Programs/Content

NPR’s Scott Simon to host second pilot of Wonderful Town variety show

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NPR is mounting a second pilot performance of Scott Simon’s Wonderful Town, a variety show featuring the Weekend Edition Saturday host. The live taping will take place Jan. 22 at the Bell House in Brooklyn, N.Y., where NPR’s trivia show Ask Me Another also tapes. It will feature appearances from comedians and musicians including Eugene Mirman, Nellie McKay and Daily Show contributor Aasif Mandvi. This is the second Wonderful Town pilot to be taped; the first was in February 2013.

Programs/Content

Chevy’s upcoming in-dash app selection to include NPR

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General Motors announced Monday that the NPR News app will be featured in the inaugural suite of in-car apps the automaker has slated for select 2015 Chevrolet models. 

The announcement was made in conjunction with the 2014 Consumer Electronic Show, which kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas. GM is including OnStar 4G LTE connections in 2015 models of the Chevy Corvette, Impala, Malibu and Volt. An LTE connection makes a vehicle a WiFi hotspot and allows drivers to download apps to the dashboard including NPR, The Weather Channel, Priceline.com and Slacker Radio. According to NPR, the new app will use GPS to find a local NPR station and designate it as a “primary favorite.” The app will announce the station and play hourly news and the station’s live stream. Users can add other stations to the app as well and find member stations using a search function. Upwards of 30 programs will be available on-demand, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered. NPR said the app will also allow drivers to create automated playlists focused on topics such as politics and technology.

Programs/Content

Flatow finds more traction for ‘Science Friday’ in PRI distribution

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After two decades as a weekly NPR program, the 22-year-old Science Friday is preparing to shake things up. With its move to Public Radio International distribution on Jan. 1, the talk show has ambitious plans to put its content into wider distribution through collaborations with PRI series such as The World and The Takeaway as well as with the PBS science program Nova. WGBH in Boston, which acquired PRI in 2012, is involved in production of all three major series, opening new cross-platform distribution and branding opportunities. A new educational specialist is working to turn more of Science Friday’s content into curricular materials, and PRI is exploring ways to offer its programming through PBS Learning Media, the online resource providing free media and lesson plans to K–12 educators.

Programs/Content

Grants, donations to NPR support expanded reporting, app for personalized listening

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NPR has lined up $17 million in grants and individual gifts to expand two beat-reporting units and to complete development of an app designed to provide a personalized, location-based listening experience of content from NPR and local stations. Most of the funding, about $10 million, supports development of the app, which NPR has referred to internally as Project Carbon. Slated for release by April 2014, the app will enable listeners to hear, read and watch public radio content across digital platforms, providing an experience similar to what Pandora or Spotify offer for music. The app is designed to customize the content it delivers by using geolocation, gathering feedback and tracking when and for how long users listen. Though the app will launch initially for smartphones, NPR plans to expand its capabilities to serve “as many platforms as needed,” said Kinsey Wilson, chief content officer.

Quick Takes

Dotcom entrepreneur invests $250K in Swell app

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Jason Calacanis is betting big on Swell, the five-month-old app that curates podcasts and news reports. The angel investor, who co-founded the blog network Weblogs Inc., the search engine Mahalo.com and the podcast network ThisWeekIn, announced Dec. 3 that he would invest $250,000 in the app. In a blog post on his tech website Launch, Calacanis cited the app’s pedigree, mission, design and focus on podcasting as reasons for his investment. He had been interested in the similar apps Stitcher and TuneIn, he said, but wasn’t able to invest in them in time.

People

Robert Conley, first host of All Things Considered, dies at 85

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Robert Conley, the first host of NPR’s All Things Considered, died of parotid cancer Nov. 16 at his home in Virginia. He was 85. As the host who inaugurated broadcast of NPR’s afternoon newsmagazine on May 3, 1971, Conley eschewed written scripts and delivered off-the-cuff intros to stories, while maintaining an air of professionalism. During ATC’s debut, Conley filled around six minutes of airtime while producers scrambled to bring a story on Vietnam War protests to the control room.

People

NPR’s Slocum honored for leadership and service to public radio

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The Public Radio Regional Organizations presented the annual PRRO Award Nov. 13 to NPR Chief Administrative Officer Joyce Slocum, whose five years with the network  included serving as NPR’s interim c.e.o. for nine months in 2011. The PRRO award recognizes behind-the-scenes “heroes” who have helped advance the field of public media throughout their careers. Georgette Bronfmann of Eastern Region Public Media presented the award, lauding Slocum for steering NPR during challenging times  and describing the respect she earned among colleagues for her leadership. As chief administrative officer of NPR, Slocum serves as secretary to the NPR Board of Directors and is an adviser to the NPR Foundation Board of Trustees.

Quick Takes

NPR urges FCC to help stations dislocated by spectrum auction

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NPR has asked the FCC to consider reimbursing broadcasters for the costs of any antenna relocations that may result from the upcoming auction of television broadcast spectrum. In a Nov. 4 comment filed with the commission, NPR pointed out that spectrum repacking may require broadcasters to upgrade towers, which in turn could temporarily dislocate radio antennas. “To avoid undue hardship to NCE and other radio stations as a result of the television spectrum reassignment, NPR urges the Commission to construe its statutory authority broadly and flexibly to assure cost reimbursement in all compelling cases such as these,” the network wrote. NPR can’t predict the costs or number of dislocations that may occur as a result of the auction, which is slated for next year, said Mike Riksen, v.p. for policy and representation.

Programs/Content

NPR combining news apps, multimedia teams

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NPR’s news applications and multimedia operations are merging into a single unit to be headed by current News Applications Editor Brian Boyer. “We were already sitting right next to each other,” Boyer said. “When we moved into the new building, it was already obvious that we would be working closely together.”

The departments have already collaborated on several projects, including a web presentation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s family photos and a Tumblr, Cook Your Cupboard, which advises home cooks about how to use odds and ends from their pantries. Other desks have often approached Boyer’s team about attempting projects with multimedia components, he said, forcing him to redirect such requests to the Multimedia desk. The new arrangement will make collaboration smoother, he said.

Quick Takes

Rehm to direct marketing for American Geophysical Union

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Dana Davis Rehm, a former NPR senior v.p. and public radio station manager, is joining the American Geophysical Union as its director of marketing. Rehm left NPR in February after 13 years in various roles within the organization’s executive ranks. Her departure was part of a restructuring within the marketing and communications division under former NPR chief Gary Knell. Rehm began at NPR as v.p. of member and program services, a job that involved leading NPR’s 2005–06 New Realities initiative. After a promotion to senior v.p. of strategy and partnerships, she helped manage its acquisition of Public Interactive from Public Radio International.

People

NPR unveils new voice of underwriting credits

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NPR hired voice-over and theater actress Sabrina Farhi as the new voice of its underwriting credits, with her on-air debut to come next month. Farhi has previously lent her voice to ads for TIAA–CREF and Bioré Skincare and performed extensively in independent theater productions in New York. She will work out of NPR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in her new job. “Out of hundreds of voices, Sabrina’s immediately stood out for its warmth and conversational approach,” said Eric Nuzum, NPR’s v.p. of programming, in a press release. “We think listeners and supporters will find her engaging.”

In a brief audio introduction (hear it here), Farhi reveals that she enjoys Scrabble and Mad Men and tells listeners that “I’m not as serious as I sound.”

“I wanted to be an actress when I grew up, and all things considered, this is a dream career I never thought of as a kid,” Farhi says.

Programs/Content

NPR to announce new voice of underwriting credits

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NPR plans to unveil tomorrow the name of the on-air talent who has been chosen to voice its underwriting credits as a successor to longtime announcer Frank Tavares. “The NPR Announcer will become the voice of all NPR national funding credits for broadcast and digital content,” wrote Eric Nuzum, v.p. of programming, in a Oct. 21 memo to public radio station leaders that was obtained by Current. “We think listeners — and sponsors — will find her engaging.” Though Nuzum wasn’t divulging the identity of the new announcer, he did reveal that the network has chosen a female. Listeners will begin hearing her announcements next month in NPR newscast and online credits, Nuzum wrote; she will take over voicing of all credits later.

Programs/Content

WFUV seeks membership boost with new mix of music

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New York’s WFUV has expanded its music mix and dropped NPR newscasts, with a goal of enticing more listeners to become members. Starting this month, the Triple A station broadened its playlists and added more local music to its lineup. Listeners might now hear musicians such as Prince, the Clash and Arcade Fire in close proximity, while classic artists such as Aretha Franklin, Queen, and Hall and Oates are still represented. WFUV is also featuring more new music as it aims to buttress its reputation for introducing listeners to up-and-coming artists. Program Director Rita Houston and her colleagues were happy with recent growth in WFUV’s audience, from an average–quarter-hour share of 0.2 in spring 2012 to 0.4 a year later.

Programs/Content

After Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan’s first gig takes him to Greenland

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Neal Conan’s first foray out of the studio in 11 years took him very far from the studio indeed — all the way to Greenland, where he documented climate change for public radio’s Burn: An Energy Journal. The former Talk of the Nation host contributed to “Rising Seas,” the sixth installment of the ongoing series reporting on energy issues. Conan hadn’t reported from the field since 2002, when he took the TOTN hosting job. He left NPR in June, when TOTN was canceled. Burn host Alex Chadwick, who previously anchored NPR’s Day to Day, enlisted Conan after TOTN ended.