PRX Remix app comes to mobile devices

Public Radio Exchange is porting its popular PRX Remix program stream to yet another platform as an app for iPhones and Android devices.

PRX Remix, formerly known as Public Radio Remix, launches its free dedicated app today. The app provides another means of accessing PRX’s continuous stream, which includes short audio pieces by independent producers, as well as segments from popular programs such as The Moth and Snap Judgment. Roman Mars, creator of PRX’s 99% Invisible, is the host and program director of PRX Remix.

The app was funded with a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, awarded last year.

Listeners can also hear the stream via the Web, on a SiriusXM satellite radio channel and as segments on more than a dozen terrestrial pubradio stations, as well as through PRX’s own Public Radio Player mobile app. Exact listenership figures are not available because of the difficulty of tracking so many platforms, but PRX CEO Jake Shapiro estimates that PRX Remix has more than 100,000 regular listeners.

The app arrives at a time of increased competition among developers of mobile apps that curate news and talk radio. Swell, an app that uses algorithms to program a continuous stream of content, launched two weeks ago and partners with NPR and American Public Media. Stitcher, an on-demand audio content app, attracts millions of listeners via iPhones, iPads, Androids and Kindles, and includes content from NPR, APM and Public Radio International. Currently, Stitcher’s top five programs are all from public media.

“There are a lot more experiments underway with this exact opportunity,” Shapiro told Current. “We’re not the only ones to realize there’s this huge shift in mobile listening.”

The difference, Shapiro said, is that the majority of PRX Remix’s content comes from independent producers rather than big-name programs.

In coming months, Shapiro hopes that the app will incorporate features such as a donate button and information about featured producers. PRX is also exploring an iPad app for Remix.