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Sep 26, 2007

Iowa Congressman finds mistake in Burns' WWII doc

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley found a factual error in Ken Burns' The War, reports Radio Iowa. In his description of "one of the most famous Iowa families involved in that war," Burns says the five Sullivan brothers were from Fredericksburg. " 'That came as a great surprise to all of us living in Waterloo, home of Sullivan Park and the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center,' Braley says. Braley faxed a letter to Burns today, praising his work as a filmmaker but pointing out the error."

APMG to bring back classical format to Miami

Rebuffed last week in a bid to buy an FM outlet in the Washington, D.C., area, American Public Media Group has agreed to laid out $20 million for a station in the Miami area, according to a news report on APMG's Minnesota Public Radio. APMG plans to change the format of WMCU from Christian to classical music, a format that lost its longtime broadcaster a decade ago. APMG President Bill Kling said he's not on a buying spree, but the offer was "just too good to pass up." The seller is an affiliate of an evangelical school, Trinity International University. WMCU's last day on the air will be Sunday, Sept. 30. Public Radio Capital said that it brought the seller and buyer together and repped APMG in negotiations. The seller of the D.C.-area station was also a small Christian college, but its board changed its mind about selling.

What may become a frank and open chat with Jim Russell

The doctor is in. Jim Russell, the longtime radio producer who does business now as The Program Doctor, has just begun taking questions at Transom.org, the website for public radio producers. Like other Transom.org guests, Russell posted a conversation-starter, his 17-step guide to program development. (He had a hand in developing not only Marketplace, but also The World, Weekend America and more. Transom's previous guest was Ben Shapiro, a TV-and-radio producer who discusses visual storytelling for radio folks.

African-American museum already active online

More than 40 stories of black families recorded by the ongoing CPB-funded StoryCorps Griot Project are on the website of the Smithsonian's newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum, expected to be built on the Mall by 2015, aims to raise half of its expected $500 million cost and went online early to show donors that it's already at work, the Associated Press reported. The Griot Project mobile recording booth has already swung through Atlanta, Newark, Detroit, Chicago and Oakland and will be in Holly Springs, Miss., tomorrow through Oct. 6, and moves on to Clarksdale, Oct. 11-27, and Memphis, Nov. 1-Dec. 8.