NPR and New Media

There are a number of great iPhone apps for listening to streaming from public radio stations. Public Radio is one of the more recent and is a very well done app. NPR sees the world changing and is responding to these changes by making content available in a variety of formats and to a variety of devices.

NPR Is Enhancing Its Web Site:

NPR, the public radio network, is introducing a revamped NPR.org this week, giving users what its executives say is an easier-to-navigate Web site that emphasizes written reporting over audio reports.

It is part of a digital expansion, branded with the new tagline ‘Always On,’ that will include several mobile applications to be available late this summer.

The changes are meant to raise the level of NPR’s journalism and journalistic output, and to make public radio more widely available, not just on local stations but on any format consumers might want, said Vivian Schiller, NPR’s president and chief executive.

‘We are a news content organization, not just a radio organization,’ Ms. Schiller said.
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The Web site changes are part of a strategy meant to increase NPR’s share of the midday audience, between its ‘Morning Edition’ and the late afternoon ‘All Things Considered,’ when listening to NPR stations drops considerably, said Kinsey Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of NPR Digital Media.

Instead of short paragraphs that direct users to click on links to audio reports taken from NPR’s programs, the Web site will now offer fully reported text versions of articles, so users can click from their cubicles. ‘We think the midday experience is much more text-driven,’ Mr. Wilson said.

The Web site will flip ‘from being a companion to radio to being a news destination in its own right,’ Ms. Schiller said.
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In the coming weeks, NPR will release free mobile applications for the iPhone, Google’s Android and Symbian-powered phones.

Dozens of public radio apps already are available for the iPhone and other mobile platforms. NPR’s new applications, however, will emphasize news content, offering quick links to articles in written or audio form.