a National News and Public Affairs Emmy award and was a fellow at the Hauser Center on Nonprofit Organizations.

From 1987 through 2006, Husock was a public policy director at the Harvard  Kennedy School of Government and he was a fellow at the Hauser Center on Nonprofit Organizations. His writing has been published in The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, Forbes.com, The New York Times Magazine, and The Washington Post.

HUSCOCK PRAISES NPR NEWS BUT SAYS IT NEEDS TO REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE

Huscock acknowledges NPR’s success:

As a news source, public radio is public broadcasting’s most important component. Indeed, NPR is, in many ways, among today’s most wide-reaching and robust “fact-based” news-gathering organizations. [NPR] draws on 17 international and 16 domestic bureaus. Weekly listenership totals some 36 million. And those who do listen to it, largely trust it: Pew has found NPR-listeners are three times as likely to trust the network as non-listeners.

That overall favorable view, however, masks a significant problem:

[NPR’s] popularity divides roughly along red-state/blue-state and economic lines. Expanding the range of its popularity should be a prime NPR goal… as an indicator that it has the trust of the American public at large as a steward of public funds.

This is not a call for NPR or its local affiliates to add more commentators of various political stripes. There is plenty of political commentary available on cable news and talk radio.

In increasingly scarce supply, however, is high-quality, reporting-based local journalism — and public radio is actually in good position to win audience trust by providing more of it.

NPR…in Washington can begin to serve a wider audience by including in its own programming more original journalism bubbling up from its affiliates.

Huscock provides examples of what he wants to hear:

Stories told empathetically and contextually, drawing on local concerns, can add greatly to the national dialogue. Think of the out-of-work coal miner whose situation makes clear the tradeoffs involved with changing energy policy; the mega-church that mounts efforts to help promote marriage — and doesn’t just oppose gay marriage.

Perhaps he’d like a “fair-and-balanced” discussion on evolution versus creationism.


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

“RADIOTOPIA” LEADS IN THE GENERATION OF NEW PODCAST LISTENERS • KNPR INVADES RENO


According to the most recent podcast publisher rankings from Podtrac Analytics [link], PRX’s Radiotopia added almost 100,000 estimated Unique Audience listeners between July and October, an increase of 28%.

All of the podcasts listed on Podtrac’s Top Ten chart increased listeners during the same period. As you can see in the chart below, seven of the Top Ten publishers are public media companies with ties to public radio.





American Public Media is new on the chart, no doubt powered by listeners to the highly praised documentary In the Dark and Marketplace.

WHO & WHAT IS TWIT?

What is #9 on the chart? TWIT [link] stands for The Week in Tech, a podcast publisher that began in 2005 and now claims to be the #1 ranked technology podcast provider in the US. Leo Laporte is the designer and voice-talent that created TWIT. The for-profit company is based in Petaluma, California.

The company is built around Laporte’s twice weekly syndicated radio program The Tech Guy [link]. The program is distributed by Premier Radio Network. Laporte says The Tech Guy is on over 200 commercial radio stations. 

Leo Laporte
TWIT currently distributes 20 other technology-oriented podcasts. All of the TWIT shows are free. TWiT is supported by advertising and listener donations. A limited number of commercials are embedded within each show.

TWIT also hosts a live streaming video channel called TWIT Live [link]. It produces 50+ hours a week of live streaming video and claims to reach several million people every month. 


KNPR, LAS VEGAS, SPENDS $550,000 TO ENTER THE RENO MARKET

Flo Rogers and company at Nevada Public Radio has acquired 89.1 FM KJIV, Sun Valley, a suburb of Reno. The new station will be a 24/7 repeater of NPR News station KNPR. The projected coverage area for KJIV, shown on the right, may require modification because it currently covers only part of the Reno metro.

Reno is already served by NPR News station KUNR and sister station Classical KNCJ. KUNR adopted a 24/7 news schedule earlier in 2016.

Nevada Public Radio operates an extensive network of repeaters and translators that simulcasts KNPR. But, the Reno area is new for them.

Nevada Public Radio's Regional Network
I have just one question for Nevada Public Radio:  Why spend so much money to acquire a voice in Reno? 

The Reno-Sparks metro has around 400,000 residents and seems to be well served at present by KUNR and KNCJ.

$550,000 is a serious amount of money to provide a second service to a mid size market. 

Is the reason for this acquisition “statewide network” bragging rights. Maybe the new Reno station is a placeholder until its coverage area has been upgraded. Maybe the long term goal for Nevada Public Radio entering Reno is to establish a new format such as Triple A.  Or, maybe there is Nevada gold secretly buried under the ground at the transmitter sight.



Monday, November 14, 2016

PAUL MAASSEN NOW MANAGES BOTH WRKF AND WWNO



Paul Maassen
In an unusual management sharing scheme, Paul Maassen,
GM of WWNO, New Orleans, is now also GM at WRKF, 
Baton Rouge. According to local news reports both stations 
will retain their current separate ownership and unique 
identities.

Maassen has managed WWNO since 2008. WRKF’s GM,  
Dave Gordon, retired in July. Maassen will split his time 
between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 

Maassen said the new relationship is not a merger, but 
rather it is a collaboration for the mutual benefit 
of both stations.

WRKF is licensed to Public Radio Incorporated, a 
community-based nonprofit based in Baton Rouge. WWNO 
is licensed to the University of New Orleans.



STEVE YASKO SURFACES AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF BALTIMORE ARTS ORGANIZATION

Bromoseltzer Tower
Steve Yasko, former GM of WTMD, Baltimore has been hired as the new executive director of the nonprofit organization Bromo Arts & Entertainment District.  

Bromo is a 117-acre area in downtown Baltimore that is built around the historic Bromoseltzer Tower. The District has seen considerable growth in the past few years. Yasko told local media:

"I can’t wait to get started on building relationships and projects that make the Bromo District a locally and nationally recognized neighborhood where all of the arts create experiences that can’t be duplicated anywhere else but right here in Baltimore.”

Yasko knows the Bromo District very well.  When he was in charge of WTMD, the station publicized the District’s music, cultural and arts scenes. Yasko appears to be a solid choice for the gig. We praised Yasko for his work at WTMD in August 2015 [link].  


CHECKOUT MY NEW BLOG ABOUT LOW VISION

The best advice often given to new bloggers and reporters is: Write about what you know. Over the past couple of years I have really, really gotten to know the challenges caused by declining eyesight. Now I am publishing a blog based on my experiences with low vision. The blog is WELCOME TO LOW VISION [link].

I describe “low vision” as the zone between blindness and normal sight. There are over five million people in America with low vision. My goals are to help mainstream living with vision, increase awareness of the condition, influence policy decisions and provide news about the vision loss marketplace. As I have tried to do with SPARK! I intend to provide information with a sense of humor.

My most recent post is The Trouble With Floaters starring The Family Guy [link].