Tag Archives: NPR

The Features, We Love Arts
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Theater Spotlight: What Mike Daisey Thinks of You

Mike Daisey in The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. Photo credit: Stan Barouh

Mike Daisey, the famous-turned-infamous creator and star of The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, has returned to Woolly Mammoth with his controversial production. The show – a monologue about all things Apple, including geekery, gadgets, and Chinese factories – inspired a national inquiry into Apple’s manufacturing process. It also caused a public outcry as his “work of nonfiction” was later revealed to be partly fiction.

I didn’t want to bore you with the ugly details, because you’ve heard them already from former staffers at Woolly Mammoth, from NPR’s This American Life (TAL), and from Daisey himself.

Instead, I headed over to Woolly Mammoth last week to see the show for a second time. Then I spoke with Mr. Daisey about coming back to our fair city and what he thinks of our very favorite thing: us.

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The Daily Feed
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National Public Radio Reduced To Just An Acronym

Photo courtesy of
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courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Since 1971, National Public Radio has fallen back on the acronym “NPR” as a shorthand for its lengthy, official name. As of today, the truncated version will be the only thing left, as the District-based organization is ditching the long moniker.

All things considered, this isn’t that much of a change beyond nomenclature, but there is some rationale in the decision. NPR has jumped head first into several digital channels, dominating the podcast landscape and trying its best to build as many useful smart phone apps as possible – translation, it’s about a lot more than just radio these days. Paraphrasing from NPR’s CEO, this change is meant to mirror the efforts and help NPR become more streamlined and more in touch with the speed of media.

For the NPR fans out there, here’s one more treat from the “trying to be more in touch with the digital generation” that NPR did earlier this summer. Enjoy as All Things D and NPR’s personalities embrace several Internet memes from the last few months:

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All Politics is Local, Media, The Daily Feed
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Oh God, It’s Pledge Week

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No More Cash by Wednesday181

There are few things I live in fear of quite as much as Pledge Week on any NPR Radio Station. WAMU’s week to extort their listener base fundraise for their local efforts is this week. You can donate via their website (my personal choice) and pick up any number of their support premium items. Coffee mugs, tote bags, and radio bookmarks are all part of the package this year. So, get out your wallet, you skinflint public radio listeners, and buy a membership.

But in the meantime, set your radio alarm to WTOP or something, it’ll help with the blood pressure.