Sep
13
2005

national public podcast

NPR: National Public RadioNPR has podcasts! NPR has podcasts!

I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, actually. I’ve been a regular NPR listener since 2000, listening to Morning Edition and All Things Considered on my morning and evening commutes. NPR still doesn’t offer podcasts of those two programs — although they’ve been available in streaming form for some time.

But I am jazzed about all the other programming they’re offering in podcast form — like a podcast version of All Songs Considered, featuring songs from indie bands’ performances at D.C.’s own 9:30 Club.

Also cool: a daily podcast of the most e-mailed stories at NPR.org, compiling the top five audio reports from NPR’s programs into a single audio file.

The site offers numerous other podcasts, many of them topical: Health & Science, Music, Movies, etc. I’m not sure when all this went live — I just noticed it in iTunes this afternoon for the first time. But I’m definitely excited to see them make this foray into the podcasting sphere — it seems like a natural fit for them.

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Posted at 3:29 PM in journalism/media, music, technology, washington, dc

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Comments

You should check out podornot - you can list podcasts there and find new cool stuff. Let me know what you think! -Justin

Posted by Justin on September 13, 2005 6:31 PM

OJR had an interesting piece yesterday about the success of NPR’s podcasting efforts thus far and podcasting as a new business model.

In a wide-ranging interview on NPR’s podcasting initiatives, Thomas told me that there were two driving forces for NPR: listener demand for portable audio, and the chance to find a new business model for working with stations. Previously, NPR’s income was split evenly from fees paid for content by member stations (who raised money from pledge drives), and corporate and foundation underwriting spots. Podcasting gave NPR a new model for selling underwriting, and sharing the proceeds with stations…

So what makes NPR’s podcasting a different animal? Rather than just offering podcasts of entire NPR radio shows, the most popular NPR podcasts have been “best of”-type offerings by topic. For instance, podcasts such as NPR Movies, NPR Technology and NPR Music take content from various radio shows on the same topic. That way, it’s easier to sell to underwriters interested in a particular topic.

(“Will NPR’s podcasts birth a new business model for public radio?” - 11/29/05)

Posted by alykat on November 30, 2005 8:55 AM

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