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Public Radio Exchange

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Grants

2022 (2 years)
$500,000

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a nonprofit organization that provides distribution services, training, and technological tools for public-interest journalism and narrative storytelling via public media broadcasts and podcasts. It distributes more than 40 high-profile radio and podcast programs including Latino USA, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and This American Life. MacArthur funds support general operations; the outcomes include a robust infrastructure for public interest audio reporting and nonfiction storytelling.

2020 (2 years)
$1,000,000

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a nonprofit organization that provides distribution services, training, and technological tools for public-interest journalism and narrative storytelling via public media broadcast and podcast. It distributes more than 40 radio and podcast programs that range from Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, to Ear Hustle, recorded by hosts and producers incarcerated in San Quentin Prison, to ¿Que Pasa, Midwest?, a podcast created by Latina reporters at WNIN, the public radio affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. In 2020, it will begin distributing Snap Judgement and Latino USA – two major audio nonfiction storytelling and journalism programs led by and created by journalists of color. Since absorbing Public Radio International in 2018 (of which PRX is now the parent organization), it also produces and distributes, in partnership with WGBH, The World, a daily global news program heard widely by U.S. audiences. Support for PRX enables it to work flexibly to support independent creators, with an increasing focus on creators of color, and has an outcome of supporting more accurate, just, and inclusive news and narratives.

2019 ( 2 months)
$8,900

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a nonprofit media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling, working in partnership with hundreds of radio stations and individual producers. This project supports research to inform the new season of the national security podcast “Things That Go Boom,” produced by defense analyst, Laicie Heeley. The new season focuses on national security and nuclear policy dynamics involved in the relationships between and among the United States, China, and Russia. Outcomes include research critical to inform the new season, and increased knowledge about critical nuclear issues among listeners, including policymakers.

2018 (2 years)
$500,000

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a nonprofit organization that has been at the center of innovation in public radio since 2003. It began as an alternative distribution hub for audio storytelling content, then became a center of tech expertise for local stations. As the media environment has changed dramatically in the last fifteen years, PRX has evolved to address new challenges for the field. Its work now centers on creating and making available technology for independent makers to grow their audiences and revenue; identifying new voices and developing and supporting high-quality audio storytelling from underrepresented perspectives; and providing training in audio storytelling to anyone who seeks it. The outcome of this grant is technical and creative support to the field of public, independent, and community-based media makers across the United States.  

2015 (3 years)
$1,500,000

Since its founding in 2003, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) has been one of the most important
drivers of innovation, creativity and diversity for the public radio system. It was a thoughtleader
and technology-provider for transitioning public radio into the digital age, it incubated and
distributed some of the most successful new voices and sounds for public radio and podcast, and
it has been a development and innovation partner for major non-audio programs and projects,
including the Center for Investigative Reporting and Matter Ventures (a start-up accelerator for
public interest media projects). Being a nimble and independent ‘outside’ organization has been
vital to PRX’s success in helping public media adapt to a digital, multiplatform environment.
MacArthur support will continue to enable PRX to identify opportunities and create solutions for
public media and noncommercial content producers and distributors.
Funds will support PRX’s efforts to develop and distribute new programs for radio and podcast,
invest and experiment with new technologies for publishing, distributing and monetizing public
interest content, and provide financial stability for the core of PRX. This will be especially
useful at a time when PRX is planning to launch a for-profit subsidiary in 2016 to create scalable
and profitable consumer facing technologies funded by venture capital, responding to the
growing popularity of podcasts, Internet-only radio, and satellite radio.

2013 (2 years)
$500,000

The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) was created in 2003 as the first online marketplace connecting public radio stations across the U.S. with public radio news, documentary, and feature content from a wide variety of independent, established, and emerging audio producers. PRX provides a searchable online hub where local public radio station managers can find content to fill their broadcast schedule, and producers can use simple licensing agreements and receive payments when their work is used. A MacArthur grant will support a strategic planning process, as well as the development, curation, and distribution of content.

2010 (3 years)
$900,000

In support of general operations (over three years).