Public Radio Exchange

PRX StoryMarket 2010 Knight News Challenge winner

Jake posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 | Blog, Press Releases | 2 Comments

We are thrilled to announce that PRX has been selected as one of the 2010 Knight News Challenge winners for our StoryMarket project!

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight News Challenge is a 5-year, $25 million international contest to fund digital news experiments that use technology to inform specific geographic communities.

What’s StoryMarket? It’s a way for local public radio stations, producers, and listeners to find and fund documentaries and stories on important local issues.

For example, in Kentucky the issue of mountaintop mining needs a deeper investigative look. Through StoryMarket, Louisville Public Media (our first partner station for the project) can invite producers to bid on reporting the story, ask listeners to help pitch in funds as well as ideas, and see the story through to completion for broadcast and digital distribution. Stories can also originate from listeners and producers, and we expect to learn what works best as we go.

We will certainly be learning from our other key partner – fellow Knight grantee Spot.us, a pioneer in crowdfunding journalism. This is a code-level collaboration, integrating our two platforms (both Ruby on Rails at its best), and leveraging investments in open source infrastructure.

StoryMarket is a way to unlock communities of interest and a new means to fund coverage that matters on a local level. We see opportunities for new collaboration among stations, producers and listeners. Spot.us has already seen this happen with forward-thinking public radio stations like KALW in San Francisco and others. Some of that crowd funded radio is already on PRX, and we want to see a lot more.

If you are an independent producer StoryMarket is a new source for funding original work. As we expand to more regions we will be testing approaches to matching compelling ideas with interested stations and other distribution opportunities. Distinct from PRX.org – an open market for existing work – StoryMarket helps commission new work at professional rates for the best ideas.

If you are a fan of public radio, StoryMarket gives you a direct path into supporting the stories that matter most in your community. Nationally about 10% of listeners contribute financially to public radio, usually in the form of pledges to local stations. StoryMarket aims to expand with a new value proposition: don’t just support the programs you know and love, help us create the ones you need.

And, if you are a station, StoryMarket extends your capacity to find and fund important local and regional content that might otherwise be off the radar or beyond your means. It also starts a new conversation with your listeners, an engagement opportunity through a hosted service that won’t tax your tech team.

We’ll be starting work on StoryMarket this summer, planning to launch in Louisville this fall, and at least three more locations next year. But as with all things PRX we’ll be looking for opportunities to scale, collaborate, and grow early and often.

PRX has always focused on innovation at the intersection of talent and technology. StoryMarket is a new idea that drives public media towards a transformative role in journalism and society, and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity for PRX to join the Knight Foundation’s extraordinary News Challenge grantees.

Here is a short presentation from the Knight Foundation announcement (click view on SlideShare to see notes for each slide):

And a quick video tour of all of the 2010 winners:

Coming July 1: Sound Opinions on PRX

Jake posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 | Blog, Press Releases | No Comments

We are super excited to announce that starting July 1, PRX will be taking over distribution of Sound Opinions, the rock ‘n’ roll talk show from Chicago Public Radio:

Sound Opinions is your one-stop-shop for smart and engaging music criticism and conversation. Each week hosts and nationally respected rock critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis talk about pop culture and music industry news, interview artists and bands, review new record releases, and highlight their all-time favorite rock and roll. And, because on Sound Opinions, “everyone’s a critic,” listeners are invited to join in the debate.

Check out this video announcement from the Sound Opinions hosts:

Stations that want to license Sound Opinions will be able to get it via PRX.org or Content Depot.

Questions? Check out our Sound Opinions page and FAQ, and feel free to get in touch.

MacArthur Foundation Announces Support for The Moth Radio Hour

Jake posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 | Blog, Press Releases | No Comments

The Moth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to live storytelling, is thrilled to announce a two-year $200,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to produce The Moth Radio Hour.

Debuting in 2009 with five pilot episodes, The Moth Radio Hour was an instant success airing on over 200 public radio stations around the country. “The Moth Radio Hour is the realization of a ten-year-long dream to bring The Moth to public radio. We have long felt that radio was the perfect medium for our stories to reach a wider audience, and we are grateful to the MacArthur Foundation for making this possible,” says Lea Thau, Executive & Creative Director of The Moth.

The radio series captures the energy and authenticity of live performance at The Moth and weaves it into a compelling hour of radio. Presented by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, and produced by award-winning producer Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media, ten new episodes will be available to public radio stations for broadcast in 2010.

With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, The Moth is building on the success of the pilot season. “I love The Moth. It is elemental, even primitive, in its simplicity: One person stands up and tells a story to a crowd of eager listeners. The only thing missing is the cave and the fire. The only thing we add is a microphone,” says Producer Jay Allison.

Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theaters and clubs around New York City and later around the country.

“Public radio is powered by true stories that illuminate the human condition,” says Jake Shapiro, Executive Director of PRX. “The Moth introduces new dimensions through live performances as well as online participation.”

PRX first funded a sample hour of The Moth in 2007 and is now the exclusive distributor for the program on public radio.

The Moth 2010 series is available to public radio stations at http://www.prx.org/themoth beginning May 1.

About The Moth
The Moth is a nonprofit organization with ongoing programs, all of which contribute their best stories to The Moth Radio Hour: The Moth Mainstage where celebrities appear alongside unique voices from all walks of life; The Moth’s StorySLAM competitions, which are open to all and rapidly expanding to cities across the country; and The Moth’s community outreach program, MothShop, which brings workshops to people whose stories would otherwise go unheard.

Two additional projects are launching in 2010: The Moth StoryLine invites people to pitch story ideas online or through a toll-free hotline; and the MothUP program helps groups around the country form their own Moth storytelling groups in their homes and submit the recorded stories from these evenings to The Moth.

About PRX
PRX is an award-winning public media network focused on innovation at the intersection of technology and talent. The PRX platform is an open distribution marketplace connecting thousands of producers and local public radio stations, creating public radio’s largest archive of on-demand programs for broadcast and digital use.

About Jay Allison
Jay Allison is an independent broadcast journalist and Executive Director of Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. With APM, he co-founded PRX, Transom.org, and the Cape and Islands public radio stations. Jay was the curator and producer of This I Believe on NPR, and has made hundreds of documentaries and features for national broadcast. He is the recipient of five Peabody Awards and CPB’s Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio.

New, improved Public Radio Player now live in iTunes

Rekha posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | Press Releases, PRX Projects | 3 Comments

Here’s what we’re sending around the public radio system today:

The Public Radio Player iPhone app: Nearly 500 live station streams. One thousand on-demand programs. Downloaded millions of times.

And now new funding, new features, new opportunities.

We’re excited to announce that CPB has renewed support for the next phase of the Public Radio Player. PRX is leading the project and continues to work with Public Interactive as a source of station schedule data and on-demand programs from the NPR API.

As you may know, the Public Radio Player came out of a CPB-funded collaboration of APM, NPR, PRI, and PI, led by PRX. That first grant ended last summer, but the Player lives on with thousands of new users downloading the app every day.

Version 2.1 has just gone live in the iTunes Store, and we’re starting work on version 3.0 coming in June.

Get the app here: http://www.tinyurl.com/publicradioplayer

For version 2.1, we’ve rewritten the code from scratch to greatly improve performance. We’ve also added top-requested features – a sleep timer, wake-up alarm, and the ability to manage Favorites. We’ve improved the On Demand program player, and integrated Safari so users can browse station websites from within the app.

Version 2.1 will also include national banner ads on top-level pages, but not on station or program pages. CPB has encouraged us to find ways to sustain the project beyond grant support so this is our first foray into mobile advertising. We are working to make it possible for stations to sell local ads on their own Player pages. You can see a pilot of this on WBUR’s Player page now.

Version 3.0 will have additional enhancements and a broader rollout of local station ad support. While we continue to investigate ways to support donations, membership, and pledging, this is a complex issue due to Apple’s no-donation policy as well as stations’ own systems. Local ads could be a significant revenue opportunity for stations with local underwriters interested in the mobile audience.

No iPhone or iPod Touch but full of curiosity? Watch this demo video of an earlier version.

Over the next few months, we will be reaching out to the public radio community for Player feedback and ideas.

There are several ways to stay up to date with the project and share questions and comments:

• Join the Public Radio Player Stations Google Group (a private, pubradio-only group)
• Visit or subscribe to the project website at http://www.publicradioplayer.org for project updates, station stream submission and management, program schedule updates, an FAQ, promotional badges, and audio promos
• Fan us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/publicradioplayer
• Email publicradioplayer (at) prx.org with feedback and questions.

Best,

Jake Shapiro and the Public Radio Player team @ PRX

This American Life iPhone app: For immediate distribution!

Rekha posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 | Press Releases | 33 Comments

We’re so excited about our latest iPhone production that we came up with a press release about it:

This American Life App, Developed by PRX, Now Available on iTunes
Archives going back to 1995 and exclusive show content for iPhone and iPod touch users

Cambridge, Mass., February 1, 2010 — Those who resolved to listen to more radio in the new decade are in for a treat. This American Life, the hit public radio show from Chicago Public Radio, has collaborated with Public Radio Exchange (PRX) to launch an app for iPhone and iPod touch on the iTunes App Store.

The This American Life App gives unprecedented on-demand access to the full show archive going back to 1995. New episodes are added automatically and users can search by episode or contributor — including David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, and dozens more. Episodes can be streamed for free or purchased from iTunes for offline listening. Additionally, all episodes of the This American Life television show on Showtime can be downloaded for a fee.

The app also has free cartoons and other bonus content from the This American Life television show. Customizable features include a favorites list, sharing by email, Facebook, and Twitter, and alerts for the live weekly broadcast from WBEZ in Chicago, which can be streamed from within the app. Exclusive content includes behind-the-scenes video with the show’s producers, some of David Sedaris’s and host Ira Glass’s first radio stories (from the early 90s), audio of NPR’s Terry Gross interviewing Ira Glass (and vice versa), clips from live stage events, special staff picks lists, and more.

“We’re excited to provide an app that includes our entire archive of nearly 400 radio episodes, and we’re grateful the talented folks at PRX came to us with this idea,” says Ira Glass, host of This American Life. “We hope lots of people will find unfamiliar episodes they’ll like.”

“This American Life rocks, and we were thrilled to work with Ira and his team to create an app worthy of the groundbreaking show we all know and love,” says Jake Shapiro, CEO of PRX, which developed the app. “Fans and new listeners alike are getting an audiovisual feast.”

About the live feed that’s part of the app, WBEZ President Torey Malatia says, “Note, ours is the only app providing a hand-held Geiger counter for the live show that drives interactive media inexorably backwards to 1968.”

The This American Life App is available for $2.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

This American Life has also engaged PRX to provide the program’s archives for sale in the iTunes Store.

This American Life is a public radio show produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed to more than 500 stations by Public Radio International (PRI). 1.8 million people listen to the show each week on radio, and another half million download the weekly podcast, making it the most popular podcast in America most weeks. From 2006-2008, a television version of This American Life aired on Showtime, winning three Emmys.

PRX is an award-winning public media network focused on innovation at the intersection of technology and talent. The PRX platform is an open distribution marketplace connecting thousands of producers and local public radio stations, creating public radio’s largest archive of on-demand programs for broadcast and digital use. PRX is also the lead developer of the Public Radio Player App which has been downloaded over 2.5 million times from the iTunes Store.

Tags: app, iphone, this american life

State of the Re:Union with Al Letson, from PRX and NPR

Jake posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | Blog, Press Releases, PRX Projects | No Comments

State of the Re:Union

Apropos of today’s State of the Union speech from the President, and Apple’s “Slate of the Union” introducing the unfortunately named iPad…

We’re thrilled to be working with Al on his “SOTRU” project. Ever since we heard Al’s first 2-minute entry in the Public Radio Quest a few years back we’ve been big believers in his talent and vision here at PRX. We knew to expect great things from Al, and when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting decided to back his new venture with gusto in 2010, we made sure to jump in and lend a hand.

We are also trying out a new partnership with our friends at NPR, resulting in a co-distribution arrangement that will also enable Al to appear on some NPR programs in addition to distributing his show to PRX and NPR member stations. This is kind of how NPR works with some “presenting” stations like WBUR (“On Point”) or WHYY (“Fresh Air”).

Make sure to check out Al’s work on PRX now, and check back for more episodes coming soon. Al and his ninja team in Jacksonville have also revamped the SOTRU website.

Below is the announcement that just went out to public radio stations from our main man on the station marketing front, Izzi Smith:

New for Spring – State of the Re:Union with Al Letson

Fresh Stories on Building and Rebuilding Communities

PRX and NPR are excited to announce the spring season of State of the Re:Union with Al Letson.  With generous support from CPB, Public Radio Talent Quest winner Al Letson is producing 5 all-new shows this spring.  State of the Re:Union (SOTRU) is presented by PRX and co-distributed by PRX and NPR.

There’s so much talk about “community” that sometimes we lose perspective on the real stories of the people working to make homes, lives, and neighborhoods across the country.  In State of the Re:Union, Al Letson is traveling the country to find those stories, and tell them with grace, perspective, and deep curiosity.

Where much of today’s news and media outlets highlight the divisions and conflicts that separate us, SOTRU explores the resonating themes, stories, challenges and cultural components that create communities across the country and celebrate the commonality that links us as a people.

Letson brings his formidable stage and poetry slam skills to the mic in each State of the Re:Union episode.  Not since Radiolab have you heard music, rhythm, and pacing used to deepen the story.  During the Talent Quest, PRX talked about the value of “hostiness.”

There will be 5, all new hours of State of the Re:Union this spring.  Preview audio will be available on March 1, and broadcast rights open April 30, 2010.  The programs are available free to all PRX and NPR member stations.  Here’s a preview of some of the stories in the spring season:

Greensburg, Kansas -

On one night in May of 2007, a tornado wiped Greensburg, Kansas, off the map. The town’s residents have decided to not only resurrect the town, but to rebuild in a true spirit of renewal. State of the Re:Union examines the profound devastation and the rigors and rewards of this innovative rebirth.

Brooklyn, NY -

State of the Re:Union visits New York City’s most populated borough to examine how this diverse collection of communities handles the friction of change, the pull of tradition, and discovers that special something that makes this neighborhood so celebrated.

Timber Town -

Back in the timber industry’s heyday, small mill towns in Oregon were thriving. Business was booming. Then in the early 1990s, the saws stopped. The mills shut down and their economies crumbled. State of the Re:Union surveys how a town, that has lost its identity, reinvents itself.

A fall season of six State of the Re:Union programs will be available in September 2010.

Tags: al letson, npr, state of the reunion, talent quest

Why You Still Want to Know About Swine Flu

Rekha posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 | Press Releases, PRX Projects | No Comments

The H1N1 pandemic is subsiding in the United States (for now, at least). That’s a great thing. So why would you attend a webinar about FluPortal.org, public media’s H1N1 resource? Because covering swine flu is about covering many health-related — and non-health-related — crises. Check out our stellar lineup of presenters and topics and you’ll see what we mean.

Here’s the announcement that went out today:

FluPortal.org, a CPB-funded portal for H1N1 information, is hosting a webinar on

Thursday, January 28
11am PT / 2pm ET
Click here to register

Please join us for the latest H1N1 developments and best practices regarding health crisis coverage by public media, both on-air and online.

Public media stations and programs, community information groups, and bloggers have all made use of FluPortal’s resources and tools. The site is paving the way for future public media responses to crises, both health-related and otherwise. Our blog is a great way to stay informed, with coverage ideas, web tools, and guest features from public media and public health professionals.

Thursday’s presenters:

+ Josh Andrews, FluPortal team: What’s new on FluPortal.org

+ Joe Neel, NPR Health Editor: An update on swine flu in the US and upcoming NPR coverage plans

+ Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio Healthcare Correspondent: A look at local and regional coverage of the pandemic

+ Andrew Wilson, Flu.gov former New Media Strategist: Using social media to get health crisis information to the public

+ Your questions and comments

The webinar is free of charge. Anyone working in public media, public health, or community outreach is invited to attend.

FluPortal is led by PRX in collaboration with NPR.

Questions? Ideas? Contact us.

FluPortal.org: A Toolkit for Covering H1N1

Rekha posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 | Press Releases | No Comments

At FluPortal.org, H1N1 information and Web tools are assembled in one place to help public radio and television stations cover the pandemic. Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, it’s one of several projects going on right now at PRX.

The update below was sent to the public media system (including many of you) as well as government and public health organizations across the country.

New at FluPortal: NPR Flu Map, Web Tools, Facebook

As winter approaches, the H1N1 flu virus still has a strong presence across the United States. FluPortal is here to help public media cover the pandemic’s many angles. We have more resources than ever for newsrooms and web departments.

Please visit FluPortal.org regularly, and subscribe to our blog for updates on the latest site features, public media coverage, and ideas from across the system. Some highlights:

+ Interactive Flu Map. NPR has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to design an interactive U.S. map of flu-like illness. Public media outlets are invited to embed this map on their websites. NPR updates the map each week with the latest CDC data, and those changes automatically appear in the embedded version. Get the map at FluPortal.org.

+ Get Started Guides. Public radio and public television websites can be H1N1 destinations for their communities. We’ve created guides to free web tools for all levels of technical expertise. Get a web page up fast with the “Quick” guide. Go a little further with the “Easy” guide. The “Go Big” guide is for advanced technology managers. For examples of other stations’ flu-related websites, see our Public Media Coverage page.

+ Using Facebook. We regularly post new guides in our For Station Websites section. The latest: ways to use Facebook to keep your community informed, find new sources, and enhance your own websites. Learn more.

+ FluPortal Blog. Get the latest developments and reporting from public media, government, and non-government groups, as well as ideas and sources for covering H1N1. Contributors include Flu.gov’s head of social media, APM’s Public Insight Network, PRI’s The World, a street artist in Brazil, and several public radio and television stations. Read the blog.

+ Contact Us. Have a question about FluPortal? Need help implementing a web tool or finding editorial information? Want to write a guest blog post, or have your station’s coverage featured on the site? Let us know.

As the swine flu evolves, so does FluPortal. Check back regularly for new information, and subscribe to our blog. We’ll be holding another webinar in January, and we’ll keep you posted.

Learn more about the project on our About page.

Regards,

The FluPortal Team: Rekha Murthy, Josh Andrews, Katherine Bidwell, Ken Mills

PRX Names Jody Evans as Fundraising Soundbank Curator

Genevieve posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Blog, Press Releases | No Comments

Leading public radio program executive Jody Evans to join PRX as curator of the Fundraising Soundbank at PRX.org.

The Fundraising Soundbank (FSB) is an open, curated archive of audio fundraising spots, programs produced by stations and public radio networks for immediate broadcast by stations. The FSB is also a center of best practices providing stations and producers with audio examples of successful spots and productions that can be reversioned and updated by stations for local use. PRX developed the FSB in partnership with DEI and PRPD, which continue to provide input and support for the project.

“Jody is the right person to take the FSB to the next level,” said PRX Executive Director Jake Shapiro. “She brings a smart, station-based programming sense along with leadership in on-air fundraising, both skills critical to FSB’s success.”

Jody was most recently the program director at KUT in Austin and served in a similar capacity at Vermont Public Radio. Jody had direct oversight of multiple program schedules, brand management, new media and special projects. Active within the industry, she is the former Chair of the Board of Directors for the Public Radio Program Directors Association. Jody is regularly requested to advise on national programs by NPR, American Public Media and Public Radio International. She is the recipient of various awards, most recently the Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Community Radio Programming and a Gabriel Award for Vermont Reads!

Jody is the principal at Jody Evans Consulting, Inc. based in Vermont.

Announcing FluPortal.org, an H1N1 Resource for Public Media

Rekha posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | Press Releases | No Comments

Program directors, news directors, editors, producers, reporters, Web managers: FluPortal.org is for you. We want to help your station be a destination for information about the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Launched by PRX and CPB, FluPortal has links to reputable public information, public media coverage, and customized Web widgets. Weave these resources into your on-air reports and your Web sites. Tell us how you’re covering the flu, and give us feedback. Keep up with latest on the FluPortal blog.

Official press release below.

–The FluPortal team (aka Rekha, Josh, and Katherine)

PUBLIC MEDIA LAUNCHES FLUPORTAL.ORG, AN H1N1 RESOURCE FOR PUBLIC MEDIA COVERAGE

September 22, 2009

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Public Radio Exchange (PRX) today announced the launch of FluPortal.org, a Web resource for public radio and television stations covering the H1N1 flu pandemic. The site will be promoted throughout the public broadcasting system.

Learn more at FluPortal.org.

PRX is partnering with NPR and coordinating with other public media sources to provide a selection of timely content, data, and resources to assist stations and community partners in presenting effective coverage and critical information to the public.

“The most important role public service media plays is being a source of trusted information,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “FluPortal.org can assist stations in providing critical health information to their communities on air, online, and on the ground.”

U.S. health officials have declared the spread of H1N1 flu a public health emergency, and expect cases to rise dramatically this fall and winter. Federal, state, and local agencies are getting ready and urging the public be prepared as well. Public radio and television stations across the country can help health agencies communicate with their local communities by covering the pandemic’s many angles responsibly, thoroughly, and quickly.

“We are able to quickly assemble a remarkable range of resources from public media and beyond, applying PRX’s curatorial and technical expertise to help public media improve H1N1 preparedness and response,” said Jake Shapiro, CEO of PRX.

FluPortal.org is a central place for public media outlets to find key information and tools to support their on-air and online H1N1 flu coverage efforts. General managers, news directors, program directors, editors, producers, reporters, and Web managers can find:

• Local and national reports from across the public media system
• News, public information, and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and other government and non-goverment organizations
• Multimedia content, widgets, and technical how-tos for station and program Web sites
• Examples of how stations and programs across the country are using the Web to communicate about H1N1 to their local audiences

The FluPortal blog highlights the latest H1N1 developments relevant to the public media system.

The FluPortal team is reaching out to a variety of public media and public health organizations to aggregate and curate exemplary coverage, news alerts, and other H1N1 information. The project is also using a suite of Web tools and applications to create custom modules that can deliver dynamic H1N1 information to local station Web sites. The goal is to support a coordinated public media approach to crisis response now and in the future.

This project is led by Public Radio Exchange in collaboration with NPR and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Learn more at FluPortal.org.

Contact:
Rekha Murthy
Public Radio Exchange

http://www.prx.org

617 576 5455
rekha at prx.org

Contact:
Louise Filkins
Corporation for Public Broadcasting

http://www.cpb.org

202 879 9759
lfilkins at cpb.org