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Adam Ragusea Talks Audio Levels With Dylan Keefe And Rob Byers

Host Adam Ragusea goes in-depth on what exactly vocal fry even is, talks with NPR veteran Jacki Lyden about her new micro-news organization reporting on fashion, and hears from West Virginia Public Broadcasting CEO Scott Finn about five things that public media can learn from commercial media.

The Pub, Episode 5: Vocal fry redux, Jacki Lyden on fashion, and lessons from commercial media

One of the most effective public radio fundraisers ever wants to quit doing pledge drives. That’s the only way host Adam Ragusea can interpret what "This American Life" host Ira Glass said to "Ad Age" last week. On this week’s episode of "The Pub," we contemplate the notion that public radio’s biggest star evidently doesn’t want public radio to be public anymore.

Also on the show:

- Former NPR digital strategist Melody Kramer argues that all public media content should be licensed under Creative Commons so that people can republish it
- NPR’s top audio engineer Shawn Fox dishes on the “secret sauce” behind NPR’s bright, sharp studio microphone sound
- Jonah Sutton-Morse rebuts Adam's justification for using favored pronouns when describing transsexual people

The Pub #17: Ira hearts capitalism; The NPR sound's “secret sauce”; Creative Commons licensing

Back in 2012, Jennifer Brandel had the best new idea in local news that anyone has had in a long time. Rather than report the same old stories, ask the audience: What have you always been curious about? Use democratic online tools to pick the best questions, then go out and answer them as best you can.

That was Curious City, a Localore project based at WBEZ in Chicago. It has since been imitated and replicated dozens of times over.

In January, Brandel started Curious Nation, a spin-off company designed to help franchise the Curious City model to other cities. Last week, Curious Nation became Hearken, and with the new name comes a new and broader mission: to help journalists do work that better reflects the information needs and desires of their audience.

Also this week:

- We conclude last week’s investigation into why some national program producers are opting to self-distribute their shows

- WHYY Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue Chris Satullo argues that stations shouldn’t just do journalism — they should support good community journalism, whoever is doing it

The Pub #22: Curious City creator Jennifer Brandel goes national

When you listen to a public radio station, can you tell immediately whether you’re hearing local or national programming? If yes, that no doubt owes to many factors, but one is NPR’s signature mic sound. It’s bright, it’s clear, it’s crisp, and it cuts over the noisiest of cars/trains/planes or whatever is competing with NPR’s programming for the listeners’ ears.

On this Thanksgiving episode of "The Pub," we reprise a pair of old segments we did about NPR’s secret mic sauce, including an interview with NPR’s chief audio engineer Shawn Fox, who gladly divulged the recipe.

Also, we revisit our conversation with former "Marketplace Money" host Tess Vigeland. Since we spoke, her book about quitting your job with no backup plan has come out, and she’s decided on yet another non-plan: traveling the world for who-knows-how-long.

Shawn Fox Divulges The Secret NPR Mic Sauce

Why Local Shows Sound Different From NPR

In this week’s episode of The Pub, we ask a self-identified public media lefty and a self-identified public media righty the same question: Are public media people generally liberal, and what — if anything — could or should be done about that?

Also on the show:

- A little quantitative analysis to explain why fans will miss Diane Rehm when she retires next year, comparing her to her midmorning talk competitor, Tom Ashbrook.
- The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, in breaking the news of Rehm’s retirement, once again makes substantive changes to an article about public media without acknowledging those changes on the page.
- A remembrance of veteran radio reporter Max Cacas, who died suddenly Tuesday at 61.

4 RIP Max Cacas

3 Lisa Simeone, Public Media Liberal

Current Morning Edition Theme

Glenn Greenwald, who is most famous for helping to break the Edward Snowden leaks, is a longtime critic of public media journalism, which he sees as chronically mealy-mouthed in the face of nefarious or duplicitous powers. This week on The Pub, Greenwald and host Adam Ragusea discuss that long-maintained criticism, his 2010 confrontation with NPR counterterrorism correspondent Dina Temple-Raston, how journalists use the word “torture,” and more.

Also this week: It turns out you have to credit Skype when you use it in a broadcast; NPR decides it won’t cross-promote its podcasts on-air; a young producer makes a rookie mistake and decides to make a podcast about the experience; and did the NewsHour unwittingly interview a white supremacist?

NPR Podcast Policy And Other Things Adam Is Angry About

If you’ve ever worked with veteran public radio host and reporter John Sepulvado, it might not surprise you to learn that he’s an alcoholic. It may, however, surprise you to learn just how bad things got when he hit bottom before entering rehab last year. On this week’s show, Sepulvado tells his story with brutal frankness and more than a little gallows humor. It does have a happy ending; he’s now 20 months clean and the new host of “The California Report” from KQED.

Also on the show, host Adam Ragusea contemplates the various, imperfect metrics for gauging the success of a podcast. And we want your help in naming The Pub’s signature segment.

John Sepulvado's Road From Addiction To "The California Report"

Why has no one ever heard of Don Voegeli? He composed one of the most famous and enduring pieces of theme music ever written — the dignified fanfare that has played at the top of NPR’s “All Things Considered” every evening for four decades. It’s one of hundreds of pieces Voegeli composed for the early days of public radio.

Unlike “Morning Edition” theme composer BJ Leiderman, who negotiated a perpetual on-air credit for his work, Voegeli never asked for credit. He didn’t even ask for money. As a music professor at the University of Wisconsin and longtime employee of WHA (later Wisconsin Public Radio), Voegeli saw the music he contributed as simply an extension of his regular public service mission.

Don Voegeli died in 2009, but now his son Jim is hoping to remind the world just how talented, prolific and widely heard a composer his father was.

Jim has just completed assembling the four-CD collection Beautiful and Lovely: The Music of Don Voegeli. It includes many variations of the “ATC” theme, along with dozens of other early public radio themes, film scores, concert music and commercial jingles heard nationwide.

On this week’s episode of “The Pub,” Jim plays his favorite pieces from the collection and talks about his father’s remarkable and occasionally tragic life.

Also, in the Opening Shot, I talk about Ira Glass’ misnomer faux pas at PRPD, the BBC show “Sarah and Duck” and its amazing theme song, the resignation of BBC radio chief Helen Boaden, and the cancellation of Gimlet’s widely praised Mystery Show.

Jim Voegeli on Life and Music of His Father, Don

Opening Shot: Ira at PRPD, “Sarah and Duck” Theme Song, Etc.

Intro: Who Is Don Voegeli?

Trump Meeting

Tares and Wheat

NPR put out a crowing press release this week, headlined “NPR Sees Large Ratings Increase,” that I think made a complicated and perhaps unknowable situation seem a lot simpler — and perhaps a little rosier — than it really is. On this week’s episode of "The Pub," I invite NPR audience development chief Israel Smith and researcher Susan Leland to really flesh out the numbers and speculate about what’s driving them.

Also, in the Opening Shot, I talk about the abortive prosecution of Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman and whether the First Amendment really does grant special rights to journalists (short answer: no).

Inside the NPR Ratings Bump with Izzi Smith and Susan Leland

Opening Shot: Reporters Don't Have Special Rights

Why did McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc leave more than $200 million of her wealth to NPR and not a cent to PBS? Because no one at PBS returned a phone call. That’s one of the revelations reported by longtime public radio journalist Lisa Napoli in her new book, "Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away."

Also on The Pub this week, we continue our conversation with UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh about whether journalists are at all different from regular people in the eyes of the law, apropos of a prosecutor’s attempt to charge "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman in connection to her Dakota Access Pipeline reporting.

Intro: It Wasn't McDonald's, It Was Joan

Ben Harrison Via IpDTL

Ben Harrison Via Zencastr's VOIP Connection, Then Via WAV Delivered By Zencastr

Kevin Leach Explins Why IpDTL Sounds Better Than Skype

Tim Sinclair Via Ringr's VOIP Connection, Then Via WAV Delivered By Ringr

The $1.9 billion that noncommercial stations won in the auction isn’t enough to transform the entire public media system, but it will absolutely transform the handful of stations lucky enough to have held valuable spectrum in crowded markets.

On this episode, we’ll talk about where the money is going and where it should be going with a station CEO who won big, Current’s Dru Sefton and Oregon Public Broadcasting CEO Steve Bass, who has a strong message for stations that, unlike his, have just received an unprecedented windfall.

Intro: Spectrum Auction Winners Should Think Big

Public media has an obsession lately with a certain word. As Only A Game senior producer Karen Given observes in this week’s episode of The Pub, “Just say the word ‘narrative’ and program directors and editors suddenly start paying attention. Everyone wants narrative. But what the f*** is it? I mean, we all use the word, but what does it even mean?”

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had the same question. All of the hottest shows — in particular those like This American Life and Snap Judgment that seem to transfer especially well from public radio to the podcasting market — feature what is often called “narrative storytelling.” And yet most people, when pressed, probably couldn’t explain the difference between “narrative storytelling” and any other method by which reporters and producers craft stories.

On this week’s episode, Given consults with TAL producer Sean Cole, among other sources, and finally comes up with a satisfying definition of “narrative,” though her journey there is surprisingly perilous and she is forever transformed by an experience that also hints at universal themes about life. (Am I doing narrative right?)

Also on the show, Niala Boodhoo celebrates the first anniversary of her new daily talk show, Illinois Public Media’s The 21st, and she shares her philosophy on how to make an interesting, inclusive local talk show in the 21st century (yes, that’s partly where the name comes from).

Opening Shot: Only a Game's Karen Given Figures Out What the #$%^ Narrative Is

Half a century after public television made children’s programming one of its core missions, public radio is finally getting into the game with kids’ podcasts like NPR’s "Wow in the World," MPR/KPCC’s "Brains On!" and VPR’s "But Why." Lindsay Patterson, a host and advocate of kids'podcasts, says there remains an enormous amount of room in the market for new children’s shows, and she has practical tips for producers.

Also on this week’s show, the inescapable reason why all opinion journalists, host Adam Ragusea included, end up sucking after a while. And on a related note: The Pub is looking for a new host/producer!

Intro: Kids Love Repitition

This episode of "Made Possible By..." brings together Ross Terrell and Jack Mitchell. Terrell is a reporter/producer at Public Broadcasting Atlanta. Mitchell was the first employee of NPR and the first producer of All Things Considered. He later worked as director of Wisconsin Public Radio and as a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has also written about the history of NPR and public broadcasting.

The producer who made Susan Stamberg the first woman to anchor a nightly news broadcast in the U.S. gives some advice to those starting out in public media. “Do not take everything as gospel," Mitchell says. "Just because we’ve always done it this way doesn’t mean you can’t try something a little different.”

Please subscribe to Made Possible By… in iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave us a rating and a comment! That will help boost our search results and allow people to find the show more easily. Made Possible By… is also available on NPR One.

We welcome your feedback on the show: You can reach us at news@current.org or on Twitter at @currentpubmedia.

NPR Founder Jack Mitchell

Terry Gross Doesn't Want a World of Just Podcasts

What do you do when the show you are hosting comes to an end? To find out, I talked this week with Lauren Ober, the former host of WAMU’s The Big Listen.

The Washington, D.C., station announced in March that it would end “the broadcast about podcasts” after two years because it wasn’t picked up by enough stations. Ober just wrapped up the show in May. We talked about what she gained from the experience, how she’s using her newfound free time and what she’s planning next.

I wanted to talk to Ober about her show ending because this show is ending. Current announced this week that it is ending production of The Pub. The podcast didn’t draw enough underwriting support to cover costs. And if you work in public media, you know that making something good takes resources and time.

Though this is the last episode of The Pub, Current may well get back into the podcasting game in the future if we can cover the costs. We welcome your ideas and proposals, so don’t be a stranger. Get in touch with Digital Editor Mike Janssen at mike@current.org.

And if you want to keep in touch with me, I’m on Twitter, and you can still find me at my desk at WBEZ in Chicago. Many thanks to our fans for your support and listening over the years.

As we sign off, lessons from someone who's been there

WBUR Third Love podcast ad

"Story Princess of the Music Box" — Alice in Wonderland (excerpt)

"If you're stir-crazy..."

"If social distance..."

"Our Show" — Tasmania

"Our Show" — Amsterdam

Arlo Guthrie performing "Alice's Restaurant" live on Bob Fass' "Radio Unnameable" show on WBAI in New York City, 1966. Also featuring David Bromberg, Jerry Jeff Walker and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

Radio debut of "Alice's Restaurant"

NPR freelancers Jeff Lunden and Naomi Lewin sing a tribute to retiring Arts Desk Editor Tom Cole to the tune of "Mame."

Tom Cole Tribute

Current provides news and commentary for and about the world of public media. You'll mostly find our weekly podcast, "The Pub," here.

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