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Public radio stations are saving Gothamist sites
Last year, billionaire Joe Ricketts shut down Gothamist and DNAInfo a week after newsroom employees unionized. Though there was immediate public outcry over the decision, the sites' future has remained bleak and uncertain, but, as Wired reports, they're now getting an unexpected helping hand from some old-school media -- public radio. At least three public radio stations -- New York's WNYC, Washington DC's WAMU and Southern California's KPCC -- will be taking over Gothamist and associated sites like LAist, DCist and DNAInfo, maintaining their archives and adding new content in the near future.
NPR One delivers personalized public radio on the go
NPR already has a few options for sorting its range of programming, but now the public radio outfit is looking to get more specific. The latest effort is the NPR One, which offers a local stream along with curated content that's accessible with one tap -- all broken down into short segments. For example, upon launching the app and signing in with a Facebook, Google or NPR account, pressing play begins streaming the latest update from the closest station (WUNC in my case). Swiping to the left of the Now Playing section offers a history of recently broadcast content for a quick recap, while a swipe to the right allows you to scroll through upcoming bits. There's also controls for skipping back in 15-second increments and jumping from the current story to another. Of course, if you're after the latest All Songs Considered or Fresh Air episodes, those are easily searchable as well. Both Android and iOS apps are available via their respective repositories.
Left of the dial: Independent radio in the digital age
"This room is, to a certain extent, a trophy room," Jason Bentley admits, his morning DJ voice rendered even smoother than usual following an in-studio set by local downtempo electro-soul group Rhye. The host of Morning Becomes Eclectic is seated slightly uncomfortably on a stepladder in KCRW's cramped music library, as staff members clear out electric candles from the performance space (the band and station arrived at the alternative lighting in order to maintain Rhye's relative anonymity, while still giving viewers of the video stream something to look at). The space is exactly what you'd want in a radio station library: high, cramped shelving units that are somehow impossibly messy and immaculately organized all at once. Between the CDs and vinyl stacked on shelves and tucked into hidden drawers, there's a vast catalog of music in this room, but it's clear in the five seconds it takes to walk from door to door that this space couldn't possibly house all the songs required to maintain a 24-hour schedule as diverse as KCRW's. "We have moved to digital, mostly," the DJ / music director continues. "But this is really the spiritual center and the heart of the radio station." The setting is in stark contrast to Jersey City's WFMU, where the concept of a music library is still very much a living, breathing thing. In spite of the station's ties to the claustrophobia of the greater New York City metropolitan area, WFMU's set is far more spacious, housing more music than could ever be enjoyed in a single lifetime. At the beloved freeform station, physical media is still a primary tool of the DJ's arsenal, albeit one augmented by a 250,000-song digital music library. But for all the care devoted to its library, WFMU's charm lies within a structure seemingly held together by duct tape and love -- and walls decorated with glittered LP covers created by listeners at its annual record fair.
KCRW launches MALCOLM music service to help indie bands in need
Being a DJ at radio station can be an embarrassment of riches. And really, who's going to listen to you complain about having too much music to listen to? Santa Monica's terrifically wonderful public radio station KCRW is looking to take a little bit of the pain of finding new music for its DJs, with the launch of MALCOLM, a site that lets artists submit their music for consideration -- a nice attempt at continued outreach in a medium so dominated by charts and major label interference. Bands can create profiles with images, bios and social media links, alongside up to three tracks. MALCOLM serves as a bit of a social network for the station's DJs, letting them share tracks and interact with profiles, alerting artists via email when someone has commented on or rated their listing. More information on the service, which borrows its name from KCRW's old internal record filing system, can be found in the press release after the break. Interested bands can submit songs in the source link below.
Radiolab releases Android, iOS app, invites you to join the sound collage
We're not going to go so far as stating conclusively that Radiolab is the best program on your dial right now, but it's certainly a prime contender for that title. The Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich-hosted WYNC show frames scientific topics in a fascinating and understandable manner accessible to even the most unscientifically minded among us. The program now joins the ranks of public radio shows that crossed over into the world of mobile apps, arriving on Android and iOS. For $2.99, you get access to every episode of the show, audio and video bonuses and news pertaining to the program. The app's also heavy of interstitial animations (as evidenced by the video below) and lets users submit audio recordings and end-credit readings for inclusion on the show.
KCRW app launches music discovery
KCRW is a Los Angeles-based public radio station with a history of introducing new artists to listeners. Keeping with this tradition, the radio station now has an iPad app called Music Mine that'll let you dig deep into their catalog and find new music. Similar to other music apps like Bandito, Music Mine was developed by the Public Radio Exchange and powered by Echo Nest's music intelligence engine. It'll display up to 100 new artists at a time and link them to KCRW's playlists. There's also videos, photos and more from each artist. If you want to just listen to music, you can fire up the app and tune into KCRW directly. The Music Mine app is available for free from the App Store.
'This American Life' tackles patent trolls, lives to broadcast about it
The financial crisis, DIY cryogenics, the love songs of Phil Collins -- This American Life has taken on a lot in its 15-plus years on public radio. This week the Ira Glass-helmed show tackles a matter close to our hearts: the patent wars. The show has devoted the entirety of episode 441 to the seedy world of patent trolling. The TAL team focuses in on the practices of Intellectual Ventures, a name that should ring some bells and rattle some bank accounts around these parts. Check out the link to episode below -- and why not subscribe to the podcast while you're there? You can thank us later. [Thanks, Brandon]
NPR News app updated, improved
The NPR News app [iTunes link] is quickly becoming a jack of all trades for news junkies and those wanting a quick fix of their favorite NPR program. The latest version, 1.1, adds sharing of stories via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. You can now pause radio programs, as well as fast forward and rewind them. Finding local stations is easy by using the iPhone's location services, or you can choose to listen to just about every NPR station in the country. The news part of the app works pretty quickly on a 3G network, but I find the pop-up ads at the bottom irritating. I don't think there are enough news stories on screen at once, an issue it shares with the AP News app. The NPR app has been popular since the moment it was released, and the developers have continued to be responsive and add features on a regular basis. Getting access to NPR programs like Car Talk and All Things Considered is very nice, plus you can listen to any individual news story on demand. There is no search function, which would be most welcome, but overall the app is really useful and continues to improve. If you don't have it, grab it for free. If you already have it and use it, be sure to update to this latest version.
NPR debuts official iPhone app
There are few public radio apps out there, but the official NPR News app [iTunes link] takes some of the best features of these offerings and goes one step beyond. NPR News app was developed by Bottle Rocket Apps, the same folks who brought us Gas Buddy and a number of other well-executed iPhone apps. And, NPR News does not disappoint. When you open the app, you're presented with a layout similar to other news apps. You have top stories, more offerings beyond that, and then a newscast where you can listen to a brief update of the top news of the hour. Along the bottom is a toolbar toggling among news, NPR's programs, a comprehensive listing of NPR stations nationwide with the ability to listen to your station of choice. For that, I tried out WUAL -- broadcast from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- my alma mater. The stream loaded quickly and I was listening to WUAL from my iPhone at a Barnes & Noble in Phoenix, Arizona. Pretty sweet. It's one of the things that I loved from Public Radio Player, and I'm glad to see this feature on the official app as well. Under the Programs heading, you can add stories to a playlist or be taken to its podcast listing in the iTunes Music Store except for programs where you can select individual stories rather than the overall broadcast. If a program is currently airing in your local area while you're perusing the offerings, tap on the "Select Station" icon to pick a station to listen live. While in both program or station mode, the menu expands to expose a volume control if you tap on the arrow right above the time indicator. Other than the lack of some programs, the only other big drawback to NPR News is the inability to scrub back and forth in a program. It's especially hindering if you have to stop the program for any reason because you'll have to go all the way back to the beginning. NPR News is a free download and definitely worth checking out. Edit (7:55 AM PDT): Some programs such as "Marketplace" aren't available because they are not produced by National Public Radio, according to Andy Carvin with NPR in our comments. These programs are available when you tune into a station live, but are not listed under the NPR programs section. He also added that scrubbing and sharing features will come in the 1.1 edition of the app. Thanks for the clarification, Andy!
First Look: Public Radio Tuner
Whenever I'm not listening to my iPod in the car, I'm usually have my radio tuned to National Public Radio, where I get my fix of classical and jazz music. American Public Media has created an iPhone app that caters to those of us who want to listen to a particular NPR station, but don't happen to be near a computer.Public Radio Tuner (click opens iTunes) is a free application that compiles the Internet streams from more than 150 public radio stations into a single list. You scroll through the list to your preferred station, then there is a screen with a play button and volume control. Over Wi-Fi, the station I picked came in clear with no interruptions. I can turn off the iPhone's screen and it'll keep playing. However, when I tried to launch Public Radio Tuner using a fairly strong EDGE connection, the application insisted that it wasn't connected to the Internet. I had to utilize another program that activated an Internet connection, then relaunch Public Radio Tuner, before it would work over EDGE. After that, it works as advertised, though American Public Media warns that some stations require a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to work properly.It's a simple application, and does what it does well. It still needs some improvement. I would love to see a search tool implemented so you can bypass scrolling through the long list of radio stations; search by station name or by location would be great. The ability to bookmark your favorite stations would be an additional bonus, as well as tweaking the application to recognize a connection over EDGE without having to launch another application.
