The Future of Public Radio: Part 1

Annually, public radio programmers from across the nation (and overseas) gather to talk shop. This year, the mood at the Public Radio Program Directors Association conference in Philadelphia was one of concern. With many listeners newly entranced by the gadgets and gizmos of the 21st century — podcasts, blogs, satellite radio, streaming audio — it all adds up to one intimidating fact: the consumers of today’s ‘content’ want it on their terms. And the old guard of public radio now realizes it has some catching up to do. But therein lies the opportunity, and the reason why many of the more adventuresome attendees had a spring in their step.

For starters, here’s Jay Kernis, the senior VP of programming at National Public Radio:
Click here: (9 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview.

Also in attendance was a contingent of BBC World Service cognoscenti, who brought their own brand of blunt charm to the affair. Key among the charmers was Phil Harding, director of English Network and News.
Click here: (7 minutes) to listen to the interview.

But with Elisabeth Perez-Luna in attendance, the Americans were able to hold their own. Currently, she’s the news director and the executive producer of national radio programming at WHYY:
Click here: (12 minutes) to listen to the interview.

And there’s more!

  • WUNC’s George Boosey, Nikki Shields of Maine Public Radio & Michael Arnold of PRI
  • the BBC’s Liliane Landor, On Point’s Karen Shiffman & Eric Nuzum of NPR
  • Iowa Public Radio’s Todd Mundt, Jackie Sauter with NCPR & MPR’s Andrew Haeg
  • Maria Thomas of NPR & Lucio Mesquita of the BBC.

Note: to read a PRX review of my interview with Jackie Sauter (part 4) click here:

Posted on September 20, 2006 in Public Media
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Beyond Broadcast: more state of mind…

A key panelist was Terry Heaton, the president of Donata Communications. He’s part rebel, part businessman, part visionary:
(5:30 minutes)

Here’s my interview with Jamie Biggar, the young but wise senior developer at WGBH Interactive:
(4:30 minutes)

Dan Fellini, managing producer, Public Interactive Now here’s a man with a mind of his own!
(5:30 minutes)

Donna Liu, Founder and Executive Director of The University Channel. This distribution network provides academic lectures and conferences, over the Internet, in video format. It’s unadulterated, and it’s free!
(4:30 minutes)

Second Life guru John Lester of Linden Lab. Rather light-hearted talk about sexually ambiguous avatars and virtual 19th century islands with ‘steam robots.’ That was John’s avatar…
(7 minutes)

and Mark Anderson, the author of “Shakespeare By Another Name“, who covered the conference for Wired News. Here’s his article, and here’s our interview:
(2:40 minutes)

To hear MORE podcast interviews from Beyond Broadcast, check out Audio Berkman‘s line-up!

Posted on May 26, 2006 in Public Media
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Beyond Broadcast: the state of mind

Branching Out
I attended the Beyond Broadcast conference at Harvard Law School in in the spring of 2006, and here are some of the participants I grabbed for a quick ThoughtCast interview: For starters, there’s Pat Aufderheide, the director of the Center for Social Media, and a professor at the School of Communication at American University, in Washington, D.C.
Click here: (7 minutes)

And click here to listen to the Beyond Broadcast conference hightlights on the WGBH Forum Network.

Terry Heaton, president of Donata Communications
Jamie Biggar, with WGBH Interactive
Dan Fellini, managing producer, Public Interactive
Donna Liu, Founder of The University Channel
John Lester, the Second Life guru of Linden Lab
Mark Anderson, who covered the conference for Wired.com

Posted on May 17, 2006 in Public Media
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Dan Gillmor on ThoughtCast


Dan Gillmor, the influential technology writer and blogger, has recently founded a new initiative called The Center for Citizen Media. Its purpose: to assist in the formation of citizen journalism and other forms of grassroots media. Gillmor, who is now a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, delivered the inaugural lecture for the Berkman Center’s “Citizen Media Series” earlier this year. The title: “We the Media: The Rise of Grassroots, Open-Source Journalism, and the Coming Era of the Citizen Activism.”

This recording is provided courtesy of the Berkman Center. (Three cheers for Colin Rhinesmith! He runs AudioBerkman.)

Click here: (33 minutes)

And thanks to Andigo New Media, Inc. for the ‘Eat or Be Eaten’ logo!

Posted on May 16, 2006 in Public Media
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Lisa Randall, Harvard physicist

WGBH broadcast this ThoughtCast interview, and also featured it on their “Science Luminaries” series, as part of “WGBH Science City.”  It was also broadcast on WCAI/WNAN, public radio stations for the Cape and Islands.

Professor Randall is a theoretical particle physicist who sees past the rest of us to a world of extra dimensions and parallel universes. Hers is a world of warped geometry, sink-holes and branes — a world that fills glaring gaps in current thinking, and can finally explain why gravity is so ‘weak’!

Now while this might sound like so much Greek — just wait. Randall’s latest book, written for the layman, is called “Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions” — so she’s had plenty of practice explaining these high-flying ideas to English majors.

Click here to listen to Lisa Randall’s interview on the WGBH Forum Network.

Posted on April 11, 2006 in a new podcast, Harvard Luminaries, Ideas, Science
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Harvard Book Store author talks: Alan Dershowitz

Click here: (25 minutes) to listen to Alan Dershowitz’s talk on “Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways” at Harvard Hillel, presented by the Harvard Book Store. Among other subjects, Dershowitz discusses the doctrine of preemption, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, torture, and our ‘war on terror’.
And to hear a ThoughtCast interview with Alan, click here!

Posted on March 20, 2006 in Harvard Luminaries, Politics
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