Quick Takes
Wednesday roundup: INNovate Fund backs eight grantees; KQED hires Martin away from CPB
|
Plus: Hawaii Public Radio enjoys a pledge record, and Ken Burns recalls his early influences.
Programs/Content
PRI adds variety to program slate with acquisition of Live Wire
|
Public Radio International is adding the Portland, Ore.–based variety show Live Wire to its programming lineup, the distributor announced Monday. Live Wire, which bills itself as “radio variety for the ADD generation,” is independently produced and currently airs on 48 stations nationwide. PRI will take over distribution of the weekly show beginning July 1, the same day it ends distribution of its widest carried program, This American Life. “Since we started the show we were hoping to gain the attention of a national distributor,” said Robyn Tenenbaum, Live Wire co-creator and e.p. The program launched in 2004 and shops itself to stations with the help of digital distribution tools from Public Radio Exchange. Though representatives from NPR and American Public Media were “aware of us” and NPR programming VP Eric Nuzum attended a taping, PRI was the first distributor to make an offer, Tenenbaum said.
Programs/Content
New youth-flavored variety entries move genre out of its Prairie Home
|
Once thought to have been left for dead after the vaudeville era, variety shows have re-entered the public radio reinvention conversation — and it doesn’t take Guy Noir to find out why.