PRX in the News
Public Media Platform announces funding, hires executive director
Rekha posted on Monday, December 17th, 2012 | Blog, Press Releases, PRX in the News | No Comments
PRX is proud to be a founding partner of the Public Media Platform (PMP), a new set of tools to help distribute public radio and television’s digital content: audio, video, text, and photos.
We’ve spent the past two years in close partnership with APM, NPR, PBS, and PRI to develop a prototype, business plan, and systems inventory. Today, we are pleased to announce a major grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that will make the PMP a reality.
The Public Media Platform’s vision is directly connected to PRX’s own mission and role. We believe that the public radio and television content should be distributed more easily and efficiently in the digital space. When people find our content, they love it. Most of the top podcasts come from public media. Imagine being able to search across content providers on various topics, or include relevant public media content on your own website or blog.
PRX’s role in the PMP is threefold: we will help advise the development of the core platform that NPR is creating based on its own API; we will integrate PRX.org to create a seamless pathway for PRX producers and stations to opt-in to publish their content into the PMP; and we will help showcase the remarkable content collections made by possible by the PMP through mobile apps that we continue to build for stations and producers and PRX itself.
Here below is a shared press release by the PMP partners, and Current has posted an article about the announcement as well.
PUBLIC MEDIA’S NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BREAK DOWN BARRIERS TO SHARE DIGITAL CONTENT
A New Public Media Platform Promises to Bring More Public Radio and Television Content to More People
Washington, DC; Dec. 17, 2012 – Public media’s leading national organizations will launch a ground-breaking collaboration to build a shared technology resource this coming year. The Public Media Platform (PMP) will allow public media producers and stations to gather their digital content in one place, and cost-effectively distribute it across digital platforms to achieve a critical mass of compelling non-commercial content.
Listeners, viewers, and website and mobile users will find it easier to find and interact with the news, entertainment, and cultural and educational content produced by the public media community once the PMP is in operation. Currently 37 million people listen to a mix of news, music and cultural programming every week on public radio stations. Public television educates, entertains, and informs nearly 123 million viewers every month. Millions more listen, view and learn from a multitude of public media websites, apps and mobile platforms.
Producers – from national networks like PBS, NPR, APM, PRI and PRX to public television and radio stations to independent producers – will have the opportunity to store and share text, digital video, audio and photos via the PMP. A new non-profit organization with officers drawn from the five founding organizations will oversee this new resource. The officers are David Kansas of APM/MPR, President; Kinsey Wilson of NPR, and Jason Seiken of PBS, Vice Presidents; Cory Zanin of PRI, Secretary; and Jake Shapiro of PRX, Treasurer. Four at-large members will be named soon.
Kristin Calhoun, currently Director of Station Products and Innovation at PBS, has been named Executive Director of the PMP, and she will begin work on January 7. She will oversee the creation of the PMP and manage its contracts, budget and finances, as well as station relations and marketing. Work on the technology infrastructure and creation of business rules will begin immediately.
Funding for the PMP comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In 2010, CPB funded a pilot and planning process, and based on the success of that work, they will fund the creation the PMP and help underwrite its operating costs through May 2017. “The Public Media Platform will significantly enhance the way public media producers and stations use technology to innovate, collaborate and develop compelling programs for national and local audiences across all public media platforms – on air, online and in the community,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB.
About the PMP Partners
American Public Media™, the parent organization for Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio and Classical South Florida, is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio reaching 17 million listeners on more than 800 radio stations nationwide each week.
NPR is public radio’s largest producer and an influential force in American life. In collaboration with more than 880 independent public radio stations nationwide, NPR strives to create a more informed public – one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures.
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches nearly 123 million people through television and more than 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances.
PRI helps listeners “hear a different voice™” and to connect with one another and the larger world. It represents public radio’s largest portfolio of independent and station-based productions, produces programming including PRI’s The World®, and delivers this content on-air, on-line and through mobile devices.
PRX is an award-winning public media company, harnessing innovative technology to bring significant stories to millions of people. PRX operates public radio’s largest distribution marketplace, offering thousands of audio stories for broadcast and digital use, including signature programs like The Moth Radio Hour. PRX mobile apps include This American Life, KCRW Music Mine, Radiolab, and Public Radio Player.
Media Contacts:
APM: Mary Sutherland, 651.212.1373, msutherland@americanpublicmedia.org
NPR: Danielle Deabler, 202.360.7492, ddeabler@npr.org
PBS: Jennifer Rankin Byrne, 703.739.5487, jrbyrne@pbs.org
PRI: Julia Yager, 612.330.9231, jyager@pri.org
PRX: Patrick Kowalczyk, 212-627-8098, patrick@pkpr.com
Matter launches: new name, new space, new partner, applications open
Jake posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 | Blog, Press Releases, PRX, PRX in the News | 1 Comment
We are super excited to announce the launch of Matter Ventures, the new name for the Public Media Accelerator. Not only does it have a new name, but also a new space in San Francisco, and a new investor and partner in KQED, who is joining PRX and Knight to launch the new company.
The New York Times covers the debut in the Monday December 3 2012 paper:
Partnership Offers Support For Media Entrepreneurs
Can the nascent entrepreneurial ideas bouncing around Silicon Valley help reinvent public media?
Matter Ventures, a start-up accelerator that will provide four months of financial and logistical support for budding media entrepreneurs, will be unveiled Monday by its partners: KQED, a public television and radio station operator; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; and the Public Radio Exchange, known as PRX.
We are also sending out an official press release on behalf of Matter Ventures and the three founding partners – PRX, Knight, and KQED:
Fusing Public Media Values with Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship, KQED, Knight Foundation, and PRX Launch Matter Ventures, An Accelerator for Media Start-ups
The intensive, four-month acceleration program is designed for media startups with multi-disciplinary teams who have early-stage prototypes, such as participatory platforms, mobile applications, B2B media services, and content production engines. Matter will invest in entrepreneurs who show high potential to create media ventures that make a meaningful, positive impact on society while pursuing a sustainable, scalable, profitable business model. Over the course of two years, the fund will run four class cycles, each consisting of five startups. Applications for the inaugural class, which will begin in late February 2013, will be accepted starting today through January 6th, 2013. An online application and guidelines can be found at www.matter.vc.
Applications are now open for teams interested in joining the first Matter class. We’ve got a great space on Bryant Street in San Francisco, right in the thick of things in Internet land.
We’ll be posting more information soon about information sessions and other ways to participate.
In the meantime, you can follow Matter. on Twitter, tumblr and Facebook.
And check out the growing coverage of Matter. in GigaOm, VentureBeat, Xconomy and others on the press page.
PRX Tech Team Discovers iOS 6 Bug
Genevieve posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2012 | Blog, PRX in the News, Tech | No Comments
PRX’s tech team is in the news today for their discovery of an iPhone/iPad iOS 6 bug that is causing large overage charges for podcasters like This American Life and probably for their listeners with limited mobile data plans as well.
Get the details and the original post from our tech team at the PRX Labs blog.
News/blogs covering our team’s discovery (still being updated):
“Little Girls” Take Over the World
Genevieve posted on Friday, June 29th, 2012 | PRX, PRX in the News | 16 Comments
PRXers have dreamed of the day public radio producers’ audio would go viral. Yesterday it finally happened — listeners around the world have gone crazy for Two Little Girls Explain the Worst Haircut Ever from WNPR/Connecticut Public Radio reporter Jeff Cohen. Jeff interviews his two daughters about a sibling-haircut gone wrong. Take three minutes to listen. We’ll wait.
The piece is an audio equivalent of a cat video. It’s cute, short, funny — and people everywhere are listening (exposing independently produced public radio to many who probably don’t know what that is).
The surge started when Gawker and Neatorama picked it up from MetaFilter. And it kept rolling: Buzzfeed, Yahoo, HuffPo, The Blush, The Daily Mail, and ABC News (new Sat. June 30).
Each day we average 5,000 visitors to prx.org. Yesterday we had over 107,000.
Below is a screenshot of PRX pieces being listened to in real time (taken at 9:15 p.m. 6/28). Usually the left side has various pieces. Yesterday, it was all “Little Girls” and so many simultaneous listens it looks like a nuclear attack (click to see larger).
The takeaway for producers wanting to go viral:
- Use our embeddable players and share your pieces. Allow open streaming so that people can embed and listen to more than 30 seconds without logging in.
- Find something that will connect with people. Listeners love this piece because the storytellers are good and it makes them think of their own family mishaps (just read the comments on any of the sites).
- Short pieces matter on the web. Share your shorter pieces to get attention for your work, and to get stations interested in them and your longer ones for air.
- Fill out your contact info on your profile. Make it easy for blogs/news aggregators to get in touch with you.
Congrats, Jeff! And congrats to your daughters for the interview which has connected to people all over:
“I’ve just come home from a very tiring day teaching Secondary School students (UK) … this has cheered me up immensely.. I really can’t stop laughing… Thank you.” -comment on PRX
“This is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” -comment on HuffPo
“That was so funny. The girls are so articulate. Dad was smart to tape this conversation.”
-comment on Yahoo
Music to our pubradio-loving ears.
Update
Friday, June 29, PRX got even more site visits than Thursday the 28th (above). The peak here is 263,556 site visits, up from 107,510 the day before (the dot to the left of the peak).
Corey Ford announced as Director of Public Media Accelerator
Jake posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 | Blog, Introductions, Press Releases, PRX in the News | No Comments
We are super excited to announce that Corey Ford is joining us as Director of the Public Media Accelerator, starting in April 2012. Full press release below.
One of the Accelerator’s main goals is to be a magnet for new talent, particularly mission-driven entrepreneurs with the vision to “change media for good”. We’re off to an exceptional start with Corey.
For information, interviews, photos contact:
Patrick Kowalczyk, patrick@pkpr.com
Jason Gordon, jason@pkpr.com
PKPR, 212.627.8098
$2.5 MILLION PUBLIC MEDIA ACCELERATOR
ANNOUNCES DIRECTOR
Corey Ford, Director of Innovation
Endeavors’ Runway program
and former PBS FRONTLINE producer, tapped to lead initiative
Cambridge, MA (March 7, 2012) – Corey Ford, director
of Innovation Endeavors’ Runway program, the start-up incubator at
Eric Schmidt’s early stage venture capital firm, and former producer
for the Emmy Award-winning PBS series FRONTLINE, has been tapped as
the director of the new Public Media Accelerator, a $2.5 million
incubator launched by Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation to spur innovation in public media.
As director, Ford will oversee all aspects of the Public Media
Accelerator (www.publicmediax.org), which aims to do for public
broadcasting what accelerators like Code for America and RockHealth
are doing for government and health care, respectively. The Public
Media Accelerator seeks to “change media for good” by investing in
mission-driven entrepreneurs from media, technology, and design to
build ventures with the potential to reshape the future of public
media. Applications for the program will open in early summer 2012.
Candidates selected to participate will receive seed funding and join
an intensive mentorship-driven entrepreneurship program.
With his experience building a start-up incubator, producing
award-winning public media, and teaching multi-disciplinary
innovation, Ford is an ideal choice to lead the launch of the Public
Media Accelerator. He most recently served as the director of Runway,
an incubator for entrepreneurs at Innovation Endeavors, Google
chairman Eric Schmidt’s venture capital fund. Prior to that, he taught
design thinking innovation at the Institute of Design (“the d.school”)
at Stanford University. Ford began his career in public broadcasting
managing the production of 17 films from creative inception to
broadcast for the PBS/WGBH series FRONTLINE, earning an Emmy and a
duPont-Columbia Gold Baton Award. He earned his MBA at Stanford and
was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
“Corey is an exceptionally talented leader and exactly the kind of
mission-driven entrepreneur the Public Media Accelerator is designed
to serve.” said Jake Shapiro, CEO of PRX. “He understands the
challenges facing public media and has first-hand experience in
helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into products and businesses. He
knows what it will take to inspire a new generation of innovators in
re-imagining public media for the 21st century.”
“I feel like my whole career has been built for this opportunity,”
said Ford. “I came to Silicon Valley from public broadcasting because
I believed deeply in its mission but was worried about its future and
wanted to figure out how to apply the lessons of entrepreneurship and
innovation to strengthen public media for the next generation. The
Public Media Accelerator is the opportunity to do just that. I am
excited to build an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs who will
shape the future of public media by leveraging new technologies and
creating viable business models to deliver public media content that
is relevant for today’s audiences.”
About Public Radio Exchange
PRX is an award-winning public media company, harnessing innovative
technology to bring significant stories to millions of people. PRX
operates public radio’s largest distribution marketplace, offering
thousands of audio stories for broadcast and digital use, including
signature PRX programs like The Moth Radio Hour. PRX mobile apps for
public media include This American Life, KCRW Music Mine and Public
Radio Player. Learn more at PRX.org.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality
journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster
the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and
communities are informed and engaged. For more information, please
visit knightfoundation.org.
The Moth Receives MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions
Jake posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 | Blog, Press Releases, PRX in the News | 1 Comment
This is fantastic news, hot off the presses (full details below). Our friends and partners at The Moth are recipients of the prestigious “genius” award for nonprofits – The MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions. This is a transformative grant, will help fuel The Moth’s remarkable expansion and the breakout success of The Moth Radio Hour. PRX has some personal experience with this having also been a recipient of this award in 2008, and we can’t wait to see what this leads to for The Moth.
Congratulations! – Jake
For information, interviews, photos contact:
Patrick Kowalczyk, patrick@pkpr.com
Jenny Chang, jenny@pkpr.com
PKPR, 212.627.8098
THE MOTH, ACCLAIMED NATIONAL STORYTELLING ORGANIZATION,
RECEIVES MACARTHUR AWARD FOR CREATIVE & EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONS
$750,000 grant will enable The Moth to expand Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour into weekly series and preserve its 15-year video and audio archive of live storytelling
New York, NY – The Moth, the non-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, today announced that it has received a $750,000 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions that will allow it to expand its Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour into a weekly series, as well as preserve its vast video and audio archive of live storytelling events from the past 15 years.
Presented by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the award recognizes The Moth’s role in promoting live storytelling to an international audience and “documenting our common humanity.”
Founded in 1997, The Moth (www.themoth.org) will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary this year. Since the first Moth evening in founder George Dawes Green’s living room in New York City, The Moth has presented more than three thousand stories, told live and without notes, by people from all walks of life to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.
According to executive director Joan Firestone, the award will be used to increase the number of episodes of The Moth Radio Hour from ten each year to a weekly series beginning in January 2013. The MacArthur Foundation’s early support of The Moth Radio Hour contributed to its meteoric growth. Launched in 2009, the show is recognized as one of the most successful launches in public radio history, with more than 250 stations now airing the program. Presented by PRX (www.prx.org), The Public Radio Exchange, The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media and by Catherine Burns, The Moth’s artistic director.
The award will also be used to preserve The Moth’s 15-year video and audio archive, protecting live stories of hundreds of storytellers from Malcolm Gladwell, Annie Proulx, and Al Sharpton to an astronaut, a pickpocket, and a hot-dog eating champion. In 2011 alone, more than 15,000 minutes of stories were recorded.
“Receiving the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions is an incredible honor for The Moth and a testament to the power of live storytelling,” said Joan Firestone, executive director of The Moth. “As The Moth celebrates its fifteenth anniversary, this award will enable us to take the organization to an exciting next level, reaching an even wider audience through our radio show, while preserving our vast archives for future generations.”
“From Chicago to Kampala, these extraordinary organizations demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness,” said MacArthur President Robert Gallucci. “They provide new ways to address old problems. They generate provocative ideas and they reframe well-worn debates. And their impact is altogether disproportionate to their size.”
The Moth is one of only 15 organizations from six countries to be recognized today with the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The MacArthur Foundation does not seek or accept nominations for these awards. To qualify, organizations must demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur’s core programs.
About THE MOTH
The Moth is not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. The Moth has presented more than three thousand stories, told live and without notes, by people from all walks of life to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth features simple, old-fashioned storytelling on thoroughly modern themes by wildly divergent raconteurs who develop and shape their stories with The Moth’s directors.
The Moth conducts six ongoing programs – The Moth Mainstage, which tours nationally; The Moth StorySLAM program, which conducts open-mic story competitions around the country; The MothSHOP Community Education Program, which brings storytelling workshops free of charge to underserved adults and high school students; The Moth Podcast, which is downloaded over a million times a month; The MothSHOP Corporate Program, which offers corporate storytelling solutions; and The Moth Radio Hour, which is, produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange. The Moth Radio Hour airs on 250 public radio stations across the country.
The Moth’s executive staff are: Joan D. Firestone, Executive Director; Catherine Burns, Artistic Director; Sarah Austin Jenness, Producing Director; and the pro-active Board of Directors is represented by Anne Maffei, Chair.
# # #
A Webby for the This American Life App!
Rekha posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 | PRX in the News | 2 Comments
The This American Life app for iPhone, developed by us, just won a Webby Award! The Webbys describe themselves as “the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including websites, interactive advertising & media, online film and video, and mobile & apps.”
See what all the fuss is about: Get the award-winning app here. This American Life’s also on Android and iPad. We love working with the TAL team, and extend a big congrats to them.
(It’s a good season for Webbys: PRX.org, our website, is an official honoree this year in the Radio/Podcasts category.)
The Moth Radio Hour Gets a Peabody!
Rekha posted on Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | PRX in the News | No Comments
Many of you have told us how wonderful The Moth Radio Hour is. How moving, engaging, and thought-provoking. We believed you, and it made us feel good. But we have to admit it feels REALLY good to get a Peabody award.
The Moth Radio Hour is one of those satisfying collaborations where creative people come together — The Moth, Atlantic Public Media, and PRX — and make something that people want to hear. (Funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacArthur Foundation helps, too.) We are grateful to the hundreds of stations who have aired the program since its 2007 debut, and to the countless listeners who clamor for more.
The icing on the cake is that we get to keep great company: 18 of the 39 Peabodys this year went to public media groups. Congrats to all!
Want to know what all the fuss is about? Go listen!
Watch this blog for a formal press release, coming soon.
Sound Opinions Takes First Place!
Emily posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 | Blog, PRX in the News | No Comments
It turns out USA Today’s Whitney Matheson has an awfully good ear for great radio. Last week she rated Sound Opinions as her #1 favorite music podcast. Thanks Whitney!
We’d like to congratulate All Songs Considered who came in 2nd, and our pubradio friends at KEXP and WNYC, also in the top ten. And a clink to Chicago Public Radio, Sound Opinions hosts Jim DeRegatis and Greg Kot, and producers Robin Linn and Jason Saldanha!
Check out Sound Opinions on PRX, subscribe to the podcast, then please! Tell your local station all about it.
Please Ask Apple to Allow Donations
Rekha posted on Friday, December 3rd, 2010 | PRX in the News, PRX Projects | 2 Comments
***Update 12/14: Well over 6000 signatures and counting. Is yours on there?***
***Update 12/9: In yesterday’s New York Times, PRX CEO Jake Shapiro gets interviewed on this issue: Donations Ban on iPhone Apps Irritates Nonprofits. Petition signatures are nearing 2000 – add yours!***
With the holidays and the year’s end upon us, many of us think about donating to charity. Many of us have iPhones, and iTunes accounts that already have our credit card info. Since we also like things to be easy, it seems obvious we should be able to give money to deserving nonprofits through our iPhones.
But Apple prohibits this. Nonprofits can’t ask for donations in their apps, and any purchase transaction through iTunes gives Apple a 30% cut. In June, Jake Shapiro, our CEO, called on Apple to change this no-donation policy.
PRX’s Public Radio Player iPhone app is a great example of what such a change could mean. The app has had over 2 million unique downloads. Nearly 500 noncommercial stations across the U.S. have a page in the app. Imagine if each page had a Donate button that, with two or three taps, let you send money to the station.
Many of you have asked us how to donate to your favorite Player stations. Now there’s a petition so you can ask Apple to change its no-donations policy.
For a brief time, PayPal found a way around this rule, and made nonprofit donations possible through its PayPal Mobile for iPhone app. Soon after, Apple asked PayPal to remove the donation feature, which they did. In “Why Does Apple Make Donation Apps So Hard?” Gizmodo provides a good review of the situation.
Beth Kanter posted about this on her blog about nonprofits and technology. We’re glad she’s on the case. Especially if she’s going to keep making these wacky graphics!
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