PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, is a nonprofit open market for public radio programming. Open to any producer, the PRX catalog represents any length, production value, and nearly any topicality. Stations can license programs and series for use, with the PRX clearinghouse acting as a commission-based agent.
As such, PRX has fulfilled a secondary distribution role, helping producers gain programming slots in radio schedules. For most listeners, exposure to public radio content is skewed similarly to the music star system — they enjoy the hits (e.g. Radiolab, WaitWait Don’t Tell Me, Fresh Air) are are unaware of the longer tail. PRX is moving to change both those issues, increasing attention to its own role as a publishing platform while giving listeners are better sense of available options. The vehicle for accomplishing this is PRX Remix, a straight-to-consumer app featuring PRX shows that you probably haven’t heard on your local NPR station.
Unmodestly, PRX Remix calls itself, “The greatest radio station of all time.” Hyperbole aside, the emulation of radio playing is the app’s drawback. There is no interactivity or searching. There is a play button … that’s it. (Testing for this write-up transpired in the Android version.) the playlist is curated, not arbitrary, with short introductions of each programming piece. As such, PRX Remix proves to be a passable discovery environment, but the hope here is to evolve the app into a directory of PRX programs. Letting users create their own playlists would probably increase time spent with the app, and certainly would expose more long-tail productions.
(First seen in Paul Kamp’s Backbone Newsletter.)