Radio College

AUDIO & RADIO | Outreach, Research & Support

AIR / Association of Independents in Radio

  • a non-profit member driven organization, AIR offers what is arguably the most prominent daily discussion listserv of people who are active and working in many aspects of public radio: a well connected, supportive and influential group comprised of reporters and producers as well as representatives from NPR and other organizations.

  • good links are here to radio awards and pitch and submission guidelines for many public radio programs and more, as well as the AIRblast newsletter.

AIR's Radio College

BBC Training & Development

Columbia University's Oral History Research Office

  • offers workshops, seminars, networking opportunities, consultation and outreach.

Historical Voices

  • "searchable online database  of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century."

Internet Audio Archive

IWMF / International Women's Media Foundation

Media Access Project

  • a "non-profit tax exempt public interest telecommunications law firm which promotes the public's First Amendment right to hear and be heard on the electronic media."

  • "representing listeners' and speakers' interests…before the Federal Communications Commission, other policy-making bodies, and in the courts."

NAMAC / National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture

  • "…dedicated to…the support and advocacy of independent film, video, audio and online/multimedia arts."

Poynter Foundation

Prometheus Radio Project

  • activists who "…believe that a free, diverse, and democratic media is critical to the political and cultural health of our nation."

  • "…support(s) community groups at every stage of the process of building community radio stations, facilitate public participation in the FCC regulatory process, and sponsor events promoting awareness and support of media democracy and LPFM radio."

PRX / Public Radio Exchange

developed by Jay Allison of Transom.org and Atlantic Public Media.

  • a non-profit, "marketplace for public radio pieces."

  • provides "peer-review and digital distribution of programming" direct to stations.

  • "The mission of PRX is to build a fair market for creative audio content…; to create more opportunities for diverse programming of exceptional quality … and importance to reach more listeners."

 producers can:

  • Open a producer account on the PRX.
  • Create a producer profile page with your bio, photo, home page links, etc.
  • Upload air-quality versions of your pieces.
  • Describe your pieces, including credits, transcripts, promo copy, and more.
  • Choose category, keywords, other descriptive tags for each piece.
  • Set price points for your pieces within PRX established per-minute range.
  • Preview, rate, review, and discuss other pieces.
  • View ratings, reviews, and carriage/usage/pageview statistics for your pieces.
  • Receive periodic payments for any station downloads/carriage of your pieces.

  • see also GenerationPRX, introducing young voices to radio & sound.

Recorded Sound Reference Center at the U.S. Library of Congress &

SONIC / Sound ONline Inventory and Catalog

  • "provides access to the commercial  and archival audio holdings of the Library of Congress."

Talking History

at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

  • "a production, distribution, and instructional center for all forms of aural history" with a weekly radio show, now on hiatus due to budgeting constraints ((hear archives and podcasts here)).

  • "mission: …to provide teachers, students, researchers and the general public with as broad and outstanding a collection of audio documentaries, speeches, debates, oral histories, conference sessions, commentaries, archival audio sources, and other aural history resources as is available anywhere."

Third Coast Festival
in cooperation with WBEZ/Chicago and the AIR Producers Annual Summit.

  • an international audio festival that looks for "bold, creative and thought provoking work" — documentaries, investigative journalism and features — and regularly presents streaming audio of award winning and notable works.

  • participate in Short Docs: tell a story with an opening sentence and three specific sounds in 2m30s ((submission guidelines)).

  • listen to the stories currently archived in the audio library.

  • jump over to the conference page for their current and past Conference highlights and to hear documentary competition winners.

Transom

  • "…clear guidance -- both technical and conceptual -- on how to create original radio productions."

  • "…channeling new work and voices to public radio… a performance space, an open editorial session, an audition stage, a library, and a hangout."

  • get inside a radio documentary class at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism with This American Life producer, Alex Blumberg.