20 Years of making connections

2023 marks 20 years since our founding, when we began pursuing our mission of helping to shape the future of public media and audio storytelling. Originally based out of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts and now with offices in Boston, Minneapolis, and dedicated staff across the country, we’re taking stock of some of the seminal moments that serve as a foundation for our future.

2003

PRX is established as a mission-driven public media organization

PRX was established through a collaboration between public media’s Station Resource Group (SRG) and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Masssachusetts in order to address a challenge in public radio: stories were produced for radio, aired once, and then disappeared. Stations had only two content choices: to either air national programs or to make content themselves. The Public Radio Exchange created a new option for stations to select extraordinary, peer-reviewed programming made by others and a significant opportunity for independent indies, artists, organizations, and producers to upload and share and air their audio documentaries, stories, and interviews. 

Some of the first to share their audio over the Exchange included individuals and organizations alike, including Ira Glass, Holly Kernan, Jay Allison, Dmae Roberts, Eric Nuzum, Ali Berlow, Paul Ingles, The Kitchen Sisters, Radio Diaries, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Radio Netherlands, and beyond. 

By harnessing technology and the early promise of the Web, we unlocked opportunities for creators of all experiences, opened an otherwise closed system, provided one of the first places for public radio listening on the internet, and created an economy to support it all. The Public Radio Exchange was the first openly searchable Internet-based marketplace devoted to audio, and we thank the then-members of SRG for their vision, hard work, and partnership, including KQED, KUOW, KUT, WBEZ, GBH, WKSU, WNYC, WPSU, WUNC, WVPE, and WYSO. 

For an example of the audio delight that may be found on the Exchange, here’s one of our favorite pieces: "Two Little Girls Explain the Worst Haircut Ever” from Jeff Cohen.

And, on the topic of the establishing of PRX: special thanks to creative forces behind our origination, including Jay Allison, Tom Thomas, Terry Clifford, and Jake Shapiro. Their contributions provided an enduring spirit of inventiveness and optimism.

PRX Remix is a 24/7 channel featuring a wide variety of audio handpicked from independent creators, ranging from established producers to students, providing listeners with a surprising stream of stories they won’t hear anywhere else. PRX Remix launched as an internet stream and then on SiriusXM satellite radio in 2009 following approval from the FCC. The first public radio station to air Remix did so in 2010––Spokane Public Radio in Washington. PRX Remix can now be heard via smart speakers or digital listening platforms like TuneIn and airs on both community and major public radio stations in all corners of the U.S. Remix even airs at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and is sent to NASA for uplink to the International Space Station.

2009

PRX Remix airs on satellite radio

2009-2015

PRX helps to shape the future of public radio through new programming including The Moth Radio Hour and Reveal

PRX partnered with the treasured storytelling institution The Moth to release The Moth Radio Hour, which quickly became a breakout success with its sui generis approach to personal storytelling. PRX also teamed with the Center for Investigative Reporting–one of the nation’s first nonprofit newsrooms–to debut Reveal, hosted by Al Letson and the first syndicated investigative news program on public radio, and which is consistently recognized as a source of groundbreaking reporting and storytelling sparking action, improving lives, and protecting democracy. Both The Moth Radio Hour and Reveal are aired by hundreds of stations. 

Radiotopia was created through a partnership between PRX and producer Roman Mars of the highly popular design podcast 99% Invisible (Mars also served as a curator for PRX Remix in its early days). Radiotopia was created for ambitious independent podcasters, empowering creators to deliver well-crafted, innovative audio, and the freedom to thrive on their own terms as producers across the network retaining rights and creative control. Radiotopia podcasts have received recognitions from the Tribeca Festival, the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the National Magazine Awards, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and others, while also pursuing endeavors such as creating television series and touring across the country. The network is supported by a mix of grants, sponsors, and contributions from tens of thousands of listeners.

2014

PRX forges Radiotopia, a podcast network for extraordinary independent creators

2015

PRX builds and releases Dovetail, a best-in-class podcast distribution,
ad insertion, and monetization platform

From 2016 to 2019, PRX partnered with production teams from public radio stations around the country to create podcasts meaningful to their communities, reach new audiences, develop content and monetization strategies, and to identify and nurture new talent within public media. This was the crux of the Project Catapult podcast training program, which worked with 18 teams across 15 states and includes alumni from the teams behind Through The Cracks from WAMU, The Music Box from Louisville Public Media, The Modern West from Wyoming Public Media, and more. 

2016

PRX kicks off Project Catapult, a public media podcast training program

The PRX Podcast Garage opens as a new community space and recording studio for audio creators

We opened the PRX Podcast Garage in Boston to support the work of local audio producers and storytellers. Converted from an old Jiffy Lube on Western Ave in Lower Allston, the Garage values the voices and stories of all while supporting audio makers through providing recording and production resources, hands-on training for makers of all experience levels, and a gathering and event space for audio lovers. In 2021 we opened a Garage San Francisco with our partners at one of the country’s leading public media stations, KQED. The PRX Podcast Garage at KQED, situated in the station’s new headquarters, is buzzing with events led by Bay Area audio artists and creators and provides a valuable resource to the community.  

Ear Hustle launched in 2017 as the first podcast created and produced in prison after entering a podcast idea competition for the Radiotopia podcast network. The show features stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it. Co-founded by Bay Area artist Nigel Poor alongside Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, and co-hosted by Woods and Poor, the podcast now tells stories from inside prison and from the outside, post-incarceration. A two-time Peabody Award nominee and duPont-Columbia Award winner, both Woods’ and producer Rahsaan ‘New York Thomas’ sentences were commuted while inside San Quentin working on Ear Hustle.

2017

Ear Hustle launches as the first podcast created and produced in prison, as part of Radiotopia from PRX

2018

PRX and Public Radio International realize a transformational merger

PRX and public media stalwart Public Radio International (PRI) merged in a transformational moment for public media, creating an organization designed to support the next generation of creatives while also serving listeners demanding the highest-quality content. This merger emboldened the organization to further support quality journalism and audio storytelling, elevate new voices, and invest in technology to ensure a vibrant, dynamic public radio system. The merger also increased the reach and influence of content through the addition of programs such as the daily global news program The World.

Launched in 2018 and running through 2022, the Google Podcasts creator program provided independent audio makers from around the world with the resources, skills, and creative communities that make podcast production more productive, innovative, and a little less lonely. Using PRX’s signature application of design thinking principles, this set of intensive, multi-week accelerators helped producers refine their ideas to create meaningful shows to serve their audiences. Supported by Google, the Google Podcasts creator program welcomed more than 32 podcast creator teams from regions including Brazil, France, Malaysia, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Canada, Malaysia, Turkey, Taiwan, and the United States.

PRX helps to cultivate podcasting around the world through the Google Podcasts creator program

2020

PRX convenes a values-forward Podcast Privacy Symposium

As PRX operates podcast distribution and advertising technology driven by a core set of values, the organization gathered over 100 members of the podcast community at The New School in New York City to discuss the issue of privacy in podcasting and what the future holds. Attendees included podcast producers and hosts, distribution app makers, scholars, and data privacy and law specialists. Speakers included key staff members and individuals from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The New School. Staking out this core issue was, we hope, prescient. Consumer privacy and respect of personal data and life online is today at the forefront of many conversations regarding consumer technology in the U.S. and globally.

The Pulitzer Prizes established a prize for audio reporting beginning with the 2020 prizes “honoring distinguished examples of audio journalism serving the public interest, characterized by revelatory reporting and illuminating storytelling.” The Ear Hustle podcast–part of Radiotopia from PRX–was a finalist in this inaugural year (This American Life won). The judges recognized Ear Hustle due to its “consistently surprising and beautifully crafted series on life behind bars produced by inmates of San Quentin State Prison.” Soon after, in 2022, Futuro Media’s podcast Suave–“a brutally honest and immersive profile of a man reentering society after serving over 30 years in prison,” distributed by PRX–won the Pulitzer Prize for audio. We’re filled with gratitude for our remarkable partners. These prizes are a testament to the significance of their work.

2020-2022

PRX and The Pulitzer Prizes

2023

A New Milestone for The World from GBH and PRX

The World from PRX and GBH in Boston is public radio’s longest-running daily global news program, yet recently reached a new milestone. The program is now heard on more airwaves than at any point previously in the program’s history. The World is hosted by Marco Werman and produced by a team of award-winning journalists, engaging U.S. audiences with international affairs and news through impactful human-centered journalism. The program focuses on key topic areas including global security, women and gender, the environment, migration, and public health. On average, the show is heard by more than 2 million people nationwide on a weekly basis.

PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers. Our partnerships include TED, the Smithsonian, PBS, Futuro Media, Night Vale Presents, the Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley, and many more, including shows part of Radiotopia including Articles of Interest, Ear Hustle, Normal Gossip, Song Exploder, The Kitchen Sisters Present, The Memory Palace, The Stoop, This Day in Esoteric Political History, and multiple others.

Dovetail from PRX enables more than 260 podcasts to be distributed to audiences around the world. Podcasts distributed by PRX are available free across all major podcast platforms.

PRX is also one of the world’s top public radio distributors. We distribute mission-driven programming to more than 935 stations across the U.S., including The World, Latino USA from Futuro Media, This American Life, Reveal, Snap Judgment from KQED, Left, Right & Center from KCRW, The Moth Radio Hour, and The Ezra Klein Show from The New York Times.

PRX Productions––PRX’s in-house team specializing in high audio production and storytelling––has created original podcasts in collaboration with mission-aligned clients, including Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Simon & Schuster, and America Abroad Media.

Content development and podcast training programs have recently included the PRX Journalism Podcast Accelerator supported by the Knight Foundation, the PRX Big Questions Project with support from the Templeton Foundation, and the Ready to Learn podcast accelerator in collaboration with CPB and PBS KIDS have produced incredible new shows across multiple genres.

The PRX Exchange remains a vital resource for producers and public radio stations, with new work and timely radio specials added on a regular basis that are broadcast by stations across the country. 

TODAY

AWARDS

Selections include: