…and a few other programs broadcast on NPR. I have heard them go by:
And at least 1 other. What is their story? I assume it is the same organization/same set of people (with allowance for turnover), but the name is changed? If so, why?
Judging from Wikipedia - I have no personal knowledge - NPR, APM and PRI are competitors in the public radio production market, while APR is a former name of PRI.
Why do you assume that? My assumption would be that they are different organizations comprising different groups of people (maybe with some overlap), all of which produce programs for broadcast on public radio stations.
Note that NPR is also a production company, and does not broadcast any programs. The broadcasters (and the people who beg you to donate money) are local Public Radio stations. There is really no such thing as an NPR station: just local Public Radio stations that fill a lot of their airtime with material produced by NPR. Several other organizations, including NPR (no doubt the most important) and the ones you list, produce programs, which are sold to the local stations (paid for your donations). NPR itself is, I believe, a non-profit, and receives some government money, but it may well be that all or some of the other production companies are for-profit companies whose market happens to be Public Radio.
Those three are all separate production companies (well, maybe “companies” isn’t the right term since I believe they’re non-profits, but think of it like a production company on commercial radio/TV) that produce content that is distributed by NPR. NPR itself produces some shows, but also acts as a middleman between these companies and the individual stations, and so for the most part it doesn’t really matter to the station let alone the listening public whether it’s APM, PRI or an in-house NPR program. Although what also muddles things a bit are that APM actually owns some stations in the midwest. One of the questions on their “FAQ” page is essentially the same as your question: American Public Media
One place where these distinctions do become important is with satellite radio. I’m hoping some day they get it sorted out, but right now it’s a bit of a mess where XM has all the PRI shows (like This American Life) and Sirius has all the APM shows (Like Prairie Home Companion) and neither have the NPR-produced news shows.
In my local area, the Public Radio station is broadcast from WUNC (University of North Carolina). A majority of the daytime programming comes from NPR, PRI, APR, etc plus their own locally produced programming (NPR News, The Story, Diane Rhem, Car Talk, Wait, Wait, etc). But from 9a-10a and overnight they broadcast the BBC World Service feed. Contrast that with the Public Radio station in the town I grew up in that filled the extra time with random classical music, presumably because it was cheaper.
Because I’m an idiot? Honestly, no clue - maybe because the basic nature of the shows have not changed even while the call letters of the producer has changed several times. So it sounds like you are saying that - maybe yearly, maybe every couple of years - the production services for shows like This American Life are up for renewal and the show works out a deal with a different producer? If so - okay, I did not know that…
American Public Media, which produces shows like “Marketplace” and “A Prairie Home Companion”, is what used to be called Minnesota Public Radio, at least on a national level.
That aside, APM, PRI, and NPR are simply production companies and distributors for public radio programming. (A recent entry into this market is the Public Radio Exchange, which is a distribution outlet for independent producers.) There is surprisingly less overlap in programming than you would think, which is how a relatively niche market like public radio can support multiple suppliers.
These companies are entirely separate entities. APM and PRI are supported entirely by the fees that local stations pay for their programming, as well as corporate and nonprofit underwriting. NPR is the network, and it produces and distributes a lot of programming on its own. Each company is responsible for managing and maintaining the rights to their own programs, which is how NPR can keep their shows off of satellite radio.
In some cases, shows can be produced at an NPR member station but distributed through another entity. For example, “This American Life” is produced at WBEZ in Chicago, but distributed through PRI. IIRC, this is a rights issue, where someone other than NPR owns the rights to the show.
Public broadcasting is a complex little beast because there is nothing like it. Unlike commercial network affiliates, NPR member stations are not bound by exclusivity contracts. Therefore, local NPR stations can pick and choose programming that works for their audience and their market, although I think they are required to air “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered”.
Wow - all very helpful; ignorance fought. I had forgotten the additional, earlier name of Minnesota Public Radio, but definitely remember it being used.
So - with your post as context **MsRobyn **- over and above name changes, has the producer for those shows changed much and if so, how come?
It’s very rare for a show to change production companies. I remember in the early 1990s, A Prairie Home Companion and Whaddya Know? With Michael Feldman jumped from NPR to APR (now PRI), but I haven’t heard of any significant changes since then.
Essentially, the production company is the “creator” of the show. By the way, it works the same way in public television. Public TV stations air shows produced independently by several different sources in addition to PBS itself, such as WNET New York, KQED San Francisco, WQED Pittsburgh, and WGBH Boston. Indeed, most member stations of PBS have at some time or another independently produced programs that were distributed to other PBS member stations. Public TV stations also get programming from other independent sources, such as TV Ontario and the BBC.
Which was why I was curious about the rotating names in the first place. But it sounds like I have just listened through a few name changes…
What exactly makes you think that there are “rotating names”? I have been listening to public radio since the 1980s and, as I said, the only such prominent changes I have noticed have been the Keillor and Feldmen shows.
Originally, Minnesota Public Radio distributed its shows under the name “Minnesota Public Radio” (just like Wisconsin Public Radio still does), but at some point they adopted the name “American Public Media” for national distribution purposes. Is that the “rotating” that you are perceiving? Do you have any specific examples of rotation?
Nah - I just remember hearing “Show X, produced by…” and hearing that name change over the years, mostly likely from MPR, to APR, to PRI - and it always nagged at me but I never remembered to start a thread when I got out of my car until this morning! 
Having looked into it a little further – Keillor started with NPR, then switched to APR, which changed its name to PRI, then switched to MPR, which changed its name to APM. But so far as I can tell, this is a situation that’s not common.
NPR, APM, and PRI also act as distributors for programs produced by smaller producers, so you might notice that Whaddya Know? is associated with both PRI (its distributor) and Wisconsin Public Radio (its producer).
There you go - I had a vague notion of it, which is why I started this thread.
Is that really still the case? I thought when they finally (mostly) merged channel lineups, the XM versions went away and everyone just has the Sirius versions now.
IIRC, the change from Minnesota Public Radio to American Public Media was largely a brand change, although it still has some shows that originate from Saint Paul. APM simply wanted to differentiate its national programming from its local shows.
There are public radio shows that aren’t distributed through the traditional APM/PRI/NPR/PRX channels. Some NPR-affiliated stations air Pacifica radio programming, and occasionally, non-NPR stations air one or two NPR shows that are of specific interest to its listeners. For example, KTSU in Houston is the radio station of Texas Southern University, which is a historically black university. It ran Tavis Smiley (back when he was on NPR), because his show was about issues concerning the African-American community, which was part of the mission of that station. This is OK with NPR.
Finally, what makes public radio unique is that it’s organized from the bottom up, which means that local stations make their own programming decisions and pay for the programs themselves. NPR does not tell them what to air (aside from Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and stations are free to pick and choose from other non-commercial sources, or to produce their own shows. Conversely, affiliates of commercial radio networks often don’t have the same choices; if the network tells them they have to air something at a particular time, they have to air it, period.
Are you saying that NPR has, and uses, the power to make local public stations carry Morning Edition and All Things Considered? :dubious:
Wow - all helpful. Thank you MsRobyn. How have you come to know all this?
I think WordMan’s assumption is an easy one to make. I too had assumed that APR, PRI, and APM were the same company, just changing names to keep with the times or whatever. As a long time public radio listener, I can remember shows like Michael Feldman’s “Whad’ya Know” originally being from American Public Radio (unless my memory is incorrect) then switching to Public Radio International (or as Feldman often referred to it, “International House of Radio”), and now more recently American Public Media. I just never considered the possibility that there were multiple companies and that the same show might now be produced by a different company.
I think Ms Robyn is saying that running those two shows is in the membership contract. No station HAS to join NPR–they can choose to run provramming from entorely non NPR sources, which there are plenty of–but the condition of being part of the NPR system is to run those shows.