Public Radio Exchange

Science Friday Joins the iTunes Party

Rekha posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 | PRX, PRX Projects | 1 Comment

Imagine you threw a party, and Carl Sagan, Michael Pollan, Ray Kurzweil, Jane Goodall, and Oliver Sacks all showed up. Awesome, right? That’s how we’re feeling about the latest addition to PRX’s catalog on iTunes: Science Friday.

For more than 20 years, host Ira Flatow has led discussions and interviews with science’s leading thinkers and doers. These conversations are the kind worth returning to years later.

As a record label for iTunes, PRX sends audio content from This American Life, Car Talk, The Moth, and dozens of independent producers to iTunes for sale in the iTunes Store. We are only too happy to have Science Friday join the party with its enticing archive in tow.

Check out the full Science Friday catalog on iTunes.

Radiolab apps in orbit

Jake posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2012 | Blog, PRX Projects | 1 Comment

We are jumping for joy to see the Radiolab iPhone and Android apps out in the wild!

Go download them here.

PRX developed the apps in partnership with the show, WNYC, and the design firm 1 Trick Pony and we are extremely proud of our team’s work over the many months and twists and turns entailed in creating such a remarkable experience.

PRX has also developed apps for WNYC and WQXR, as well as This American Life, KCRW and a growing list of top public media properties, so this was an amazing opportunity to take what we’ve learned, built and explored and join forces with the creative geniuses at Radiolab.

Congratulations to our partners, and big props to the PRX crew who put their all into this: Matt MacDonald, Becca Nesson, Devin Chalmers, and Chris Rhoden, with help from Andrew Kuklewicz and Chris Farski. You guys rocked it.

Here’s the download page on Radiolab’s site, and a short video overview narrated by Jad:

Tags: apps, jad abumrad, radiolab, wnyc

Networks: A PRX Service

John posted on Friday, February 17th, 2012 | Blog, PRX, PRX Projects | No Comments

Here’s a little known secret: There’s a part of PRX you most likely have never seen.

It’s called PRX Networks, and it works like a ‘private PRX.org’ for archiving, exchanging, tracking, previewing and the downloading of digital text, audio and images for use on both digital and broadcast platforms. It is also contains a collaborative editing and notes tool so teams in various locations can edit, share and comment on content in progress.

PRX is proud that Networks has become the backbone for a handful of Local Journalism Centers (LJCs) and other regional collaborations (see below). Thanks to the pioneering cooperation and guidance of the Northwest News Network (N3), PRX was able to refine Networks into a fast, versatile and customizable tool that works for busy producers in a high production environment.

All content can be searched and tagged for easy and quick access.

There’s lots of detail below. If you or your team want a demo or if you just have further questions, please drop me a line at john-at-prx-dot-org! This thing really works.

Feature Summary:

• Speedy processing for producers on deadline
• Lean and clear UI
• Search
• Accepts all audio formats common to public radio
• Batch processing and upload
• Transaction reports
• Broadcast and digital content
• Export to NPR API
• Low cost
• Collaborative feature improvements
• Customization of content tags, content types and branding
• Private note fields for editors and producers
• One step audio conversion to both broadcast and digital files
• Audio and image previews
• Unlimited storage for one annual fee
• Training and support

Station Usage

PRX Networks launched in 2010 after collaborative design and testing with the regional N3 network. Since then, 33 core stations and producer groups have been using it to share over 4,500 items, and are finding Networks to be a reliable and streamlined backbone for daily broadcast and digital content exchange.

Networks

• OPB
• KUOW
• KLCC
• KWSO
• KCUW-LP
• Jefferson Public Radio
• Spokane Public Radio
• Boise State Public Radio
• Northwest Public Radio
• KPLU
• KMUN
• N3 staff

• Chicago Public Radio
• Front and Center staff/producers

Local Journalism Centers (LJCs)

• Chicago Public Radio
• WCPN/Ideastream
• Michigan Radio

• KCUR
• KBIA
• NET Radio- Nebraska
• Iowa Public Radio
• High Plains Public Radio
• Kansas Public Radio

• WQCS
• WMFE
• WUWF
• WGCU
• WJCT
• WUSF
• WLRN

• KUOW
• Boise State Public Radio
• Northwest Public Radio
• Oregon Public Broadcasting

Content

Each element on Networks is called an ITEM – that can be text copy, audio, audio with copy, images, graphics or any combination of all of these.

Here’s the distribution of the total 4,711 items on Networks (Feb 2012):

• N3 – 3,211
• Front and Center – 42
• Changing Gears – 196
• Harvest Public Media – 226
• Florida News Exchange – 921
• EarthFix – 119

Audio and Digital Elements

Networks makes it easy to upload audio and all digital elements. The audio uploader and transcoding accepts source audio files in any format – WAV, MP2, MP3, AIFF.

All digital files can be batch uploaded for speed and efficiency.

All audio files can be previewed as streams before downloading.

Video

The PRX Networks infrastructure can support video, the increased storage required to support large video assets necessitates additional costs to networks wanting video.

Downloading files triggers a transaction record for both Activity reports (productivity by station, reporter and type of item) and Carriage reports (by station, reporter and station license). Both can be exported as .csv files.

Carriage Report Sample

Activity Report Sample

For Changing Gears

Networks Sample Page

And an App for Vermont Public Radio!

Rekha posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 | Blog, PRX Projects | No Comments

A Mobile App for WQXR Classical

Rekha posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 | PRX Projects | No Comments

Please welcome the latest addition to the PRX apps family: WQXR Classical for iPhone. It’s the first product of a big mobile partnership with New York Public Radio, so get ready for some more mobile goodness coming soon.

Read more about the WQXR app on the new PRX Apps blog.

Exploring the Depths of KCRW Music Mine

Rekha posted on Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | PRX Projects, Tech | 1 Comment

We’re still buzzing from the excitement of getting the KCRW Music Mine iPad app out into the wild. The app exemplifies our desire to bring public media to mobile and tablets in new and amazing ways. Mark Ramsey says it well in this review.

With the launch flurry settling down, we’ve had some time to reflect on how the app came about. It was quite a process. Head over to the PRX Labs blog for an interview with Matt MacDonald, PRX’s Director of Project Management, on the concept and design, where he says things like:

One goal for us was to encourage musical exploration and delight so some of our interaction decisions basically force you to try out music that you might not be familiar with. We made sure to encourage that by not adding features like search or sorting and filtering tools.

Read Exploring The Depths Of Music Mine on PRX Labs.

Introducing the WGBH App

Rekha posted on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 | PRX, PRX Projects | 1 Comment

Latest in our growing collection of mobile apps is WGBH, News and Culture for iPhone. This app brings all of the Boston public media station’s offerings from across TV, radio, and web into one elegant experience.

• Listen live to WGBH radio, their classical, Celtic, and jazz streams, plus WCAI from The Cape and Islands
• Watch episodes from TV programs including Beat the Press, Basic Black, and High School Quiz Show
• Get radio and TV programming schedules so you know when to tune in, or catch past episodes in the app itself
• Read the latest local, national, and world news
• View recipes from top chefs and other food-related articles
• See a calendar of upcoming events
• And much more.

Actually, let’s elaborate on the “more”. There’s Assignments, inviting you to tell WGBH’s newsroom what’s news in your town. With Benefits, WGBH members can browse and redeem local discounts using a virtual member card generated in the app (you have to use it to believe how nifty it is).

Of course, to use those amazing features you’ll have to tear yourself away from WGBH’s wonderful content, from radio mainstays like The Takeaway, The World, and Fresh Air to TV hits like Frontline, NOVA, and American Experience.

Get WGBH, News and Culture for your iPhone now.

The WGBH app is a customized version of the PRX station app codebase, which enables us to streamline development time and costs while giving stations apps that represent their unique identities. We’ve got more iPhone — and Android — station apps on the way. Maybe yours, too? Contact us to learn more.

PRX wins two Communicator Awards

Genevieve posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 | Blog, PRX Projects | No Comments

Great news! PRX submitted the This American Life App to the Communicator Awards last fall, and it was recently announced that the app won an Award of Excellence (the highest honor) in Mobile Apps – Music/Audio. We also won an Award of Distinction for the WBUR App in Mobile Apps – News.

Congrats to our team and to the amazing folks we worked with at TAL and WBUR!

“With thousands of entries received from across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence for communications professionals…

“The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), a 550+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.”

Sounds good to us!

Story Exchange and new models for local news

John posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 | Blog, PRX Projects | 1 Comment

The latest report from the FCC on The Information Needs of Local Communities paints a grim picture about the state of local news.

Local TV news is pretty thin and getting thinner. And while there is some praise for the ambition of local public radio, the report makes clear that resources don’t match the vision.

PRX, with the help of the Knight News Challenge, is stepping in to do its part to change the situation.

We have partnered with Spot.us, a real pioneer in the area of crowd funding, and Louisville Public Media, to launch Story Exchange.

This modest idea shows some early promise:

What if local public radio stations with loyal news audiences were able to pitch ambitious story and project ideas directly to listeners? Say a station wanted to propose a documentary, or a series about a pollution issue; maybe a special and a talk show about an area of education reform.

But, money was the barrier: Not enough staff to fill in on a long project, no money for a researcher to do necessary leg work, or simply no staff reporter capable of doing the production?

Story Exchange helps solve the problem. Here’s how:

• The station creates a series of story pitches and makes them directly to the audience. And each pitch has a modest price attached to complete the assignment.
• Those pitches appear on the station website, and they get promoted on air, in emails to listeners and on the local talk show.
• The station website is a doorway for listeners to pledge micro-amounts ($5, $10 at a time, for example).
• Once the goal is reached, the money goes to the station.
• And, the station completes the project and makes it available on the web.

Who benefits?

• Listeners do – the ones who showed interest in that area of coverage get to directly support and hear the impact of their commitment.
• The station does – it gets the nominal additional resources to do something it might otherwise not be able to accomplish
• The community does – communities of interest act individually to show their support for a KEY station activity. If the journalism is good, everyone benefits.
• And this sometimes ethereal notion of engagement becomes tangible.

Does it work?

Yes. PRX watched Spot.us for some time and saw that freelance print reporters and some small public stations were able to raise money for local reporting.

We figured, let’s turn loose the power of stations as centers of local journalism and give listeners the incentives to easily make a difference by supporting stories and issues they cared about.

Station editors and managers are always in control of the pitches and which stories are completed. Best of all, the donors are identified and their contributions small enough that no one person has the power to influence coverage.

And, it IS working in our first test market of Louisville.

Within a few days of posting the pitch for coverage about the health risks of coal dust exposure, enough listeners pledged a total of $250 to get that series completed.

There are more pitches out there from Louisville Public Media on a bridge controversy, school management problems and more.

PRX is looking for more stations that want to engage in this experiment.

What’s it take?

• A commitment by the station to local programming and promotion.
• An engaged audience.
• A strong news department with fresh ideas.
• A willingness to talk about the pitches, how the process works, and why this project is important for local journalism.

Interested?

Contact John Barth at john – at – prx – dot – org and we can help you get started.

Remix is on WREM 88.7FM

Emily posted on Monday, May 16th, 2011 | Blog, PRX, PRX Projects | No Comments

Today Public Radio Remix — our 24/7 stream of audio awesomeness — went live on WREM 88.1FM in Canton, NY. WREM is a brand new acquisition of North Country Public Radio, owned and operated by St. Lawrence University. Take a look at their spiffy Remix webpage, which has current and upcoming playlists, links to each story, a feed of the Public Radio Remix blog, and more.

WREM joins KPBZ in Spokane, WA as our second terrestrial station carrying Public Radio Remix.

We want to thank North Country Public Radio Program Director Jackie Sauter, Chief Engineer Bob Sauter and General Manager Ellen Rocco for making this launch as easy as pie. We’re thrilled!

Tags: Emily, Remix