On Being, the weekly American Public Media show about religion and faith, may spin off from its Minnesota-based public radio distributor and shift responsibility for production to an independent company headed by host and producer Krista Tippett.
APM, which is currently in negotiations with Tippett, plans to continue distributing the show and may provide additional production services to Tippett’s new company, according to Mardi Larson, APM spokesperson.
APM outlined details of the plan in a “Dear Colleague” letter distributed to public radio stations and released publicly by Public Radio Program Directors. APM expects to complete the transition by July 1.
“We are pleased by this pending transition and excited about what it will mean to On Being‘s audience and fans,” wrote Nancy Cassutt, APM’s managing director of distribution in the letter to stations.
In a statement provided to Current, APM said that the agreement has yet to be formalized, adding: “We are pleased by this pending transition, which was conceived jointly by Krista and APM to accelerate the growth and success of On Being. Together, we believe this is an important step forward for On Being, and we expect that as independent production team it can explore new opportunities for enhanced audience engagement. ”
On Being launched in 1999 under a different title, Speaking of Faith, and initially aired on Minnesota Public Radio as an occasional series. It went into national distribution in 2001 and expanded into weekly production in 2010, the same year that Tippett decided to change the series title. It has won a Peabody award and multiple Webby awards.