Houston Public Media Spells It Out

It's an annual thing for Houston Public Media. This will be the sixth time Houston Public Media (Channel 8) broadcasts the Scripps affiliated local Spelling Bee. They will also stream the event

Houston Public Media broadcasts and live streams nation’s third largest local spelling bee on March 29 - Your Houston News: News

There will be 55 spellers from over 1,000 schools.

This year's contest and contestants are set but, Houston Public Media offers information on how schools and students in Texas can get involved.  

2014 Houston Public Media Spelling Bee

It seems like a great way to engage schools, children and their families.

This American Life / PRI Part Ways

Public Radio International (PRI) announced yesterday that it will end distribution of This American Life (TAL). According to the article in Variety, TAL has 2.2 million listeners and calls the weekly program one of PRI's most popular.

Details of why the show is being dropped are sketchy. PRI Executive Julia Yager states, “During our most recent negotiation, it became clear that our organizations’ expectations regarding our futures were different.” 

Yager said This American Life will continue to be distributed to Public Radio. Three possible sources, PRX, NPR and APM have not commented yet.

CPB Funding Safe at VPT

Vermont Public Radio is reporting Vermont Public Television will be able to keep's its funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Vermont Public Television (VPT) could have lost $1 million in funding. Funding form the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for VPT was in question after allegations that the network had violated open meetings rules. An audit found in February the station had not violated the public meeting rules but had inadvertently failed to notify the public of the private meetings. Several news sources in Vermont have been following the controversy including The Daily Journal. According to the report there were 22 meetings in question. 18 should have been posted on VPT's website. Four of the meetings were not held.

The Chair, Pamela MacKenzie and the Vice Chairman Rob Hofmann will remain in their positions. There had been calls for their resignations. 

Internet Radio Listening is Strong.

The Infinite Dial 2014 is reporting that the weekly audience for on-line radio is now 36% of all Americans. The findings are from Edison Research and Triton Digital. 94 million Americans now listen on-line.

Some of the highlights published by All Access Music Group include:

• Monthly Online Radio Audience Approaching Half of Americans
• Three-Quarters of 12-24s and Half of 25-54s Listen to Online Radio Monthly
• PANDORA leads the music only services with 31% of the audience

Mobile devices are creating a surge in on-line services. According the Triton COO, Mike Agovino “Scaling connectivity across a plethora of devices is enabling tremendous growth in online radio consumption."

This might mean adapt or get lost in the shuffle. Radio is still relevant but, the way it is being consumed is shifting rapidly to a variety of platforms.