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Zeitfunk Awards: 2012

Our annual list of the "mostiest" PRX members and pieces


2012 was a big year! Some highlights before we get to the winners:

21,538 pieces were sold on PRX (that's 4,050 more than 2011)! A piece went viral for the first time, and Roman Mars' 99% Invisible became the most funded Kickstarter in journalism. We started curating on Kickstarter to showcase other public media projects that we love and want to support.

Matter. was launched with Corey Ford at the helm and founding partners Knight Foundation, PRX and KQED. Our first venture west!

Cambridge became home to a monthly Moth StorySLAM, with PRX and WBUR as media sponsors and a PRXer as producer.

PRX thought globally and took on the Latitude News podcast, which takes a fresh approach to international reporting. We also held an open call for the Global Story Project looking for great new global content, with funding provided by the Open Society Foundations.

PRX rolled out apps galore including:

Thank you to our producers, stations and partners for making PRX a great place for radio-making and other forms of creation!


Zeitfunk 2012 First-Place Winners


Most Licensed Producer
Daniel Wargo   (more)

Most Licensed Group
Moyers and Company   (more)

Most Licensed Piece
Best of the Best: The 2012 Third Coast Festival Broadcast and Promo from Third Coast International Audio Festival   (more)

Most Licensed Series
Folk Alley from WKSU   (more)

Most Licensed Debut Producer
Andrew Norton   (more)

Most Licensed Debut Group
Bluesnet Radio   (more)

Most Licensed Station
WKSU - Kent, Ohio   (more)

Station that Licensed the Most Pieces
KPVL - Postville, Iowa   (more)

Most Licensed Youth-Produced Piece
BULLIED: Teen Stories
from WNPR and Generation PRX   (more)

Most Listened-To Piece
Two Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever from Jeff Cohen   (more)

Most Playlisted Piece
Two Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever from Jeff Cohen   (more)

Most Licensed Producer by Public Radio Remix
David Weinberg   (more)

Most Licensed Group by Public Radio Remix
Third Coast International Audio Festival   (more)

Most Licensed Station by Public Radio Remix
KCRW - from Santa Monica, California   (more)

Outside Purchaser that Licensed the Most
The Story   (more)

Complete Zeitfunk 2012 Results


We have made some changes to Zeitfunk this year — like showing more than 10 places in certain categories — because of factors like the role played by PRX shows (e.g. The Moth Radio Hour). We have been vigilant about the delineation between producer groups versus individual producers. We have also removed licenses that occurred in private regional networks, where pieces were not available to all PRX stations. All licenses mentioned are counted from stations as well as Outside Purchasers.

You can learn more about the winners by clicking on their names.



Most Licensed Station

Stations are also big producers of pieces and series. These stations sold the most pieces in 2012.

  1. WKSU - Kent, Ohio | 1,215 licenses
  2. KMUW - Wichita, Kansas
  3. WNYC - New York, New York
  4. WXPN - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  5. WNPR - Hartford, Connecticut
  6. All Classical Public Media - Portland, Oregon
  7. WGUC - Cinncinnati, Ohio
  8. WMHT - Schenectady, New York
  9. WFIU - Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
  10. KCUR - Kansas City, Missouri

Most Licensed Piece

Here are 2012's best-selling pieces that were not part of a recurring series.

  1. Best of the Best: The 2012 Third Coast Festival Broadcast and Promo from Third Coast International Audio Festival | 60 licenses
  2. Groundwork: Democracy Close to Home from the Center for Documentary Studies and John Biewen
  3. Left Behind, Dropping Out from WNPR
  4. Here's The Thing: Billy Joel from WNYC
  5. Go For It: Life Lessons From Girl Boxers from WNYC
  6. Here's The Thing: Kristen Wiig and Dick Cavett from WNYC
  7. Here's The Thing: David Letterman and Michael Douglas from WNYC
  8. Tie:
    Here's The Thing: Lorne Michaels and Erica Jong and Molly Jong-Fast from WNYC
    Here's The Thing: Chris Rock and Herb Alpert from WNYC
  9. BULLIED: Teen Stories from WNPR Connecticut Public Radio and PRX
  10. Levon Helm Rambles Home: An Appreciation from Paul Ingles

Most Licensed Series

Series come in many forms on PRX.org: weekly, monthly, occasional — even daily! And, they come from individual producers, groups and stations. These were the most licensed in 2012.

  1. Folk Alley from WKSU | 1211 licenses
  2. Moyers and Company from Moyers and Company
  3. Vinyl Cafe from Vinyl Cafe and CBC
  4. Global Village with Chris Heim from KMUW
  5. Jazz Profiles from NPR Music
  6. The Hayride with Dan Wargo
  7. The Bluegrass Review from Phil Nusbaum
  8. The New Jazz Archive from Jeff Haas
  9. The Moth Spring and Fall 2012 Seasons
  10. Blues and Beyond from WXPN and Johnny Meister

Station that Licensed the Most Pieces

Stations of all sizes and from all over the country use PRX to get audio for air. These are the stations that bought the most pieces from other stations and producers in 2012.

  1. KPVL - Postville, Iowa | 826 pieces licensed
  2. KKRN - Round Mounta, California
  3. KUOW - Seattle, Wash.
  4. KEOS - Bryan, Texas
  5. KSRQ - Thief River Falls, Minnesota
  6. WRNC-LP - Ashland, Wisconsin
  7. KUT - Austin, Texas
  8. KOSU - Stillwater, Oklahoma
  9. KREV-LP - Estes Park, Colorado
  10. KZYX - Philo, California

Most Licensed Debut Producer

The "top new artists" category. Of all the individual producers who were new to PRX in 2012, these folks sold the most pieces.

  1. Andrew Norton | 11 licenses
  2. Gary Pitts
  3. Tie:
    Brendan Murphy
    Rory Hinchey
  4. Tie:
    Blake Cooper
    Jessica Gould
  5. Kimberlea Daggy


Most Licensed Youth-Produced Piece

PRX has hundreds of youth-produced pieces from different radio groups and individuals around the country. Here are the youth pieces that were licensed the most in 2012.

  1. BULLIED: Teen Stories from WNPR/Generation PRX | 33 licenses
  2. Schooled: Teens' Stories About American Public Education from KUOW
  3. Tie:
    Coming Out in The Age of Lady Gaga from Radio Rookies
    Nothing's Ever Permanent in Foster Care Radio Rookies
    Hip Hop Dedication from Radio Rookies
    Illegal Mail from Blunt Youth Radio Project
    Students and Soldiers: Captivating Stories from Montana Veterans
    Half My Family is Illegal from Radio Rookies


Most Listened-To Piece

Anyone can listen to a free stream of any piece on PRX. An individual listen is considered 30 seconds or more of play.

  1. Two Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever from Jeff Cohen | Too many listens to count... probably about a million
  2. WTF with Marc Maron: Louis CK
  3. WTF with Marc Maron: Robin Williams
  4. The Moth Radio Hour 602 from The Moth
  5. Tent Show Radio - Gaelic Storm
  6. WTF with Marc Maron: Dane Cook and Janeane Garofalo
  7. The Moth Radio Hour 605 from The Moth
  8. The Moth Radio Hour 601 from The Moth
  9. Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver
  10. WTF with Marc Maron: Amy Poehler


Most Playlisted Piece

Anyone can create playlists on PRX.org. Use ‘em to gather favorite stories or as a way to show off your curatorial skills. The following pieces were added to the most playlists in 2012 (not including PRX's staff Editors' Picks).

Make your own playlist!

  1. Two Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever from Jeff Cohen | 31 playlists
  2. The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from the Kitchen Sisters
  3. Groundwork: Democracy Close to Home from Center for Documentary Studies/John Biewen
  4. 3-Way Tie:
    BULLIED: Teen Stories from WNPR/Generation PRX
    House Call 8-2-2012
    The Seance from UnFictional/KCRW
  5. 3-Way Tie:
    Roe v. Wade at 39/ Where Women Stand in 2012
    Sound Opinions Presents: 1967 – Rock & Roll Comes of Age
    Cheryl-Anne Millsap N-P-R-E-M testimonial

Most Licensed Producer by Public Radio Remix

Public Radio Remix is PRX's 24/7 stream of awesomeness on XM 123, mobile (Public Radio Player), web, and terrestrial radio, curated independently by Roman Mars and Sam Greenspan. These are the individual producers whose pieces were licensed the most by Public Radio Remix in 2012.

  1. David Weinberg | 15 licenses
  2. Andrew Bales
  3. Bishop Sand
  4. 3-Way Tie:
    Geoffrey Larson
    John Kessler
    Paula Morell
  5. 3-Way Tie:
    David Schulman
    Sarah Boothroyd
    Julia Barton
  6. Jake Warga

Most Licensed Group by Public Radio Remix

These are the producer groups whose pieces were licensed the most by Public Radio Remix in 2012.

  1. Third Coast International Audio Festival | 27 licenses
  2. HowSound - a PRX podcast. Subscribe!
  3. Radio Netherlands Worldwide
  4. Blank on Blank
  5. Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
  6. This Land Press
  7. Radio Rookies from WNYC
  8. State of the Re:Union
  9. The Truth
  10. Tie:
    YouthCast
    The Moth

Most Licensed Station by Public Radio Remix

These are the stations whose pieces were licensed the most by Public Radio Remix in 2012.

  1. KCRW | 37 licenses
  2. KALW
  3. WBEZ
  4. WNPR

Outside Purchaser that Licensed the Most

Outside Purchasers are a growing list of distributors, services, and shows beyond terrestrial public radio stations. These are the PRX OPs who licensed the most from PRX producers in 2012.

  1. Public Radio Remix* | 572 licenses
  2. The Story | 62 licenses
  3. HCC Radio The Dragon
  4. Radio New Zealand
  5. HowSound
  6. NewsTalk 1010 AM Canada
  7. YouthCast
  8. Third Coast International Audio Festival's Re:sound
  9. CJAD 800 AM Canada
  10. Interfaith Voices

* A note regarding Public Radio Remix: We will be rewarding the first-place trophy to Katie Davis of The Story, but left Remix on the list so that our community could see the impact Remix has in our community.


Useful Stats and Facts

During 2012...

  • 5,812 individual pieces were licensed by station and outside purchasers; many of those pieces were licensed more than once. The total number of licenses was 21,538 (that's 4,050 more than 2011)!
  • 183 first-time sellers sold pieces.
  • 457 individual producers and 170 groups sold pieces.
  • We counted 16,598 new registered members on PRX.
  • 17,081.8 hours of radio were licensed by stations in 2012. That's about 711 days worth of radio or just under TWO YEARS. Incredible!

Image by Shutterstock

By Dec. 31st, 2012, PRX had:

  • 235 active stations
  • 3,187 producers
  • 95,817+ listeners (PRX members who don't buy or sell work, but who listen to pieces)
  • 49,531 published pieces
  • 2,443 series
  • Paid nearly $1,508,000 to producers

Most Licensed Piece Lengths of 2012

Producers: check out what's selling!

  1. 55 to 60 min.  (9,453 licenses)
  2. 50 to 55 min  (4,413 licenses)
  3. 5 min and under  (3,012 licenses)
  4. 5 to 10 min  (1,613 licenses)
  5. 115 to 120 min  (1,369 licenses)
  6. 25 to 30 min  (677 licenses)
  7. 10 to 15 min  (278 licenses)
  8. 15 to 20 min  (176 licenses)
  9. 60 to 65 min  (156 licenses)
  10. 20 to 25 min  (123 licenses)

Staff Yearbook

Staff Favorite Sounds of 2012

We do a LOT of listening here at PRX. Here are some of our favorite sounds we heard throughout the year.

  • Roman: "It isn't from this year, but it has greater resonance since the Pope announced his retirement. I think this is the greatest vox pop of all time."
  • Chris: "My favorite sound of 2012 is on Dan Deacon's America B-Side USA, during the third movement, Rail, when at the very top of a crescendo, horns come in to mimic a train whistle. It's particularly intense after having listened to the entire crescendo over the last several minutes (and the whole piece leading up to it as context - seriously, listen to the whole thing), but it happens at around 17:28 in this video."
  • Genevieve: "My favorite sounds of 2012 were from the two weeks I spent in Wyoming: the horses coming in from the fields in the morning at Triangle X Ranch and the bubbly mud pots at Yellowstone."
  • Audrey: "The PRX Staff Favorites of 2012 list has a lot of my favorite pieces from 2012. How lucky am I to get paid to listen to amazing radio all day? My other favorite sound is this Solange song, and I'm not going to tell you how many times I listened to it."
  • Bailey: "This is second installment of my newest podcast. Woof Woof!"
  • Matt: "This one is easy for me."
  • Sam: "I don't know if I can pick a favorite radio piece, but I've been loving me some Gangrimes Style."
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