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« Hemp iPod Cases Provide Alternative For Eco-Conscious Consumers | Main | Infinity Yanks Steve Dahl Podcast Over Podcasting Legal Issues »Public Radio International Announces "Open Source" PodcastMay 06, 2005Public Radio International (PRI) and Open Source Media Inc. have announced plans to launch a radio program to embrace bloggers, podcasters, Web enthusiasts, and the Internet transformation of media. Open Source from PRI is a hour-long, on-air conversation designed to capture “the sound of the Web” with host Christopher Lydon engaging callers, e-mailers, and bloggers from around the world in a range of fascinating topics. Open Source will launch Monday, May 30, in Boston on WGBH Radio 89.7, airing Monday – Thursday at 7 p.m. Starting July 4, PRI will feed the program live nationwide, making it available to its 727 affiliate stations for broadcast and simulcast streaming, and offering additional feeds for stations in other time zones. Open Source aims to begin conversations on the Web each day and invite a worldwide audience to contribute topics, guests, and information that advances understanding of issues and ideas. Lydon says, “My ambition, with producer Mary McGrath, is to thread the seeming chaos of the Web into a coherent skein of ideas and argument. We want to launch the smartest, most various, wide-open, irresistible, and democratic conversation anyone’s ever been invited to join, in any format. The Internet transition we’re living through is a boundless opportunity. It extends the rim of the roundtable and the range of the give-and-take to the whole planet.” Public Radio International, which in recent years has helped develop and syndicate some of public radio’s most innovative programs, including PRI’s The World, This American Life, Marketplace, PRI’s Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, and From the Top, will also assist Lydon’s production company, Open Source Media Inc., in developing the online elements of the venture. Public Interactive LLC, a Boston-based Web services company owned by PRI, is designing the means to manage the ongoing Web dialog. In addition to airing nationwide on public radio stations, Open Source will be available for streaming via station websites. “Stations carrying the program will become entry points for a worldwide community of participants,” says Debra May Hughes, chief operating officer of Public Interactive and the person overseeing design of the Web components. “People log onto the Web at night the way they used to turn on the television set. We want to connect them to radio, and radio to them, while they are online.” Open Source also represents a production partnership between Open Source Media Inc. and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Executive Vice Chancellor Frederick Sperounis says, “This university wants to stay on the cutting edge of technology and the use of media to further an informed, inclusive community. We are thrilled to be joining with Chris and PRI to make this bold concept possible.” The university’s public radio station, WUML, will air Open Source at 7 p.m., Monday – Thursday, providing a second tune-in opportunity for Boston area listeners. The new show will be international in its voices and its breadth of interest and angles, Lydon says. “A big part of our ambition is to get off the island, so to speak. We want to break out of the feedback loop of American media. The peril of war, disease, hunger, and climate change — but also the pleasure of cultural connections and the promise of science and medicine, for example — all have global dimensions. And so does the Internet, a brilliant device for conversation that has the whole world in its Web.” A Boston native and Yale alumnus, host Christopher Lydon is, notes artist/scholar John Perry Barlow, “a wizard at getting the brilliant to speak brilliantly.” With producer Mary McGrath, formerly the science producer at the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and The Christian Science Monitor, Lydon co-created The Connection, frequently cited as one of the smartest, most original public radio talk shows in America. Lydon is currently a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Center for Economic and Civic Opinion at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. A pioneer audio blogger, he has posted a long series of original interviews on his website, Christopher Lydon Interviews. His Blogging of the President, 2004 website was praised in Vanity Fair as being “… to political blogdom what Samuel Johnson and his fellow members of the Club were to London, only without the port and cold mutton.” CommentsI'm missing where the story says it'll be a podcast. All I see is how podcasters are getting on the radio. My ears are still attached to my MP3 player, and I'm not hearing this show. Dave Posted by: David Jaquay at May 6, 2005 03:32 PM Just a note to anyone interested... although this show is called "Open Source," you might be as shocked to find out how this show came about as many of us at WUML were. Earlier this semester, we finally felt we had won a battle, or at least a part of it. We had been fighting for quite some time to first prevent, then nullify, a link between a local corporate newspaper and our student-run, student-supported radio station. The Lowell Sun was no longer part of our radio line-up, and we felt relieved, and seemingly it was a matter of time before the morning hours of our week were returned to us. However, mid-semester we were informed that Christopher Lydon would be doing an hour-long show every day, on our station, taking additional time away, and that the five hours daily would still be part of a Sun-less "sunrise" program. This decision was made in violation of a contract the administration of the University of Massachusetts Lowell signed with the board of directors of WUML, stating that the remaining 19 hours of every day would remain ours, and nothing would be done to try to change that without first consulting with us. We were told on that day that the Lydon deal WOULD happen. In short, this show is an example of a school selling out its students - who sign their paychecks - to earn a few extra bucks by producing a national show. A tidbit to think about when deciding if "Open Source" is a fair name for this show. -Jerome Eno, DJ, WUML-FM 91.5 Posted by: Jerome Eno at May 6, 2005 11:11 PM David The part about attaching your ears to the MP3 player sounds a little painful. This show is still very much under development, but it looks like it will be very interesting. The first show is available: It looks like their news feed is not current, though. Posted by: jlewin Jerome It would be great to hear the school's side of this, or from Open Source itself. Do you think that this issue reflects poorly on the show, or just on the school? Posted by: jlewin Jerome I forgot to ask - when are you going to start podcasting WUML shows? Posted by: jlewin Yeah, I subbed to the feed just the same, and saw the pilot this am. (And grabbed the show, too.) I was hoping that it was an omission in the story, since the title says "Announces ... Podcast" but the story was about nothing but radio. And the latest post on the feed seems to imply that the show will be podcast as well, so I'm relieved. There was another story recently about KYOU gathering content for their station from podcasters, and *NOT* podcasting, which I thought stank badly, and I'm hoping this isn't like that, too. Dave Posted by: David Jaquay at May 7, 2005 07:18 AM Dave It looks like KYOU & Sirius plan to use podcasting for content acquisition for the immediate future. Open Source Radio, based on our discussions with them, sounds like it will be using content generated by podcasters and redistributing it as a podcast. This has the potential to be more interesting than what KYOU or Sirius are currently planning. It sounds like Lydon wants to head in the direction that podcasting and blogging are heading, creating a distributed news gathering model. But he's also being up front and saying that he's not sure exactly where this is all heading. Make sure you listen for his discussion of the Tom Delay incident - this type of thing is important to understanding how podcasting and blogging are changing the media. So - what do you think of the show? This was just a pilot, but I thought it was very thought-provoking. I hope that future shows will be less focused on the mechanics and idea of distributed citizens' media, and more an example of it. Posted by: jlewin "I hope that future shows will be less focused on the mechanics and idea of distributed citizens' media, and more an example of it." I agree with David Posted by: marco at May 7, 2005 08:22 AM The show was pretty awesome. The only thing that'll keep me from adding it to my podcast list is that it's a daily show :), (although I expect to cherry-pick eps). I agree that it's starting out as a meta-show, and I hope to hear more of those voices. Re:KYOU, they mentioned it on the pilot, and seem to also think it's "a blip". I've never heard Lydon before, but he's a pretty intense host, and well worth listening to. Dave Posted by: David Jaquay at May 7, 2005 09:14 PM I missed the part where they say what this broadcast has to do with Open Source. Methinks there's a trademark infringement lawsuit in the offing. Posted by: Bumpy at May 8, 2005 05:25 AM Wonderful. More podcast's are good. One tip is to do it on a weekly basis on a minimum. I run a podcast peguin central (click on my name or type http://thelinuxbox.org/penguincentral.php) and I plan to do it on a fortnightly basis but I may want to do a weekly one if I wish. Unless you get paid for it or have nothing better to do, then don't do a daily show because preparation is vital for a show. Matt. Posted by: Matthew at May 9, 2005 01:07 AM If you download iTunes 4.9, you can subscribe to their podcast through the iTunes store. Posted by: Abby Vigneron at June 29, 2005 10:24 AM Post a comment |
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