Public Radio Exchange

Hi PRX producer,

Spring is in the air here in Cambridge, and PRX is rolling out the virtual red carpet for our annual Zeitfunk Awards, honoring the most licensed pieces, producers and stations of 2009!

We look forward to this each year because it’s a chance to honor the hard work that PRX members put into their craft.

And, it’s so exciting to see new names placing in the awards, that this year we highlighted (with our happy radio person seen above) each person and piece who has never placed in Zeitfunk before.

Congrats to all!

-Genevieve Sponsler
Member Support &
Editorial Associate

Gettin’ Zeitfunky

Here are the Zeitfunk first-place winners for 2009 (each will soon receive a trophy that is way more fun than an Oscar).

Many more of you placed; follow the links for the full list.

Most Licensed Producer
Phil Nusbaum (more)

Most Licensed Group
Vinyl Cafe (more)

Most Licensed Debut Producer
Chris Kuborn (more)

Most Licensed Debut Group
Music Mountain (more)

Zeitfunk is also a great resource of what’s selling and who’s buying it, including useful stats like the piece lengths that stations buy most.

PRX Can Do That?

Keep track of pieces you’ve sold
From My PRX > Carriage Reports, select a date range to download a CSV file that you can use in Excel. Each file tells you the purchase date, piece, purchaser, and any carriage the station provided.

Ira to go
About a month ago PRX’s developers released the This American Life iPhone App, with streaming access to every TAL episode, staff picks and special features. Heck, let Ira tell you about it.

Wake up to your favorite station
Our other (but no less awesome) iPhone app, the free Public Radio Player, has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, and we recently updated it with an alarm clock, faster performance and even a sleep timer.

Stuff We Dig

Recording on your iPhone/iPod
Recording from your iPhone would be so convenient, if only it sounded good. There may be hope — Transom reviews two new devices that you can attach to your phone.

Missed the Filmless Festival?
The annual Third Coast Filmless Festival, “a celebration of storytelling, sound and the art of listening,” took place on March 6 in Chicago. PRX has put together a playlist of some of the fantastic audio pieces featured at the festival. Take a listen.

PRX News & Tips

We tweet, you listen to great stuff
Follow our daily staff-picked tweet of something cool on PRX.

This American Life back in iTunes
TAL’s entire archive of nearly 400 episodes is again available in the iTunes Store, this time thanks to PRX. We are thrilled to wield our powers as a direct-to-iTunes distributor, and…

PRX producers are in iTunes, too!
Peruse the albums and give your fellow producers some love by buying, reviewing and sharing with friends. We have a small staff and are not looking for more album pitches at the moment, but we’re excited about where this could lead.

Almost here: carriage spreadsheets
PRX 3.10 will include downloadable CSV files of carriage information that you can use in Excel. When you talk with stations remind them that it is important to fill out carriage.

Got a good podcast?
We’re curating audio podcasts for Miro, a non-profit website and application that aggregates and organizes podcasts. PRXer Emily Corwin is heading the curation, and she’s open to suggestions. Send her your podcast feed — she’ll have a listen and bring the best to the top.

Radio Matters

Ever wonder if radio has an impact now or where it’s going in the future? Check out these great links from our pals:

New on Transom: “Kidnap Radio”
Producer Annie Correal’s father was kidnapped in Colombia in 1999, and her family used the radio program “Voices of Kidnapping” to deliver messages with the hope that he would hear them in captivity — and he did.

In Kidnap Radio, Annie shares her story and those of others who continue to use the radio to reach out to their kidnapped loved ones.

A word from AIR: “We Can Because You Do”
Sue Schardt, Executive Director of the Association of Independents in radio, breaks down public radio in dollars and cents and shares what she sees in the future for producers:

“The change underway is happening at the level of craft. The transformation of media is being driven from the bottom up, by individual producers — working independently and at organizations across the country — learning the new tools, adapting their practice, and inventing new ways to tell stories and spread their work. Our job is to recognize them, get them what they need, then step out of the way and let them lead us to the ‘new public media’ so many are speaking of.”

Read more

PRX News & Tips

Help desk limited over the holidays
The help desk elves will be away for the holidays and answering only urgent issues from Dec. 22 to Jan. 4. Email issues to prxhelp[at]prx[dot]org.

You’re in the money
Fourth quarter ’09 royalties will be paid in early January. Royalties are taxable income and you will receive a 1099 in January, too. Please make sure PRX has your correct address and tax ID on file; send both to kerri[at]prx[dot]org.

Coming soon: carriage spreadsheets
PRX 3.10 will include downloadable CSV files of carriage information that you can use in Excel.

Don’t get coal in your PRX stocking
Fill out your profile! Stations won’t buy a piece if they don’t know anything about who produced it. Your profile has space for experience, awards, outlets on which your work has previously aired, etc. Brag a little!

An Interviewer’s Resource

Our friends at Virtuoso Voices have put together Interviewing Performing Artists…and Others: A Practical Guide and are happy to share this fantastic resource as a PDF.

They gathered interview tips from 25 radio professionals including hosts Robert Siegel and Kurt Andersen, plus successful indie producers like PRX members Paul Ingles and Aaron Henkin.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Think about the order of your questions as carefully as you think about the questions themselves…The order of your questions should craft a narrative arc, and you can save yourself a lot of post-interview slicing and dicing if you spend some extra prep time beforehand.” – Aaron Henkin, creator/host of Tapestry of the Times

Indie Producers at Home on KUT

O’Dark 30 is an exciting new addition to KUT’s late-night schedule — an exploration of the world of independent audio production. Every Monday from 12-3 a.m., the Austin station will play a little bit of everything from some of public radio’s best producers, and they’re buying a ton of indie content right from PRX.

Not in Austin? Not up that late? Listen online!

Welcome PRX 3.9

New piece page highlights:

• More visible piece data including the audio player, length, timing, cues, news holes, production date and content advisories above the fold. Do your part: add this key info to your pieces!

• We show more of your pieces on each piece page, right below the audio player.

• A more concise piece summary, plus a producer contact button next to the photo.

• Now you can see station carriage reports on both the piece page and My PRX. If your piece gets licensed and the station doesn’t fill out carriage info, please contact them from their PRX profile.

Our new browser uploader lets you select and upload all your files for a piece at once. Learn more.

Do you have more ideas of what we need next on PRX.org to make it work better for you? Let us know!

Tips & Resources

Want your work in a podcast?
Several PRX producers’ pieces have already been featured in EconomyBeat. Let us know if you have a piece you want us to consider for it: add the piece to PRX and give it the tag “ebpodcast” or email Roman Mars.

Updated: An Ideal Piece Page
Have you filled out all the useful info that makes your pieces attractive to stations? Learn how.

Fan us on Facebook!
We share cool pieces (maybe one of yours!), the latest PRX news and more on our page.

Opportunities

Did you start in youth radio?
PRX’s YouthCast host, Molly Adams, is producing a new Web segment interviewing adults who found their passion for media when they joined a youth radio group. Email Molly if this is you — share your story with the country’s youngest producers!

Science Literacy Training
SoundVision Productions is presenting Science Literacy Training for public radio reporters and producers in the Bay Area, April 11-17. The workshop includes sessions on science journalism, reporting science for radio and more. Applicants receive no-cost tuition, free board, a stipend toward transportation and some meals. Applications are due by 5 p.m. PST on Dec. 10.

Fresh from PRPD

Here’s some info from sessions and feedback from PRPD-attending stations.

Pitching your program ideas
Several brave souls pitched their ideas to programming staff during Third Coast’s “Other Pitch” session at the conference. APM provided a helpful handout (PDF) on how to make a great pitch, including answering the “most important question”: “What makes this something the audience can’t do without?”

Listen in
While the conference sessions are only available to PRPD members, you can listen to keynote speeches and the benediction, which was a one-of-a-kind presentation by PRX Talent Quest winner and “State of the Re:UNION” host Al Letson.

Is that intro yours?
Pieces on PRX should be ready for air and for use by our outside purchasers. For example, stations and programs won’t air intros and outros read by the hosts of other programs. If your piece aired previously, remove these from the audio file before adding it to PRX. Instead, type them into the Intro and Outro fields on the piece creation page.

Spelling counts on PRX
Correct spelling in your piece descriptions is a sign of credibility, and it matters for search results, too. If you enter the tag “forclosure,” your piece won’t be found if a station searches for “foreclosure.” Think job application — how you present your work affects how many stations will buy it.

PRX News & Resources

Meet me at FluPortal
Launched by PRX and CPB, FluPortal links to reputable public information, public media coverage, and customized Web widgets. Weave these resources into your on-air reports and your Web sites.

Are you covering the flu? Let us know — we want to highlight pieces on FluPortal.

EconomyBeat Podcast
Do you have a piece you think should be considered for the EconomyBeat Podcast? Add it to PRX and give it the tag “ebpodcast.” More about PRX and the Economy Collaboration.

PRX goes bilingual
The International Center for Journalists is using PRX “to provide community radio journalists in the United States and Latin America with a new Web-based service to share and rebroadcast stories across borders.” Press release.

New PRX Pointer
Here’s how to make a playlist that will allow you to gather PRX pieces, play them in a row, and launch a popup player so that you can browse PRX (or any site) while they play.

Events & Opportunities

Third Coast Awards Ceremony
Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Arts Club of Chicago
You’re invited to the party honoring the winners of the TCF/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. Hear excerpts from the year’s best radio stories, salute the producers behind this remarkable work, and meet this year’s Audio Luminary Award recipient.

Reminder: Listening Institute
Nov. 12-15, Duke University
Radiomakers will gather for a weekend of workshops, intense listening, and critical discussions about a wide range of audio documentaries. Presented by Third Coast and the Center for Documentary Studies.

What Stations Want

We keep a complete list of what stations are buying (also on Twitter). Following the rules below will help increase the chances that your work will get purchased, too.

Relevance:  Timeliness, tonal “fit,” technical excellence, topicality.

Care:  Be sure that your piece can be played for Mom without her spilling her coffee. The FCC is more vigilant than ever and the average age for public radio listening is late 40s to early 50s — so, think about that when you choose your words. Use the content advisory field when you post a piece on PRX!

Originality:  Some stations are looking for new sounds, new voices, new approaches. For example, Nate DiMeo’s podcast series The Memory Palace found a home on major market station KUT in Austin.

Programmatics:  Can your pieces — even the best ones — fit the way stations program? A 62-minute program will have a hard time finding a home; so will one that runs 22 minutes. Look at programming clocks. Also, make it easy for stations to use your pieces: remove recorded intros, use plain outcues without station IDs, etc.

Finally, what matters most, perhaps, is listening to stations on which you’d like your work to air, then building relationships with people there. And you can reach those folks through PRX!

Self-Promotion: Be Shameless

Make Your Portfolio
Showcase your best audio on your PRX profile.

Plant a Million Seeds Online
Our Promoting Your Work guide gets really specific and has tips from fellow producers.

Do you have mortgage crisis stories?
Roughly 77 public TV and radio stations are collaborating on a huge project to engage audiences on the mortgage crisis. If you have solid stories, profiles, raw audio, docs, or smart commentary, post it, let us know, and we’ll do our part to alert stations.

Funding Your Bliss

Award-winning producer and veteran PRX member Dmae Roberts recently began Funding Your Bliss, sharing her grant-writing experiences and insight into getting funding for your projects:

“For me ‘funding my bliss’ isn’t a 9-5, five day a week job. I don’t even consider it a job. It’s my lifestyle, my calling and my passion. It requires creativity and planning to match your passions, your talent with a certain business sense in order to fund it.”

Browse Dmae’s tips on writing a winning grant proposal, coping with rejection and more.

Hear Dmae’s work on PRX.

Learn a New Trick, Quick

PRX Pointers
How pieces get onto on the home page
Share pieces on Facebook
Create an attention-grabbing piece page

Get Licensed
Make your pieces searchable and station-friendly and promote yourself on PRX.

Get Featured
How we choose what goes in our date-pegged playlists.

Manage Your Moolah
Answers to common questions about your royalty checks.

Got Great Audio?

Third Coastin’
The annual TCF/RHDF Competition “honors the most creative and compelling audio work being produced worldwide.” Entry deadline is July 10.

Listen to past Third Coast winners on PRX.

Economy Collaboration
We’re looking for radio pieces, essays, and local coverage of the fragile economy. PRX is part of a new Economy Collaboration and our goal is to archive, present, curate, and distribute some of your great work on this topic. Timely, for sure. If you’ve got it, post to PRX! More details coming soon.

Get Zeitfunky!

Our annual Zeitfunk Awards honor the top-selling PRX members and pieces, including seasoned and debut PRX producers.

Zeitfunk is also a great resource of what’s selling and who’s buying it on PRX.

Mooooooo: More fun trophies at the Virtual Awards Ceremony!