Press Releases

CPB Congratulates PRX on MacArthur Award

http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=643

For Immediate Release April 11, 2008

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Congratulates the Public Radio Exchange on its MacArthur Foundation Award

Washington, D.C. -- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) congratulates the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) for receiving a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Established by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions recognizes and invests in small, emerging nonprofit organizations around the world that demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness.

The MacArthur Foundation announced PRX was one of eight organizations in six countries to receive the award "by gathering and distributing new programming and using technological innovation to expand content choices, PRX is leading public radio to become more interactive, diverse and democratic."

"PRX has transformed the way content creators deliver their product to the public radio marketplace," said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO. "PRX has developed a unique service that has led public broadcasting along the pathway to emerging media and opened a pipeline of innovation that benefits stations and listeners. It's fitting that they've been recognized for their creativity and leadership."

About PRX: The Public Radio Exchange is an online marketplace for distribution, review and licensing of public radio programming. PRX is also a growing social network and community of listeners, producers and stations collaborating to reshape public radio. The mission of PRX is to create more opportunities for diverse programming of exceptional quality, interest and importance to reach more listeners.

About CPB: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,000 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.

PRX selected for MacArthur Foundation Award

We are totally thrilled to share this news!

The MacArthur Foundation has selected PRX as one of its 2008 recipients of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

"Public Radio Exchange (PRX)/Station Resource Group – Cambridge, Massachusetts: By gathering and distributing new programming and using technological innovation to expand content choices, PRX is leading public radio to become more interactive, diverse, and participatory.

PRX is taking public radio in new and stimulating directions, giving a larger dimension to one of America’s most important intellectual resources.

PRX will use their $500,000 grant to establish a cash reserve fund, a content venture fund, and to develop new technologies."

Read the full press release here.

MacArthur Announces 2008 Winners of Award for Creative and Effective Institutions


Chicago, IL (April 10, 2008) – Continuing its tradition of encouraging creativity and building effective institutions to help address some of the world’s most challenging problems, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today that eight organizations in six countries will receive the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

These nonprofit organizations have diverse missions – from helping public radio thrive in the digital age to defending human rights in Nigeria to seeking a more fair juvenile justice system in the United States. Still, they have much in common. All are highly creative and effective organizations that have made an extraordinary impact in their fields, while driving significant change on a modest budget. Each organization will receive up to $500,000, a large sum considering their annual budgets are under $2.5 million. The organizations will use their new funding for a range of purposes, including purchasing new office space, developing training and research facilities, upgrading technology, and undertaking new research.

“From its founding, the MacArthur Foundation has sought out people and organizations that have the creativity, energy and breadth of vision to change the world for the better,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. “These imaginative and influential small organizations have an impact altogether disproportionate to their size. They are addressing problems and injustices, finding fresh solutions, and proving themselves as leaders and innovators.

Make sure to read about the other remarkable recipients of this award here.




How is PRX planning to use the award?

3 areas over the next 2 years:

1) Strengthening the Technology: PRX Version 3.0. $150,000.

PRX’s core asset is the web application and related technology that are integral to its distribution, review and networking services. Early in its planning PRX made an important strategic decision to make software development a key internal capacity, demanding expertise throughout the organization and a commitment to ongoing technical innovation.

Few nonprofits have excelled at developing their own technology that can perform at scale as Internet applications. It requires an ability to attract and retain talented software developers and technical specialists in related roles. It also requires an ability to translate the dynamic nature of Internet-based technology to the programs, activities and economies of the nonprofit sector.

PRX has invested in two major cycles of development of the core technology platform, managing to stay abreast of relevant web trends and techniques, while focusing on the basic needs of our target users.

PRX is currently developing version 3.0 of its custom software, making a fundamental shift from Java -- the well established language for large-scale web applications -- to the web’s most promising open source technical platform for social network and media applications, a language and framework called Ruby on Rails. A vital feature of the Ruby platform is the ability for software engineers to more efficiently and creatively develop applications and new functionality, drawing on an emerging community of open source developers sharing leading uses of the technology.

In addition to these back-end improvements there are several important new features and functionality:

talent network: PRX is expanding the member directory to become a searchable skills database, helping connect content creators for freelance and production opportunities;
playlists: users will be able to create their own playlists of audio pieces on PRX, helping curate and organize collections of works for use online and for broadcast;
direct donation: PRX will create an individual donation system, streamlining support from the listening public directly to the producers of pieces on PRX. As an alternative to paid access and advertising, direct donation will be an opportunity to experiment with new revenue models for creative content.

2) Content Venture Fund. $100,000.
PRX pays royalties and other fees to hundreds of independent producers and other content creators -- over $650,000 to date -- through an online marketplace that brings broadcasters, producers, and online services together to buy, sell, share, license and recommend radio works directly from each other. As a result PRX is a very efficient means of supporting public media content creators.

In addition to fees generated by these licensing transactions PRX is uniquely positioned to provide seed funding for other kinds of content creation, such as “reversioning” archival works for digital distribution or providing royalty advances for completing new works. PRX has managed two successful reversioning rounds already, distributing over $100,000 to dozens of producers and stations and demonstrating a clear opportunity for this service.

Examples of recent reversioning projects include:

The Migration Project, a youth radio special combining stories about border crossings from youth groups across the country, presented by KUOW in Seattle and licensed by 17 other stations.
Award-winning producer John Rudolph completing work on an ambitious documentary history of the New York City Police Department, in time for the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 and broadcast by WNYC.

PRX is unique among networks in public media in actively promoting an open model, not asserting exclusive rights in content, and developing a “long tail” approach to distribution that encourages new voices and niche creators to participate.

The Content Venture Fund enhances the existing PRX marketplace with new incentives for content creators. It also establishes a dedicated funding pool that PRX will bring to other public media funders as a matching opportunity.

3) Capital Reserve. $250,000.
PRX will establish a capital reserve as the first step in a growth capital campaign for further expansion of services over a multi-year period. PRX has begun working with the Nonprofit Finance Fund Capital Partners on a planning and design phase for the next phase of PRX’s development, and this initial capital reserve allocation helps set a benchmark for subsequent investment.

After six years under the leadership of seasoned public radio professionals on the Station Resource Group board of directors, PRX is establishing its own board to govern, support, and help lead its growth and bring a wider circle of perspectives to its work.

PRX will cultivate and recruit 6-8 national leaders from public broadcasting, technology, business and nonprofit sectors to serve on its board. Funds will support this board development work and the facilitation of initial board strategy sessions, along with board travel and meeting expenses.

PRX will also convene facilitated advisory meetings that bring together stakeholders and representatives from key user groups and constituencies, such as independent producers and station staff.

PRX’s initial work was guided by a multi-year business plan that helped clarify value propositions for different constituencies, set priorities in the sequencing and scale of activities, and informed the case for philanthropic support. PRX will renew its business plan to guide activity through the next several years, building on accumulated experience since launch and a new assessment of the environment.

PRX is also actively pursuing high-impact relationships with other leading entities in the digital public media sphere, up to and including potential mergers and acquisitions. The business planning and investment in organizational capacity will help guide the exploration and pursuit of these opportunities.




Watch this video for a short overview of PRX:

Introducing the PRX campaign curators

DATE: February 5, 2008

Contact: Jake Shapiro, Executive Director
617 576-5455
jake@prx.org

PRX is pleased to introduce two Campaign Curators who will help lead PRX's contribution to the recently announced Public Media Election Collaboration.

Campaign Audio Curator
Charles Lane is a freelance radio and print reporter who files frequently with WSHU, NPR new magazines such as Justice Talking, Here & Now, as well as VOA, Radio Netherlands, and Soundprint. He also writes for the Religion News Service, Catholic World Report, and Penthouse (!) among others. His fourth full-length radio documentary will be distributed by Soundprint this spring, and his fifth will be distributed on PRX in mid-March 2008.

Charles's reporting has been funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, and the PRX/NEA Reversioning Fund. He studied Patristic History at Oklahoma State University. He now lives in Harlem with his wife and her cat.

As Campaign Audio Curator Charles will work with PRX to find, select, annotate, and promote public radio and other audio material on Campaign '08 and related issues. The collection will include produced pieces, interviews, raw audio from campaign appearances, issue-based and local or regional stories that can be edited or excerpted for re-use by stations and other project partners. An initial campaign collection is underway and located here: http://www.prx.org/articles/905

Social Media Curator
Katherine Bidwell is a producer and writer who most recently worked for Open Source, the pioneering public radio program that actively integrated blogging and "web 2.0" approaches in the production, presentation and promotion of the show. She was also a producer for NPR's "The Connection" and has worked for a number of environmental nonprofits and as a freelance editor. Katherine lives in Watertown, Massachusetts.

As Social Media Curator Katherine will work with PRX to discover, review and promote citizen media and "user-generated content" from blogs, YouTube, podcasts and other sources. Selected content will be showcased on local and national public media websites.

About the project

Public media has a unique opportunity to cover Campaign 2008 and elevate public engagement around critical issues at stake nationally and locally.

The democratization of the tools for creating and distributing media has resulted in an explosion of conversation, connection and content. This in turn creates a critical need for ways to sift, filter and find value amidst irrelevant or even harmful expression.

One important role is to use public media's presence and journalistic values to showcase and highlight examples of the diverse range of content and conversation already taking place online.

While the CNN/YouTube debates are the highest profile attempt so far to incorporate participatory media into coverage of Campaign 2008, there are few focused efforts to help audiences navigate the growing ocean of "user-generated content" to find relevant, important and revealing voices and perspectives.

This social media curating project is an experiment to explore approaches to this task, in the context of a critical national moment of a presidential election.

For the election audio project, we will help bubble up stories that otherwise might get lost in the shuffle, create an collection for timely use during the campaign season as well as a helpful archive for further evergreen and "long tail" opportunities in the future.

With the proliferation of audio on-air and online there's a critical role to play in sifting, sorting, curating and promoting the best of what's available. The PRX campaign collection will be a vital resource for public broadcasting stations, partners and the public.

About PRX

The Public Radio Exchange is an online marketplace for distribution, review, and licensing of public radio programming. PRX is also a growing social network and community of listeners, producers, and stations collaborating to reshape public radio. The mission of PRX is to create more opportunities for diverse programming of exceptional quality, interest, and importance to reach more listeners.

Read more about PRX here http://about.prx.org

PRX is a collaboration of the Station Resource Group and Atlantic Public Media, with support from public radio stations and producers, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Surdna Foundation, and Google Grants.

Zeitfunk 2007

The Zeitfunk results are in! 2007 was a truly exciting year for PRX. More pieces were licensed by stations in 2007 than any previous year: over 8,000. PRX attracted 14,079 new members, and racked up over 1,000 new reviews.

Thousands of public radio fans helped us find three of the "hostiest" new talents through the Public Radio Talent Quest. And we re-launched the Generation PRX site so it's more interactive and encourages social networking among the dozens of youth radio groups already participating.

Image by Kaibara87

Congratulate our 2007 Zeitfunk winners. Scroll down to view more results in each category.

And, don't miss the most popular piece lengths, "Favoriting" facts, weird Google searches, state and country membership stats, or staff yearbook awards and haikus!

The Hostiest Public Radio Talent Quest Contestants
Al Letson, Glynn Washington, and Rebecca Watson

Most Licensed Producer
Paul Ingles
(more in this category...)

Most Licensed Producer Group
Listener Directed Productions
(more in this category...)

Most Licensed Station
WXPN
(more in this category...)

Most Licensed Piece
The Two Sides of Sgt. Pepper: An Honest Appraisal from Paul Ingles
(more in this category...)

Most Licensed Series
Compact Discoveries from Fred Flaxman
(more in this category...)

Station that Licensed the Most Pieces
KXOT
(more in this category...)

Most Previewed Piece
My Lobotomy from Sound Portraits
(more in this category ...)

Most Active Reviewer
James Reiss
(more in this category...)

Most Reviewed Piece
The Latvala Files: Hangin' Out in the Vault from Justin Grotelueschen
(more in this category...)

Most Reviewed Youth-Produced Piece
Being Black from Radio Rookies
(more in this category...)

Most Licensed Youth Piece
The Migration Project: A Youth Radio Special from KUOW and Generation PRX
(more in this category...)

Most Popular Fundraising Piece
The Invisible Infrastructure of Radio from WNYC
(more in this category...)

Top Debut Indie
William Zukof/Western Wind
(more in this category...)

Most "Favorited" Piece
The Emergence of Joni Mitchell from PRI and Paul Ingles
(more in this category...)

The first-place winners will receive trophies in the mail. We'll have a virtual award ceremony with pictures coming soon!

Complete Zeitfunk 2007 Results

Some observations: As with last year, the top three or so in each category were very clear winners; after that, we had many tied places. Below you will see the top ten winners listed in most categories. Some categories only have two, three, or five places. We did this to accomodate the large gaps after clear winners, when there were more than four users or pieces tied for the same place.

We also added a few new categories this year: Most Favorited Pieces, Most Reviewed Youth-Produced Pieces, and Top Debut Indies. The Top Debut Indies are the producers and producer groups who joined PRX in 2007 and had the most pieces licensed.

PRX Seeks Social Media Curator for Public Media Election Collaboration 2008

PRX Seeks Social Media Curator for Public Media Election Collaboration 2008

Position is available now and we are prioritizing applicants who can start immediately.

[UPDATE FEB 1, 2008: These positions have now been filled]

NOTE: We are also hiring for an Campaign Audio Curator position listed here.

Apply for this position online (but please read this description first):
http://www.jotform.com/form/73575827677 

What's the story?

The Social Media Curator will work with PRX as part of a CPB-funded public media collaboration to find, select, annotate, and promote citizen media and "user-generated content" from blogs, YouTube, podcasts and other sources. Selected content will be showcased on local and national public media websites.

The collaboration as a whole seeks to pool the editorial and technical resources of a consortium of public media organizations, including NPR, PBS NewsHour, PRX, American Public Media, Public Radio International and other partners and local stations. The collaboration will encompass a variety of online and on-air projects aimed at increasing public engagement during the election year.

Read the press release about the collaboration here.

The Social Media Curator position is project-based, starts immediately and runs through December 2008. It is expected to be a full-time commitment during the course of the contract. Fee is $40,000-55,000 depending on experience and start date.

What does the Curator do?

* assemble a focused collection of user-generated audio, video, photos and text about the election and related issues;
* recruit and oversee additional part-time station-based and partner curators who will help find and select relevant material;
* develop and articulate criteria for content selection, metrics and benchmarks for project tracking;
* lead collaboration with other project partners and participating in the internal "Knowledge Network" for project coordination;
* maintain a public project blog chronicling the process;
* other tasks as assigned, coordinated with PRX staff and collaboration partners.

Who are we looking for?

* Someone passionate but also discriminating about social media, fluent in "web 2.0" and a super user of tools like del.icio.us, RSS, Flickr, YouTube, widgets, and blogs.
* A keen observer of electoral politics, Campaign '08, people, issues, institutions, and platforms across the political spectrum.
* An organized and open-minded individual who is ready to have some fun with this project but with an eye on the bigger picture.
* The project can be managed virtually but there is a preference for a Boston area curator in order to work closely with the Harvard Square-based PRX team in person.

What's the point?

Public media has a unique opportunity to cover Campaign 2008 and elevate public engagement around critical issues at stake nationally and locally.

The democratization of the tools for creating and distributing media has resulted in an explosion of conversation, connection and content. This in turn creates a critical need for ways to sift, filter and find value amidst irrelevant or even harmful expression.

One important role is to use public media's presence and journalistic values to showcase and highlight examples of the diverse range of content and conversation already taking place online.

While the CNN/YouTube debates are the highest profile attempt so far to incorporate participatory media into coverage of Campaign 2008, there are few focused efforts to help audiences navigate the growing ocean of "user-generated content" to find relevant, important and revealing voices and perspectives.

This social media curating project is an experiment to explore approaches to this task, in the context of a critical national moment of a presidential election.
 

PRX Seeks Campaign Audio Curator for Public Media Election Collaboration 2008

PRX Seeks Campaign Audio Curator for Public Media Election Collaboration 2008
[UPDATE FEB 1, 2008: These positions have now been filled]

Position is available now and we are prioritizing applicants who can start immediately.

NOTE: We are also hiring for a Social Media Curator position listed here.

Apply for this position online (but please read this description first):
http://www.jotform.com/form/80063402318 

What's the story?

The Campaign Audio Curator will work with PRX as part of a CPB funded public media collaboration to find, select, annotate, and promote public radio and other audio material on Campaign '08 and related issues. Selected works can include produced pieces, interviews, raw audio from campaign appearances, issue-based and local or regional stories that can be edited or excerpted for re-use by stations and other project partners. The initial collection is underway and located here: http://www.prx.org/articles/905 

Read the press release about the collaboration here.

The collaboration as a whole seeks to pool the editorial and technical resources of a consortium of public media organizations, including NPR, PBS NewsHour, PRX, American Public Media, Public Radio International and other partners and local stations. The collaboration will encompass a variety of online and on-air projects aimed at increasing public engagement during the election year.

The Campaign Audio Curator position is project-based, starts immediately and runs through December 2008. It is expected to be a full-time commitment during the course of the contract. Fee is $40,000-55,000 depending on experience and start date.

What does the Curator do?

* assemble an authoritative, diverse, and well-organized collection of radio and audio works about Campaign '08 and related issues, personalities, and events on national, regional and local level;
* develop and articulate criteria for content selection, metrics and benchmarks for project tracking;
* work with public radio stations, independent producers, national shows, networks, podcasters, and other sources to identify and upload audio works to the PRX Campaign '08 collection;
* lead collaboration with other project partners and participating in the internal "Knowledge Network" for project coordination;
* maintain a public project blog chronicling the process;
* other tasks as assigned, coordinated with PRX staff and collaboration partners.

Who are we looking for?

* A political junkie with public radio experience, strong editorial judgment and an ability to manage lots of content.
* Some who can work quickly and competitively to lead and inspire stations and producers so that this collection has the most timely audio and the long-tail value of a curated archive.
* A keen observer of electoral politics, Campaign '08, people, issues, institutions, and platforms across the political spectrum.
* An organized and open-minded individual who is ready to have some fun with this project but with an eye on the bigger picture.
* The project can be managed virtually but there is a preference for a Boston area curator in order to work closely with the Harvard Square-based PRX team in person.

What's the point?

Public media has a unique opportunity to cover Campaign 2008 and elevate public engagement around critical issues at stake nationally and locally.

This project will help bubble up stories that otherwise might get lost in the shuffle, create an collection for timely use during the campaign season as well as a helpful archive for further evergreen and "long tail" opportunities in the future.

With the proliferation of audio on-air and online there's a critical role to play in sifting, sorting, curating and promoting the best of what's available. The PRX campaign collection will be a vital resource for stations, partners and the public.
 

Public Media Election Collaboration Announcement

CPB awards $1.3 million to Public Media Election Collaboration

CPB is granting $1,368,540 to a consortium of public media organizations to support multi-platform, system-wide public media coverage of Election 2008. National Public Radio will manage the grant on behalf of the public media organizations that have come together on this comprehensive effort. These include: American Public Media, Capitol News Connection, KQED, NPR, PBS, Public Radio Exchange, Public Radio International/Public Interactive and The NewsHour. The project will also enlist the talents and resources of public radio and television stations and independent producers nationwide.

“On behalf of all the partners, we deeply appreciate CPB’s leadership and support for this unprecedented collaboration,” says NPR’s CEO, Ken Stern. “By pooling content produced locally and nationally -- for radio, television, and online -- we will discover new ways of doing business to better serve the public. We are pleased to have succeeded in coming together to deliver on the commitments made at the 2007 Annual Meeting.”

In addition to enhancing public service, CPB sees the project as a model that can inform the future of public media.

“This grant underscores CPB’s support of innovative projects that move public radio and television into the digital future so they can help individuals better connect with their communities wherever they are,” says Pat Harrison, CPB President and CEO. “This ambitious project will provide us with new ways of looking at how we serve the public on existing and emerging media platforms.”

Among the tangible benefits for the audience are new opportunities for civic engagement through user-contributed content and discussion, and easier access to the complete pool of quality local and national public media content. To accomplish this, NPR and the major partners will develop a decentralized collection of Web 2.0 initiatives that provide the following array of resources to participating networks and stations:

- An interactive election map from NPR and The NewsHour;
- Localizable news modules from Public Radio International’s Public Interactive;
- A curated collection of election audio and social media content from PRX;
- Election-related video from PBS;
- An archive of broadcast materials covering New York-based presidential candidates from WNYC;
- A collaborative content initiative entitled “Global Perspectives on Election 2008” from PRI;
- User-generated political commentaries curated by NPR;
- Capitol News Connection’s interactive ‘Ask Your Lawmaker’ web widget that enables citizens to directly question their lawmakers and listen to answers obtained by CNC journalists;
- Election simulations and thought-provoking interactive activities from APM and KQED.

In addition, PBS is creating an educational campaign and teaching materials related to election modules, to be made available through project partner and station sites, and promoted to educators across the country.

“This collaboration demonstrates the power of public television and public radio working together,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “When we align our strengths, the American public reaps the benefits of access to a broader range of information they can trust and new ways to connect with today’s important issues.”

To facilitate communication and cooperation among public broadcasters, the infrastructure will include a “knowledge network” that serves as a centralized discussion space to share experiences, ideas and best practices.

Benefits to stations and the system include:
- Greater access to content and resources;
- Emphasis on customization and localization;
- A collaborative workspace;
- A proof-of-concept model that can serve as a foundation for further collaboration.

To learn more about the collaboration and how you can participate, watch for upcoming listserv postings, station interconnects, web-based seminars, and presentations at public media conferences. Information on accessing the knowledge network will be coming soon.

"The Local Option" PRX showcase show launches

[posted on behalf of WMPG]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(PORTLAND, ME) January 4, 2006 – WMPG-FM, greater Portland’s community radio, announced today the launch of a new program, The Local Option.

Airing Thursday nights at 7:30, the program will showcase the best work available from the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), with a strong local focus.

PRX is an online marketplace where radio producers post content and radio stations acquire it.

Financial support for The Local Option came from the PRX Showcase Show Project, where WMPG won a competitive process for production funds to encourage the creation of programs that use PRX content a local level.

“Showcase shows can spark new creativity in community radio,” said PRX Executive Director Jake Shapiro. “Stations have the opportunity to generate new local programming and producers now have more outlets for independent work.”

“The Local Option is like a mix tape for Portland,” said host, Kerry Seed. “It's the greatest radio from around the world with a local twist.”

WMPG Program Director, Dave Bunker called The Local Option, “a fascinating new experiment in collaborative radio.”

The premiere episode of The Local Option airs Thursday, January 5, 2006 at 7:30pm on WMPG, 90.9 and 104.1FM and will stream live at http://www.wmpg.org/. Episode one will feature the voices of area teens and national experts discussing “Teens and Technology”.

”The way young people use technology today is fascinating, “said Seed. “Their whole lives are so structured, but they’re able to cram so much into a day because they’re always connected to the network.”

Guests on the show include Portland High student, Bly Lauritano-Werner, Harvard professor, Chris Dede, and Amanda Lenhart, a researcher at the Pew Center for Internet and American Life.

PRX provided a youth poetry piece with technology as its central image to round out the show.

Future episodes will focus on issues pertinent to Portlanders in 2006, such as Portland’s changing cultural identity.

Additional information about this and other PRX showcase shows can be found here:

http://www.prx.org/articles/224

Media Contact:
Kerry Seed, Host of The Local Option
http://localoption.org
letters@localoption.org
207.650.5911

PRX $45k Showcase Show Support

For Immediate Release Contact: John Barth, john (at) prx.org

PRX Announces $45k Programming Support for Showcase Shows at Six Public Radio Stations

New Creative Approaches to Local Programming

(Cambridge, MA) November 1, 2005 -- The Public Radio Exchange (prx.org) announced today that it has awarded $45,000 to six public radio stations to support “showcase shows” - programs that highlight new work from PRX and other sources.

Showcase shows are created locally by station-based curators, highlighting radio work from the Public Radio Exchange and a variety of other sources. The goal is to develop innovative approaches to programming and introduce diverse new voices and perspectives outside of the current public radio offerings.

All of the new programs are expected to begin production in early 2006 and be broadcast at a minimum once a week.

“Showcase shows can spark new creativity in public radio,” said PRX Executive Director Jake Shapiro. “Stations have the opportunity to generate new local programming and producers now have more outlets for independent work”.

Requests for proposals for Showcase Show funding were posted on PRX.org and stations were alerted through email and on public forums. Proposals were reviewed by an outside consultant and the PRX staff.

PRX plans to work closely with these and other stations pursuing showcase shows to share best practices and ideas, attract additional support, and evaluate the project with a view to expanding the effort in 2006.

Funding for the Showcase Show project comes from a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with matching support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation.

Stations that were awarded support are:

Vermont Public Radio is creating a weekly hour-long showcase program called The Infinity Project that VPR says will rely upon “a team approach to the editorial process. We’ve set up a cross-departmental group of VPR staffers as well as outside individuals to conceive this program. This model will continue as we execute our vision of a sound-rich hour that is unique to public radio.”

In the Twin Cities, KFAI’s Listening Lounge plans to bolster and stabilize its existing, all-volunteer program with a part-time producer who would “ensure a higher level of consistency both in terms of the quality and the creative tone of the show. The producer would also be responsible for weekly on-air promo production, updating the show’s web site, editing pieces as needed and corresponding with independent producers whose work will be aired.”

KGLT in Bozeman, MT intends to create a showcase program called The Plan. Producer Barrett Golding says “the sound and approach of VoxPop will be closer to the way a music DJ presents a show than to the typical public radio ‘informational’ style. The Showcase will mesh with the format of an eclectic, music-based station.”

New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) is taking a very ambitious approach to its showcase program. NHPR proposes to “take the traditional Morning Edition model and flip it on its head. For years, public radio stations have squeezed varying degrees of local content in between Morning Edition's national stories. Now we have a way to take a locally produced show and strengthen it by including material from some of the industry's best new talent.”

Marfa Public Radio (KRTS FM) in Marfa, TX is a brand new signal due to launch in January 2006. The station is already planning a daily slot (6-days per week) for PRX and other acquired radio work. Marfa Public Radio’s proposal outlines how such a show could become part of regional culture: “The noon hour in Far West Texas [is] when people break for lunch,” says KRTS’ Tom Michael. “[The show] would become known as the time to hear the eclectic mix of documentaries, commentaries, dramatic pieces, and sound portraits.”

WMPG in Portland, ME has been taking bold steps with programming, especially youth radio. The station proposes a new weekly showcase program called The Local Option that producer Kerry Seed says “will be like listening to an off-beat, highly informed conversation about the issues of the day.” The show will take a strong local focus enhanced by acquired works.

Additional information about these and other showcase shows can be found here: http://www.prx.org/articles/224

About PRX The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a web-based service for distribution, review, and licensing of radio content. PRX brings new voices to new audiences, creates a fair market for creative radio, and helps radio stations assemble diverse and exceptional programming. PRX is a collaboration of the Station Resource Group (http://www.srg.org) and Atlantic Public Media (http://www.atlantic.org), with support from public radio stations and producers, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, NTIA's Technology Opportunities Program, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Surdna Foundation. For more information about The Public Radio Exchange visit http://www.prx.org.

OSI Funds Generation PRX for Two Additional Years

Contact: Jones Franzel, jones@prx.org, (617) 230-7311 http://generation.prx.org

July 20th, 2005

Cambridge, MA. Generation PRX, a program of the Public Radio Exchange that distributes and promotes youth-produced radio stories, today announced it has received a two-year grant from the Open Society Institute for $150,000.

With this support, Generation PRX will continue to strengthen and amplify the voices of young radio producers. Through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), Generation PRX connects youth radio groups, provides an online space for training and support, and brings stations to PRX to listen and broadcast youth-produced audio.

“PRX is at the cutting edge of radio distribution and emerging Internet media and we are excited that youth radio is a vital component of those efforts from the outset,” said Erlin Ibreck, Director of Youth Initiatives at the Open Society Institute.

The grant will also support training and discussion materials for youth producers that will be available on the Generation PRX homepage, as well as the Generation PRX Youth Editorial Board, a rotating group of three young people responsible for writing reviews of audio pieces produced by youth.

“Getting youth involved in radio is a great idea. I think it's important because it empowers us as youth and makes us feel like our voices are being heard,” said Generation PRX Youth Editorial Board member Andre Rosario of WAMU Youth Voices. “Programs like this are creating the journalists of the future, me being one of them. This youth revolution is going to change the face of radio as we know it.”

The Open Society Institute supported the launching of Generation PRX with an initial one-year grant of $75,000. Their support was matched with additional funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In the coming year, Generation PRX will develop new channels for distributing youth-produced radio such as podcasting, continue to collaborate with youth producers and youth radio leaders, and create opportunities for youth leadership and training.

“The momentum of Generation PRX is really growing. Youth producers and adult leaders are leading the way by uploading, reviewing and sharing ideas,” said Generation PRX project coordinator Jones Franzel. Stations are responding.

“Because of Generation PRX, youth-produced pieces have already been licensed by stations over 40 times. Tens of thousands of people are listening to youth voices and youth perspectives,” Jones added. “It’s thrilling.”

To learn more, visit Generation PRX at http://generation.prx.org or the Public Radio Exchange at http://prx.org

Generation PRX connects youth radio producers and leaders, works with stations to broadcast more youth radio and provides an online space for peer review and feedback. Generation PRX promotes youth voices and youth-produced radio to help listeners discover the next generation of sound.

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