American Public Radio's new name will not only help end the commonplace public confusion between and APR and NPR, but also underline the network's interest in building imports and exports of radio programming.
The network announced last week it will become ''Public Radio International'' on July 1 [1994].
President Stephen Salyer said programming plans to be announced April 11 at the Public Radio Conference will serve as a ''powerful illustration of how this will be more than just high rhetoric for our organization.''
In its plan to ''relaunch'' itself, the Minneapolis-based network will give high priority to creating ''signature programs'' for the second and third public radio stations in a city, and for the ''younger, more culturally diverse audience'' that many new public radio stations serve, Salyer told Current.
APR also will outline funding plans and introduce a new on-air i.d. and print logo at the PRC.
Salyer said the network's plan, approved at the APR Board's Oct. 27-28 [1993] meeting, is based on more than a year of planning--''a serious effort to ask how we can make the strongest possible contribution to the future of our stations and to discussion and the culture in this country.''
Recognizing that the U.S. culture and economy are ''inextricably bound up'' with those of other countries, PRI will expand imports of both cultural and informational programming. ''In the news area,'' Salyer said, ''we want to reflect a much wider range of perspectives than even our current highly internationalized programming does.''
He noted that the 10-year-old network already deals in a considerable amount of international material, distributing BBC, CBC, German (Deutsche Welle) and other foreign programming, and carrying such internationally oriented programs as Monitor Radio and Marketplace.
Though the plans stop short of making APR a multinational company, the network added its second board member from overseas in October [1993]--Mexican philanthropist/businessman Manuel Arango. The first was John Tusa, former BBC World Service executive and now chairman of London News Radio.
For overseas sales of programming, the network still hopes to cooperate with NPR, Salyer said. He and new NPR President Delano Lewis met a second time Dec. 1 [1993] and discussed the joint effort, which APR has sought and NPR initially resisted.
The planning process has been overseen by Salyer and propelled by Senior Vice President Bruce Theriault, according to spokeswoman Janet de Acevedo. Among the staffers involved in implementing it will be APR's new senior manager for new business development, Beth Talisman, who came to APR last summer from C-SPAN, where she was audio networks manager and radio executive producer.
APR's logo will not be the only new one on the public radio scene. NPR also will unveil a new print i.d. in January, before moving into its new offices the next month. The NPR logo, developed by the top design firm of Chermayeff & Geismar, incorporates NPR's initials.
As for APR's new initials, Salyer says PRI will be pronounced ''pee ahr eye,'' and not ''pree,'' to distinguish it from the usual pronunciation for the name of Mexico's ruling party, Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
Web page
posted Dec. 19, 1995
Copyright 1995 by Current Publishing Committee
Salyer, PRI president
LATER ARTICLES
The network raises startup funds for The World and announces the project in 1994.
PRI's new signature news program, The World, premieres in 1996.
PRI distributed Monitor Radio until the program was shut by its parent Christian Science Monitor in June 1997.
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