Lust, greed, wrath, envy, and pride are just some of the deadly sins that plague a seemingly happy family in a mystery-thriller starring Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter, Vera Drake) and Francesca Annis (Reckless, Cranford), who play close neighbors cast into a generational psychodrama, on Flesh and Blood, airing in four cliffhanging episodes on MASTERPIECE, Sundays, October 4-25, at 9pm on WPSU.
From The GM's Desk
What a month since the last newsletter! In addition to continuing all of our fantastic radio reporting, educational initiatives and production and broadcast services, we received very positive funding news mid-September.
Governor Wolf's Office announced that they have allocated part of their federal GEER monies to the seven public media stations for educational datacasting and continuation of our Learning at Home efforts. This will allow us to continue and build upon the wonderful work our education team has been doing since mid-March.
Earlier this week, we announced that our sports production work will be moving to Intercollegiate Athletics by mid-October. A number of our dedicated employees will be transitioning to the new team but several of our employees will be displaced. We had been performing this work for a number of years and this was very tough news to receive. Our team has been doing amazing work and was recently honored with two Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards for our football and men’s basketball broadcast programs. We wish these employees the absolute best and are helping them look for other positions within OOE or the University.
Penn State Adds 352 COVID-19 Cases At University Park, Offers Free Walk-Up Testing For Employees
Penn State added 352 new COVID-19 cases among University Park campus students since the numbers were updated on 9/25, according to its COVID-19 dashboard. The total number of University Park students who have tested positive for the coronavirus rose to 2,475, but the university says 1,774 cases are not active. Penn State announced Friday that it will hold a virtual town hall on Sunday, Oct. 4, for students and their families “about Penn State’s return to campus and the university’s ongoing response to the coronavirus. Full story here.
Democracy Works: Fighting For Democracy in Hong Kong
This week, we examine what's driving Hong Kongers into the streets, the generational divides that are emerging over issues like universal suffrage and income inequality, and what Hong Kong's relationship with China might look like moving forward. Our guest is On-cho Ng, head of the Asian Studies Program at Penn State and Professor of History, Asian Studies, and Philosophy. He is a native Hong Konger and received both his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Hong Kong. Listen here.
St. Marys Businesses Count On Local Support To Weather The COVID-19 Economy
COVID-19 is putting many small town businesses in Pennsylvania in a financial squeeze due to coronavirus closures and people quarantining. This summer, WPSU partnered with students in Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications to look at how towns in central Pennsylvania, like St. Marys, are doing in the run-up to the presidential election. Story and audio here.
WPSU Television Highlights
Midsomer Murders (New Season Premiere) - Thursday, October 1 at 8:00 pm
It's Christmas and new detective Charlie Nelson moves into Midsomer. He's thrown straight into an intriguing mystery in the village of Morton Shallows. A man is fatally stabbed with an antique sword during a ghost-hunting party at a "haunted" manor house. Can Barnaby and Nelson find a more earthly motive behind the murder and trap the killer?
Escape to the Chateau (New Season Premiere) - Thursday, October 1 at 9:30 pm
Dick and Angel throw open the shutters of their French chateau for a new season, as they work to create a luxury "glamping" experience and contend with frequent rainshowers.
Now Hear This: Becoming Mozart (Great Performances) - Friday, October 2 at 9:00 pm
Travel with host Scott Yoo and pianist Stewart Goodyear as they visit Yoo's Festival Mozaic where Goodyear learns to direct the piano while improvising the solos of Mozart's twentieth piano concerto.
Flesh and Blood on Masterpiece (Series Premiere) - Sunday, October 4 at 9:00 pm
Enjoy an unconventional thriller about the perils of late-life romance. The lives of three adult siblings are disrupted when their recently widowed mother declares she’s in love with a new man.
COBRA “Episode 1” (Series Premiere) - Sunday, October 4 at 10:00 pm
As a major crisis threatens the stability of the UK, Prime Minister Robert Sutherland and his close team assemble the emergency committee COBRA in an effort to combat the situation. Nature: The Story of Cats: Asia to Africa - Wednesday, October 7 at 8:00 pm
Discover how the first cats arose in the forests of Asia, how they spread across the continent and later came to conquer Africa. We reveal how cats evolved with an in-depth look at lions, servals, caracals, cheetahs, tigers, fishing and sand cats.
PBS Newshour Debates: A Special Report - Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 pm
PBS NewsHour provides coverage and analysis of the Vice Presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Vice President nominee Senator Kamala Harris.
American Masters “Lennon NYC” - Friday, October 9 at 9:00 pm
Learn the story of one of the most famous and influential artists of the 20th century and how he found redemption not in the public adoration he craved as a youth, but in the quiet and simple pleasures of fatherhood.
Finding Your Roots - Tuesday, October 13 at 8:00 pm
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. steps into the world of fashion and meets three icons of style: Diane Von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez and RuPaul Charles, introducing ancestors who were just as audacious as they are.
Driving While Black - Tuesday, October 13 at 9:00 pm
Discover how the advent of the automobile brought new freedoms and new perils for African Americans on the road in this deep look into the dynamics of race, space and mobility in America over time.
The Age of Nature “Awakening”- Wednesday, October 14 at 10:00 pm
Explore how new understandings of the role that nature plays in our societies are leading to more symbiotic relationships between humanity and the natural world.
PBS NewsHour Debates 2020 “Presidential Debate” - Thursday, October 15 at 9:00 pm
PBS NewsHour provides live coverage and analysis of the second of three 2020 Presidential debates.
Industry News
Staffers At The Current, Classical MPR Look To Unionize
Music staffers at The Current and Classical MPR are calling on their management teams to voluntarily recognize their two Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists unions.Employees sent their petitions to management Thursday. They were signed by more than 80% of employees, according to the staffers. Both unions said they are looking for a voice in the future directions of the stations in addition to equitable compensation.
Radio Milwaukee Launches Podcast About Its City’s Systemic Racism
A new podcast from 88Nine Radio Milwaukee addresses how the racial wealth gap has fed systemic racism and affected every aspect of life in the Black community. Radio Milwaukee produces a new podcast every year. Last year’s was a six-part series about Milwaukee’s first hip-hop song. This year the focus remains on Milwaukee, but the show is less celebratory.
“Milwaukee has a lot of indicators that make it pretty bad here for African-Americans,” said By Every Measure co-host Tarik Moody, a host and digital director at the station. “We wanted to have a conversation about that, but then not only tell the history, but we want to look at … who’s trying to change it.” Moody’s co-host, Reggie Jackson, is a journalist and columnist for the Milwaukee Independent, co-owner of a diversity consultancy and head griot at America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Jackson has also appeared at station events.
NPR Budget For New Fiscal Year Aims To Avoid Layoffs Despite Deficit
NPR plans to continue implementing cost-saving measures next fiscal year to offset a projected $29 million budget deficit, CFO and Treasurer Deborah Cowan said during a board committee meeting last week. Cowan presented a breakdown of the FY21 budget that showed anticipated revenues of $250.6 million, down from $253.4 million in FY20 and $258.7 million in FY19. Before the pandemic disrupted the economy, NPR expected revenues for the current fiscal year to reach $267 million, which was 5% more than NPR’s revised projections for the fiscal year that closes Sept. 30. Full story here.
Governmental Relations
Yesterday, Sept. 30th, the U.S. Senate passed a Continuing Resolution (CR), a short-term funding measure that keeps the government and its programs, including support for public media, funded at roughly last year’s spending levels through December 11, 2020. The House of Representatives passed the CR last week and the President is expected to sign the CR into law. This action gives lawmakers additional time to finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 spending bills beyond today, September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. We do not expect any additional action on the FY 2021 appropriations bills until after the election.
COVID-19 Relief Funding
This week, the House of Representatives released an updated COVID-19 relief bill that contains $175 million in emergency funding for public media stations, the full amount we requested.
And we are very pleased that the $175 million in relief funding for public media was included in both the Senate Republican HEALS Act and this latest House Democratic package.
However, at this point there is no bipartisan agreement on the next COVID-19 relief package, and time is growing short to enact a relief package in both the House and Senate before the election. If a deal is reached, the scope of a bipartisan COVID-19 relief package will likely be smaller than the new House Democratic bill, so there’s no guarantee that the public media relief funding would be included.
APTS will continue to monitor these discussions and advocate for additional emergency funding for local stations.
After the election, Congress will come back to Washington, D.C., and will continue the consideration of the annual appropriations bills and may consider additional COVID-19 relief.
Transparent Public Toilets Unveiled In Tokyo Parks
The idea of using a public bathroom with see-through walls may sound like the stuff of nightmares. But a famous Japanese architect is hoping to change that view, using vibrant colors and new technology to make restrooms in Tokyo parks more inviting. "There are two things we worry about when entering a public restroom, especially those located at a park," according to architect Shigeru Ban's firm. "The first is cleanliness, and the second is whether anyone is inside." Transparent walls can address both of those worries, Ban says, by showing people what awaits them inside. After users enter the restroom and lock the door, the powder room's walls turn a powdery pastel shade — and are no longer see-through. Full story (and pictures) here. [NPR - 8/19/2020]
Quotables
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
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