FRESH AIR
Philip Seymour Hoffman stars opposite Meryl Streep in Doubt, a new film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. 
His character, a young and charismatic priest, provokes a nun’s suspicion for his special attention to their Bronx-based school’s only black student. Hoffman, a popular and versatile character actor, most recently starred in Synecdoche, New York. His other films include Capote, for which he received an Oscar for Best Actor, and the Coen brothers cult-classic The Big Lebowski. ALSO, In 1977, historian James Reston Jr. helped prepare journalist David Frost for a series of interviews with Richard Nixon that resulted in the former president’s tacit acknowledgment of his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Reston later chronicled the exchange in his book The Conviction of Richard Nixon, which inspired a play and now the film Frost/Nixon.
BREAKING: NPR said to be shutting down two shows. Staff members of NPR’s Day to Day and News and Notes, based at the network’s western production center in Culver City, Calif., are meeting today with NPR News chief Ellen Weiss about cancellation of their programs and pending layoffs, according to three public radio sources. An NPR West staffer says word inside the building is that more than 60 people will lose their jobs. It is unclear whether the production center, established in late 2002 in a major expansion of NPR’s news operations, will remain open. [via CURRENT.ORG]
GAWKER: Irresponsible Rumor-Mongering About Linda Wertheimer & Noah Adams + Internal Memo From NPR’s CEO
WASHINGTON POST: Faced with a sharp decline in revenue, National Public Radio said today it will pare back its 
once-flourishing operations, and institute its first organization-wide layoffs in 25 years. Washington-based NPR said it would lay off about 7 percent of workforce and eliminate two daily programs produced out of its facilities in Culver City, Cal. The shows include “Day to Day,” which was aimed at younger listeners, and the newsmaker-interview program “News & Notes,” which NPR hoped would attract African Americans. The layoffs of 64 of NPR’s 889 employees is designed to close a $23 million shortfall in NPR’s current fiscal year, said Dennis Haarsager, NPR’s interim president and chief executive in an interview. The cutback will affect all departments, including reporters, producers, researchers and digital media employees. MORE
RADIO TIMES
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Hour 1
We talk with Inquirer writers JOHN SULLIVAN and JOHN SHIFFMAN about the EPA under the Bush Administration, the topic of their four-part series, “Smoke and Mirrors: The Subversion of the EPA,” which concludes in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
Hour Two
We take a look at recent developments in the media including the Tribune Company’s bankruptcy filing, how journalism will fare in the economic crisis, a new host for Meet the Press, and an MSNBC host’s possible run for US Senate. Our guests are, ANDREW TYNDALL, publisher of the Tyndall Report which monitors television news and JON FINE, Media Columnist for BusinessWeek. Listen to this show via Real Audio
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
304: Heretics
Full Episode
The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who cast aside the idea of Hell, and with it everything he’d worked for over his entire life. Prologue. Carlton Pearson’s church, Higher Dimensions, was once one of the biggest in the city, drawing crowds of 5,000 people every Sunday. But several years ago, scandal engulfed the reverend. He didn’t have an affair. He didn’t embezzle lots of money. His sin was something that to a lot of people is far worse: He stopped believing in Hell. (2 minutes) Act One. Rise. Reporter Russell Cobb takes us through the remarkable and meteoric rise of Carlton Pearson from a young man to a Pentecostal Bishop: from the moment he first cast the devil out of his 17-year-old girlfriend, to the days when he had a close, personal relationship with Oral Roberts and had appearances on TV and at the White House. Just as Reverend Pearson’s career peaked, with more than 5,000 members of his congregation coming every week, he started to think about Hell, wondering if a loving God would really condemn most of the human race to burn and writhe in the fire of Hell for eternity. (30 minutes) Act Two. Fall. Once he starts preaching his own revelation, Carlton Pearson’s church falls apart. After all, when there’s no Hell (as the logic goes), you don’t really need to believe in Jesus to be saved from it. What follows are the swift departures of his pastors, and an exodus from his congregation—which quickly dwindled to a few hundred people. Donations drop off too, but just as things start looking bleakest, new kinds of people, curious about his change in beliefs, start showing up on Sunday mornings. (23 minutes)
WORLD CAFE
David Dye welcomes Danny Goldberg to the World Cafe to discuss his rock and roll memoir, Bumping Into Geniuses. During his 
forty-plus year career, the music industry renaissance man has worked as a label head, record producer, music journalist, and most recently as president of Gold Village Entertainment, managing artists like the Old 97’s, Tom Morello, and Steve Earle. His new book is a love letter to the business, starting with his review of the Woodstock Festival at age nineteen, and ending with Warren Zevon’s death in 2004. During his visit, Goldberg talks about shaping the public image of Kiss, and shares the managing viewpoint as Nirvana captivated early ’90s alternative culture.
THE HIVES: Main Offender
WIKIPEDIA: Danny Goldberg is the President of Gold Village Entertainment (GVE). He has worked in the music business as a personal manager, record company president, public relations man and journalist since the late 1960s. He has also returned to personal management, and Gold Village Entertainment’s client roster includes The Hives, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, Tom Morello, The Old 97s, Ben Lee, Rhett Miller, and Care Bears on Fire. In the spring of 2008, Gold Village Entertainment partnered with Ryan Gentles of Wiz Kid Management (manager of New York City band The Strokes) and the two companies co-manage the music career of filmmaker and artist Vincent Gallo, The Dead Trees and Har Mar Superstar. GVE also manages Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople in partnership with Jack Leitenberg and Joseph Arthur in partnership with Peter Wark. Danny Goldberg is also the author of Bumping Into Geniuses : My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business, published by Gotham Books (a division of Penguin US) in September 2008. MORE