TALKERS News Notes
Compass and Pac-12 Conference Partner for Tourneys. Compass Media Networks and PLAYFLY Sports announced a multi-year partnership for Compass to have the exclusive national audio rights to the Pac-12 Football Championship and Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments. Compass GM of sports programming Robert Blum says, “The Pac-12 Conference is an awesome addition to our play-by-play sports lineup. We look forward to working with the Pac-12 Conference and PLAYFLY Sports to build excitement for these iconic matchups.”
Mary Louise Kelly to Exit “ATC’ Host Role. After more than eight years co-hosting NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Mary Louise Kelly is stepping down from that role and from her hosting the podcast, “Sources & Methods.” She says, “I’m stepping down as host of ‘All Things Considered’ and ‘Sources & Methods.’ Twenty-five years since I first set foot in this newsroom! I’ll continue to contribute interviews. NPR remains a place where I can do the kind of work I came to journalism to do. Now, on to the next adventure.”
Yorker Radio Hour,” and “Terrestrials,” as well as “Freakonomics Radio,” “Science Friday” and “Today, Explained,” which NYPR distributes – available to at-risk public radio stations at no cost. This initiative comes as the CPB prepares to wind down at the end of September, following a $9.4 billion rescission package Congress approved in July, putting the future of more than 1,500 public radio and television stations nationwide in jeopardy. NYPR says, “This initiative will allow stations to redirect funds they would typically use to license our programs toward sustaining their vital local operations and reporting.”
hosted the weekend edition of “All Things Considered” since May of 2023. He says, “I’m really excited and honored to step into this role. I’m mindful of just how important All Things Considered’s legacy is for listeners, and I also know just how much I’ve loved working with the show’s team these past two years on weekends. I can’t wait to bring listeners the news five days a week now. And at this moment where we are all focusing on strengthening the entire public media network and working together more closely than ever before, I’m proud that I started out as an ‘All Things Considered’ host at a NPR Member station, and now will be doing that job nationally.”
(pictured here) that aired on the program yesterday (3/13). TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison was among those interviewed for the eight-minute segment called Radio Diaries. Pyne began his career as a disc jockey but after injecting political commentary into his show was encouraged to do more talking and that eventually evolved into the Joe Pyne radio show that the NBC Radio Network put into syndication in 1966. Pyne enjoyed bringing controversial guests – including “hippies, women’s libbers, Scientologists, swingers, a snake charmer, members of the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society.” He then segued to television in Los Angeles. Harrison is quoted in the segment saying, “There were a lot of people that didn’t like Pyne, but they watched him anyway because they thought it was — amusing? Entertaining? Sensational? Different? You know, not boring.” Photo: Everett Collection 
