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Favorite Short Programs

PTBoardOp94

PTBoardOp94

In the world of commercial radio, there are a number of short programs which may run 3 minutes including commercial time.

There are programs like this in public radio. Perhaps the best known is "The Writer's Almanac." In fact, to my knowledge, it is the only one cleared by any of the pubcasters in my area.

What short programs (5 minutes or less) do you like to listen to on public radio?
 
I used to like Future Tense (now Marketplace Tech Report) from APM.

I guess Marketplace Morning Report could also be considered a "short program," although I prefer the hard to find Morning Edition Business segment, which most stations cover with Marketplace Morning Report.

Interesting that short programs come from APM, not NPR, although PRI does offer a "Top of the Hour" version of The Takeaway with headlines and a lead story from the full show.

NPR does offer some regular series which are included in Morning Edition and All Things Considered but if you want to count podcasts as short programs, segments from these series (usually heard on a weekly basis) might qualify as "short programs. In that category, I especially like Sports with Frank DeFord (Morning Edition, Wednesday, Hour 2, E segment). I occasionally like Story Corps features (Morning Edition, Friday, Hour 2, B segment), Planet Money (Both shows, schedule varies), All Tech Considered (ATC Monday, Hour 2, B segment).
 
There's a surprising number of pubradio "vignettes" out there, usually in the 60 to 90 second range. They're more-or-less designed to fit into the NPR clock for the 38:30 to 40:00 break that several shows have (ME, ATC, Diane Rehm/On Point and TOTN, just to name a few). They're not widely heard in the major markets because those stations usually don't have enough unsold inventory to allow it, but they're not uncommon on small and medium market stations who often use them to get a sponsor who likes the vignette.

Calling all Pets, Earth & Sky, NatureWatch, EnviroMinute, Signs of Science, Our Ocean World all immediately come to mind. I think there was another environmental one about the Great Lakes that recently folded...but I'm drawing a blank on its name. Eh, I'm sure there are several others, too.

As for the true "short form" shows...shows that are 4 to 8 minutes and designed to replace a segment in ME or ATC...it's not surprising that NPR doesn't have many of them; NPR was and is the default provider for most pubradio affiliate stations...by virtue of being the first and the biggest of the three major providers (PRI and APM the other two). The short-form show is a strategy by which PRI and APM can, and have, gotten their "foot in the door" by providing programming that doesn't require an affiliate station to drop a popular show entirely. The Marketplace Morning Report has shamelessly (and effectively) exploited that fact; APM often offers the MMR for free as a way to help entice stations to like it and, hopefully, pick up the (rather pricey) main Marketplace 30-minute show that airs in the evenings.
 
There’s a short-form technology program (I forget the name) that runs on US stations that air “As It Happens” that fills the slot occupied by the CBC hourly news, but winds up being on the half-hour in the US.
 
I've heard Future Tense/Marketplace Technology Report in As It Happens on some stations.

Stardate and some others mentioned are produced by various organizations (credited in the shows) and distributed to both public and commercial stations.
 
"John Zech hosts Composers Datebook, a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Produced in association with the American Composers Forum"
 
rjoc said:
Is "Ask Doctor Science" still being produced? Haven't heard it in years.
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It's not on the PRI web site anymore. Their own web site has a "new web site coming" message on it. It may be possible that Duck's Breath is now syndicating the show themselves.

I remember when WBEZ was running the show between a local show and "TOTN" every afternoon that when the station did call-in management shows (and then web site comments), people complained about "Dr. Science" all the time. In addition, it seemed like they complained about Harry Shearer, Kellior, Michael Feldman, Ira Glass and the Magliozzis. It's obvious that most of the shows I've mentioned are popular, but why does public radio get this certain group of the audience that believes that everything on public radio should be deadly serious? Is it the nature of the beast, particularly from the classical music audience?
 
I know a lot of people complain about Car Talk, but at the same time it raises the most money of any program on a lot of stations. Just goes to show ya, you can‘t please all the people all the time.
 
Mark Jeffries said:
Why does public radio get this certain group...that believes that everything on public radio should be deadly serious...particularly from the classical music audience?
Click to expand...
Issue taken, Of all JSB's many talented sons, PDQ has always been my favorite!
 
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