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.)

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.

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.

***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!

Flickr: cambodia4kidsorg

Flickr: cambodia4kidsorg

Current takes a look at Sound Opinions move from American Public Media to PRX. The switchover is about to take place on July 1, and we are all ready to rock!

The article picks up on PRX’s content strategy:

Landing an established public radio series is a new feat for PRX, but one that it’s been building toward intentionally, according to Jake Shapiro, executive director. “This is an example of us radiating out in a couple of directions at once.” PRX operates its web platform as a wide-open marketplace for audio programming, but is adding a new tier of exclusive national offerings for public radio distribution. “We’ve started to grow and understand where we can have an impact,” he said. “We think the programs we’re working on help expand the sound and reach of public radio.”

click to enlarge

PRX is a lead partner in the newly announced Public Media Platform project — to build a digital distribution network enabling public media content to flow more easily among networks, stations, producers, and beyond. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is funding the pilot phase over the next six months, bringing together the major national public media networks: American Public Media, NPR, PBS, Public Radio International and, yours truly, PRX.

The project kicked off yesterday, when NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller announced it at Wired’s Disruptive by Design conference. Wired does a good job of explaining the project here.

Here’s Jake’s official statement about the Public Media Platform:

PRX is an open distribution network that connects thousands of producers and stations to broadcast, Internet and mobile opportunities. We are excited to collaborate on the development of the Public Media Platform and share our expertise in creating innovative technology to expand the range of voices and stories reaching the public.

(What he’s really saying is: Yes. It’s about time.)

The primary role of the lead partners is as content providers, but PRX also brings deep expertise in technology, issues of rights and revenues for content distribution, and experience in sustaining an open platform that showcases new voices and incentivizes participation by content providers and presenters. We’ll also help focus on the issues that affect PRX’s membership — a diverse mix of over 2,500 independent producers and local stations.

It’s worth nothing that this is not the first time public media has proposed the creation of a shared backend distribution system. A few years ago, Jake was part of the Digital Distribution Consortium — a business planning and design project that laid much of the groundwork for today’s discussions.

The Public Media Platform project is currently a six-month planning and proof-of-concept phase, and PRX, along with our partners and the advisory group, will be communicating frequently about our progress on this important initiative.

The full press release, issued jointly by all the partners, follows:

AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA, NPR, PBS, PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL (PRI), AND PUBLIC RADIO EXCHANGE (PRX) PARTNER TO CREATE A SHARED DIGITAL CONTENT PLATFORM

MOST COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC MEDIA DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EFFORT, TO DATE

Washington, DC; June 14, 2010 — Public radio and television have kicked off an ambitious effort to develop a digital distribution network that will allow public broadcasters and web producers to combine, create, share and distribute their news and cultural content.

The effort is being spearheaded by five national producers: American Public Media, NPR, PBS, Public Radio International (PRI) and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). It was announced today by NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller at the Wired Business Conference on behalf of the partners.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has provided nearly $1 million over the next six months to create development plans and a working prototype of what the partners are calling the Public Media Platform (PMP). NPR is administering the grant that will fund the planning phase. Fully developed, the PMP will serve as a powerful technology backbone enabling today’s non-compatible systems to connect, allowing for unprecedented access and flow of content.

The goal is to develop a broad digital network that will invite and support innovative uses of public media content, and match – or exceed – the impact of public radio and television today. Currently 37 million people listen to public radio stations every week, experiencing a seamless mix of local, national and international news, and music largely neglected by commercial radio. Public TV educates, entertains and informs over 118 million viewers every month.

The PMP will allow public media producers – and potentially others outside public media – to combine their content in a shared platform and make it available for a wide variety of public uses, from news sites to educational curricula.

At the core of the PMP is an open Application Programming Interface (API) that will simplify the task of sharing, combining and distributing news and educational content to member organizations and the general public. It will be available to established organizations such as the five public media partners, as well as public radio and TV stations, independent producers, and non-traditional, mission-focused content creators and developers who see value in aligning their efforts with public broadcasting. Ultimately, it will fuel the delivery of more quality news and programming that engages and informs communities. Some of the uses of the PMP include mobile apps, third party sites (from major news aggregators to niche websites), blogs, mash-ups, and widgets.

The PMP is bringing a group of innovative advisors to the table to offer their ideas and expertise on how to best serve audiences, communities and users of the PMP. An Advisory Council will meet regularly over the next six months alongside the PMP leadership team.

The Council, with more members to be named soon, consists of leaders from public radio and television and mission driven technology and journalism organizations: Document Cloud, iTVs, KPBS, KQED, Louisville Public Media, Mashery, Miro, National Black Programming Consortium, North Country Public Radio, the Station Resource Group, and WGBH.

About the PMP Partners

The PMP partners bring a distinctive and complementary set of assets to this endeavor and a track record in digital innovation and collaboration. When they are linked together, they will achieve a critical mass of compelling content that will inform and enrich the lives of more people in more ways.

American Public Media is the nation’s second-largest producer of public radio programs, reaching 16 million listeners each week with mainstays such as A Prairie Home Companion, Marketplace, and Speaking of Faith. As the parent organization of Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio and Classical South Florida, American Public Media brings station management leadership and experience in launching ground-breaking projects such as the Public Insight Network and the Public Radio Tuner.

CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 and is steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,100 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

NPR is public radio’s largest producer, 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. NPR was among the first media organizations to launch a comprehensive API (application program interface) which powers NPR.org and other public radio sites, an innovation that has made the rapid development of NPR and public radio applications possible.

PBS with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans — from every walk of life — the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 118 million people through television and nearly 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. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. PBS has extensive experience in digital platforms, including its successful video players for general audience and children’s content, as well as well as apps for iPhone, iPad and other projects.

PRI brings a successful track record of leading and managing complex, multi-partner projects and experience creating and distributing innovative content; PRI was also the founder of Public Interactive, now under NPR’s management, a provider of digital tools and technology to move than 300 public media stations.

PRX is public media’s digital network, pioneering new paths in content and technology, and serving as the largest aggregator of independent and station-produced content in public media.

EDITOR’S NOTE
For a PMP concept graphic – www.npr.org/about/press/2010/PMP_Graph.pdf
Potential uses of PMP: http://www.npr.org/about/press/2010/061410.PMP_examples.doc

As the developer of the Public Radio Player and This American Life iPhone apps, PRX wishes there were easier ways to channel support back to the stations and programs whose content powers the apps.

Say you like an episode of TAL and want to support them — you’d click a simple donate button and be on your way. Right now, Apple’s no-donation policy makes that impossible.

PRX’s Executive Director Jake Shapiro takes on this policy in a guest editorial for Ars Technica: Apple’s no-donation policy for apps is a cop-out.

Here is the full post:
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Ars Technica recently started an interesting conversation on the mixed reaction to This American Life‘s use of push notifications in its iPhone app (developed at PRX) to encourage donations by its tens of thousands of users (each of whom paid $2.99 to buy the app).

I agree that app developers should use push notifications very sparingly, and they definitely run the risk of negative reactions if the message isn’t clearly tied to the app’s purpose and value. As Seth Lind from This American Life said in the discussion on the post, this was an experiment. Further donation messaging will be in-app, and mostly in the audio itself where Ira Glass can most effectively make the case for why This American Life deserves your support.

But the underlying issue is Apple’s wrongheaded policy of prohibiting donations in the first place.

The excuse that “Apple doesn’t want to be held responsible for ensuring that the charitable funds make it to the final destination” is a cop-out. Google Grants has tackled this already, and organizations like TechSoup and Guidestar do a sophisticated job of authenticating nonprofits and charities worldwide. Apple, of all companies, can’t credibly say it’s not up to the technical and logistical challenge.

And Apple is not just preventing app developers from putting “donate” buttons or any language suggesting that users contribute to charitable causes; it is also cutting off nonprofits from the most powerful direct-payment platform in the mobile marketplace. 1-Click payments are transformative for direct giving, and Apple has tens of millions of users with stored credit cards already accustomed to instant purchases—over 100 million if you add in iTunes users worldwide.

Jake Shapiro (credit: Matt MacDonald/PRX)

Even if Apple allowed app developers to include links and language about donation, without 1-Click they are still forcing users to jump through hoops with a separate mobile payment option. This could mean filling out long forms on a Safari page or launching a parallel app like PayPal. It’s an irritating deal-breaker for many users and it decimates follow-through (yes, text-to-donate is an increasingly promising path that is almost as seamless as an in-app transaction, but donations are limited to $10, and there are other current hurdles).

One option would be allowing in-app donations using Apple’s payment infrastructure, but this immediately runs into the next deal-breaking issue: Apple’s 30 percent cut is untenable for charities and nonprofits, and for the donors themselves. At most, Apple should charge a small 2-3 percent credit card processing fee for nonprofit and charitable contributions (Google charges nothing to qualified nonprofits using Checkout).

Apple recently demonstrated this is possible with its Haiti Donation button on iTunes earlier this year, passing 100 percent of the donations to the American Red Cross—a laudable and hopefully precedent-setting move.

For public media, where contributions from “listeners like you” are a critical source of revenue, Apple’s donation blocking is a particularly acute problem. For one thing, public media content is hugely popular across iTunes and iPhone/iPad—check out the top rankings for NPR, PBS, PRX and other public media podcasts, station streams, and apps. Apple is effectively blocking a major revenue stream to public media while enthusiastically featuring public media content and apps that enhance value for its devices.

The other powerful potential for public media is that users experience the service directly within the app. You listen to an incredible hour like “Giant Pool of Money” from This American Life about the subprime mortgage crisis and—click—you could contribute to support the show. Many other nonprofits and charities are delivering services one or more degrees removed from the apps themselves—helping fight malaria, for example.

But for those causes too, the opportunities for innovation around in-app donation are endless, with tremendous potential to connect people’s best charitable impulses to causes in the moment and on the go.

Where’s the charity?

I suspect the deeper reasons for Apple’s uncharitable stance is that the nonprofit and education markets are just that—“markets” that represent hundreds of millions of dollars of annual revenue to Apple in the form of computer, software, iPod, and now iPhone and iPad sales.

There is no financial upside for Apple to enable a direct path for nonprofit and charitable support. And note that there is no “Apple Foundation,” no “Apple Grants.” In fact, Apple has been called out as one of America’s least philanthropic companies. It’s also one that just passed Microsoft’s market capitalization as the most valuable technology company in the world.

The other issue gets to Apple’s broader competitive approach. If Apple permitted donations by users, it might have to change another restrictive policy: passing certain individual information to app owners/developers and content providers. Currently app developers get zero data from Apple about who buys and uses their apps, just a flat report of total downloads and resulting revenue if it’s a paid app. Perhaps Apple could work with an intermediary to bundle and process donations and handle any reporting and tax information. Ultimately, this is another logistical hurdle that Apple doesn’t seem to have the will to take on.

My estimate is that public media, nonprofits, and charities are already missing out on tens of millions of dollars of potential donations through iTunes and Apple devices, and hundreds of millions as the iPhone/iPad and whatever is next continue to grow in popularity and use.

By the way, none of this applies to Android.

Given that Apple is entirely willing and able to take tough and often unpopular stands with its tech partners, app developers, major labels, and major rivals, it may be quixotic to imagine that the nonprofit and public media sector can fight this battle and win.

So let’s pose the question directly to Steve Jobs: where’s Apple’s genius when it comes to supporting nonprofits?

Jake Shapiro is CEO of PRX, Public Radio Exchange, developers of the Public Radio Player and This American Life iPhone apps.

It’s hard to count the number of websites in existence, but those who have the moxie to try tell us there are a lot. So we’re feeling pretty good about being one of the nine Honorees, along with The Guardian, Scientific American, and IFC.

As with Part I there is a lot to chew on, some excellent insights into how PRX works, and where it needs improvement. The article is hugely helpful in gathering and distilling opinions about PRX from stations and producers.

Click here to download a PDF of the combined Parts I and II.

There are a few items that merit further comment and context from PRX, so here are some notes:

* A key shout-out.

PRX started with $2 million in seed money from CPB

Any telling of how PRX came to be should refer to our “creation myth” (which also happens to be a true story) when the Station Resource Group (SRG) teamed up with Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media back in 2001/2002 to conceive of PRX and secure its initial funding, which was more like $250,000 from SRG than $2M from CPB. CPB, Ford, NEA and others did then step in with critical early investments and ongoing support. But SRG incubated and nurtured PRX all the way until we established an independent 501c3 organization here in Massachusetts in 2009. The joining of forces between SRG and Jay/Atlantic really forms PRX’s DNA and is reflected in our dual mission of serving stations and producers.

* “National” shows vs local stations, some context.

“For instance, World Vision Report picked up a piece [originally on Marketplace] I’d done about a marathon runner for their show before the NYC Marathon. They paid $750. I’m afraid to look at what I would have gotten from a PRX sale – maybe $24?”

PRX always encourages producers to shop their work to national shows or directly to stations if they can get higher rates in addition to or instead of whatever they might earn on the open PRX market. This is one reason our terms are non-exclusive. It’s also important to note that PRX does not permit national shows to buy programs directly from PRX at local station rates. If a national program (or a non-station acquirer like a podcast) wants a piece on PRX they have to match or exceed their standard acquisition rates, and request opt-ins from producers through the site.

So in this case the $750 represents a direct acquisition by a national program, and the $24 might represent one or two local licenses of the piece on PRX. Also worth noting: we have not observed any negative effects of producers posting a piece to PRX and also trying to sell it to shows directly.

* PRX’s program strategy.

“If the mission of PRX is to widen access to the airwaves to independent producers, then it seems problematic to me to heavily promote PRX-sponsored projects”

With tens of thousands of programs churning through PRX it is a constant puzzle to get the best stuff up and out. We use a mix of smart humans (PRX editors, curators, commenters) and smart machines (search, metadata, collaborative filtering and recommendations) to do it. We recognized early on that PRX would need to exercise editorial discretion to be valuable and relevant to stations and audiences, and fulfill our mission of surfacing new and compelling voices for public radio.

So our approach can be seen as a three-tiered pyramid: first, a broad base of open distribution that invites anyone to upload directly to the PRX platform; second, the curated space where PRX makes editorial choices to feature timely, relevant and high quality work on the home page, newsletters, and directly with stations; and third is “PRX Presents” where we are more deeply involved in developing a program, a project, an app, etc. At each level we are expressing a particular content vision and strategy, which gets sharper as you climb the pyramid.

Overall we feel this is a meritocratic approach that strengthens PRX’s relationship with stations and gives a broad swath of producers a fair shot at reaching audiences. Also we remind producers to contact PRX Editors (prxeditors AT prx.org) any time you have a piece that merits featuring – we catch a lot but miss some too.

* Reviews and Comments.

Some lament the loss of the PRX Editorial Board, hired to generate reviews.

PRX used to have a paid editorial board and an assignment process (brilliantly managed by Atlantic Public Media) for reviewing a certain number of new pieces each month, but found that the effort and expense wasn’t paying off in the results of station licensing. In general reviews and comments to date have had more value for producers getting feedback than stations using them to discover programs. With the introduction of Playlists we continue to employ “format curators” who help find the best work in particular categories as a service to stations.

Generally reviews on PRX have had mixed success (though comments are picking up steam), and are ripe for reinvention – something we’ll be taking a hard look at this year and would welcome your input on.

* PRX and ContentDepot.

Producers often use both PRX and PRSS to distribute their work, and the two organizations have had conversations about working together – someday

We have a ton of respect for our DC colleagues at PRSS, and don’t envy them the task of distributing the essential live, daily news and programs to stations through satellites in outer space. But we also need to point out that this conversation has been entirely one way. Over the past five years – starting before the launch of ContentDepot – PRX has repeatedly and unsuccessfully proposed working with PRSS on integrating our systems, sharing code and standards, and other collaborative ideas. In fact we first launched in 2003 with our audio server hosted at PRSS with hopes it would segue to a partnership.

We see it as a big missed opportunity to create more efficient distribution options for public radio, and make the most of the investments in PRX’s leading-edge web application and related tools. Why no love from NPR Distribution? We think it’s mostly because they have had their hands full with myriad problems launching and operating ContentDepot, managing major upgrades to the other parts of the satellite system, and generally – and understandably – focusing on the pressing needs of their station customers. In the meantime we continue to develop the PRX platform to support more robust distribution features like subscription delivery, broadcast automation integration, and other nifty improvements that will continue to make PRX the preferred path for producers of pre-recorded programs (we have no ambitions to take on broadcast delivery of live/news programs – not a good use of the Internets!). We’d welcome the opportunity to work together with PRSS, and at least save producers and stations from the dreaded “double upload”…

Barrett gets into the nitty gritty of explaining PRX points, the comparative costs and benefits of distributing via PRX and PRSS, and some direct testimony from our users:

Producer Nancy Solomon recently posted her first piece on PRX: “The interface works great; I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. Their help desk was super helpful and easy to get a hold of. I like the way the page looks; I like the way it’s laid out and the flexibility the format gives you to put both segments and whole pieces up. I was also amazed and pleased at how accessible John Barth was to talk about how best to promote the show.”

Well said! The article also points out that PRX and Content Depot don’t solve the deeper issues of funding for indie production in public radio – something AIR is trying to address through projects like MQ2 and other efforts.

We’re proud that PRX has paid out over $1 million in royalties to producers since 2004, and we’re constantly increasing distribution and revenue opportunities across PRX services, but also recognize that this does not (yet) help commission or acquire original work at a time when other sources of funding for independents are hard to come by.

PRX is working on an idea called Story Market (now in the running for the Knight News Challenge) that could be one creative approach, along the lines of another site we admire called Spot.Us.

Stay tuned! Meantime, check out Barrett’s piece in AIRblast.