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Public radio could easily be described as a smashing success story. Take NPR, for example. From its counter-cultural roots in the early 1970s, it has grown to become one of the most trusted sources of journalism in the United States. Although it still is accused of liberal bias, an equal number of liberals and conservatives find themselves drawn to its reassuring sound. So - what s the problem? Like newspapers and symphony orchestras, public radio has a graying audience and it is having trouble attracting younger people and minorities. So today, in order to stay viable, public radio s job is to reach out to new listeners. But at what cost, if any? ThoughtCast attended the Public Radio Program Directors Association conference this September in Hollywood, and spoke with: Jeff Hansen, program director at KUOW in Seattle Mike Crane, COO of Wisconsin Public Radio John Voci, the general manager of WGBH radio in Boston Jennifer Ferro, assistant general manager of KCRW in Santa Monica Sam Fleming, managing director of news and programs at WBUR, Boston Chris Bannon, program director of WNYC in New York City. Click here: to listen (7 minutes).

Jonathan Zittrain s latest Cyber law expert Jonathan Zittrain is one of the cannier thinkers out there, pondering the wide world of the web, and his new book is called The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It. It s a call to arms. Before it s too late, he says, we must make sure the Internet stays in our hands - not in those of industries like Verizon, or Apple, seductive as their services might seem at times. Anybody say iPhone?? Click here: to listen (5 1/2 minutes). For those to whom Jonathan is a new phenomenon, he is the co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, a professor at Harvard Law School, and also the Chair in Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University. He s an expert on Internet law and was invited to appear on the Colbert Report!

The term network neutrality was the brainchild of Tim Wu of Columbia Law School. So what does this term mean, and what power does it have politically? ThoughtCast spoke with Tim Wu at the "Future of the Internet" conference, held at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

In some ways, the Scottish historian Niall Ferguson is the Russell Crowe of the academic world: charismatic, unconventional, and definitely controversial. He s also a big fan of the British Empire and wants the United States to follow in its footsteps. That means it s our job to form colonies in hot climates, for years on end. Are we up for this? While Niall would like that to be the case, he doesn t really think so, because, he says, we re an empire in denial Click here: to listen to a 4 minute excerpt. Click here: to listen to the entire interview (15:30 minutes). Or watch this brief video excerpt! (1 minute.) And to listen to an interview with Niall Ferguson on the WGBH Forum Network, click here!

This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Neologisms a now-old neologism! Today’s online world is in overdrive. Think of it as a novelty factory – spewing out new ideas, products, and neologisms – new words, or phrases. Take the word blog, for example, or broadband. These are now old-hat neologisms even my mother would recognize. But neologisms can also be existing words that acquire new meaning, like the term spam. Or the word friend – that’s now a verb! People friend each other on social networking sites like Facebook all the time! So what better place to look for neologisms than at a conference devoted to the Future of the Internet , held by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Click here: to listen (4 minutes). Or check out this 1 minute video with MIT Media Center professor Judith Donath

An old neologism! Today’s online world is in overdrive. Think of it as a novelty factory – spewing out new ideas, products, and neologisms – new words, or phrases. Take the word blog, for example, or broadband. These are now old-hat neologisms even my mother would recognize. But neologisms can also be existing words that acquire new meaning, like the term spam. Or the word friend – that’s now a verb! People friend each other on social networking sites like Facebook all the time! So what better place to look for neologisms than at a conference devoted to the Future of the Internet , held by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Click here: to listen (4 minutes).

Here are a few more thoughts on new words gleaned from life online gathered at a Berkman Center conference on The Future of the Internet! Josh Marshall (credit: NY Times) Joshua Micah Marshall, who founded the influential site Talking Points Memo discusses the term blogger , a now old neologism that may have outgrown its usefulness, at least to him! Click here: (2:30 minutes) to listen. And let us know if you agree! Ethan Zuckerman (credit: Esther Dyson) Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices waxes lyrical on the term homophily, which isn t actually a web word, but it s a phenomenon playing itself out on the Internet. Click here for clarification! (2:20 minutes) Judith Donath Have you friended someone recently? Have you ever? Sooner or later, we ll all start to friend, or be friended, if we are to inhabit the jolly online world of social networking. MIT Media Lab s Judith Donath explains . Click here: (4:17 minutes) And there s more!!! For more neologisms from the world of the web, check out this post! It features brief interviews with Esther Dyson, Jimmy Wales and Tim Wu

Berkman Center Neologisms are defined as new words or phrases (or new uses of a word or phrase). And what better place to find them than at a gathering of netizens (itself a neologism) steeped in the new world of the net . The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, at Harvard, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and ThoughtCast was there, fishing for novelty The Catch: Esther Dyson Internet guru Esther Dyson came up with an expression I d never heard before Have you? Here s a clue: what does Google have to do with your refrigerator??!! Click here: (1 minute) to find out! Jimmy Wales Jimmy Wales, the founder of the free online encylopedia Wikipedia, shares his thoughts on the power of a name. It s a name he s stuck with in a good way, of course! Click here: to listen. (2:13 minutes)  And hear what else Jimbo had to say that day, to the Chronicle of Higher Education! Tim Wu The term network neutrality was the brainchild of Tim Wu of Columbia Law School. So what does this term mean, and what power does it have? Click here: (1:36 minutes) And Coming Soon Have you friended someone recently? Have you ever? Sooner or later, we ll all start to friend, or be friended, if we are to inhabit the jolly online world of social networking. MIT Media Lab s Judith Donath explains . Plus, thoughts from Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices, and from Joshua Micah Marshall, of Talking Points Memo!

Note: this piece was broadcast on New Hampshire Public Radio Borromeo String Quartet (photo: Christian Steiner) Steve Reich is perhaps the preeminent composer living today. And one of his most heart-wrenching and affecting works is called Different Trains for String Quartet and Tape. It tells the story of Steve Reich s early childhood his train trips between the East and West coasts to visit his separated parents and also of the train trips Jews were forced to take during the Holocaust. The piece, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet in 1988, is notoriously difficult to play. But the Borromeo String Quartet has recently taken up the challenge. ThoughtCast s Jenny Attiyeh attended a rehearsal at the New England Conservatory, where the Borromeo is currently in residence. Click here: to listen (7 minutes) on ThoughtCast! Click here: for a shorter version (4:30 mins.)

Jay Allison and Mark Kramer Jay Allison, the host of This I Believe on NPR, and Mark Kramer, the founding director of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism, banded together at the Harvard Book Store to talk about Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers Guide, a selection of essays from Harvard s Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism and also to tell a few stories of their own about authenticity, the narrative voice and the gruelling process of authorship. The compilation is edited by Kramer and Wendy Call, with contributions from Jay Allison. Click here: to listen. (55 minutes)

Note: this piece was broadcast on WMUB, an NPR station in Oxford, Ohio. Why Not? What does the word rock mean? Simple enough question. But how did the term originate? Where and why? These questions are bit more difficult to answer! Tune in for a quick romp through the origins of the word with Berklee College of Music professor Ken Zambello. (And thanks to Pam Scrutton and Planning For Elders for the Let s Rock and Roll illustration!)

Note: This program was broadcast on WCAI, the Cape and Islands affiliate of WGBH. Alan Lightman Alan Lightman, the MIT physicist and best-selling author of Einstein s Dreams, is a man of unusual ability. Talented in both the sciences and the arts, he s both left- and right-brained, a condition that confers challenges as well as benefits. Lightman has recently come out with a new book which explores these two realms - and it s called Ghost! It deals with the permeable boundary between hard science and the paranormal and asks, where does science fail us, and what, if anything, can take its place? Does mystery take over? And can it step in where science falls short? Click here: to listen (28:30 minutes) on ThoughtCast! And to listen Alan Lightman on WGBH s Forum Network, click here and here!

Natalie Goldberg (self-portrait) Natalie Goldberg, the well-known painter, writer and writing teacher, who wrote the best-seller on how to write called Writing Down the Bones, is also a Zen teacher, who applies the lessons of Zen Buddhism to her writing, and her life. This is a complex brew, but in this ThoughtCast interview, which took place in her home, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Natalie speaks frankly about her often painful but also at times transcendent experiences, and how she has turned these experiences into positive, life-affirming acts of self-expression and works of art. Natalie paints her father Natalie seeks the truth, about herself, her father (the charismatic Ben Goldberg), her Zen teacher Katagiri Roshi, and the swirling world around her. As those who know her will attest, Natalie s quest has been a fruitful one. She s the author of many books, including the novel, Banana Rose, and the memoirs Long Quiet Highway and The Great Failure, among many others. Click here: to listen to our interview. (30 minutes) El Rito, New Mexico Natalie Goldberg is also featured in the documentary Tangled up in Bob: Searching for Bob Dylan, in which she ventures to his hometown of Hibbing, Minnnesota, in search of - once more - the truth. At the moment Natalie is at work on a new book, called Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir , which will be published in February of 2008. Click here: to listen to Natalie Goldberg read an excerpt (about her parents visit to Santa Fe) from The Great Failure . (4 1/2 minutes)

Note: This interview was broadcast on WCAI/WNAN, and is also featured on WGBH s Science Luminaries series, as part of WGBH Science City. Marc Hauser (Photo: Lilan Hauser) The provocative Harvard psychologist Marc Hauser recently spoke about The Evolution of Our Moral Intuitions at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.This ThoughtCast interview with Hauser serves as a good first course but to get to the meat and potatoes, check out his book Moral Minds. Click here: to listen. (17:40 minutes)

WNYC Radio s Bill Swersey led a working group at the conference called Public Radio and Open Source, which came up with the idea for a watering hole (pubforge.org) where open source developers for public media can discuss problems and share solutions. Swersey speaks with ThoughtCast about the meaning of open source and the challenges public broadcasters face in adjusting to the new world of pubmedia on the web! Click here: to listen to the interview (4:40 minutes).

Note: this interview was broadcast Jan. 21 at 10:30 pm on WGBH. To read a review of this program, click here: Amartya Sen Amartya Sen, the distinguished economist, philosopher, Nobel laureate and Harvard professor, talks with ThoughtCast about Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. This new book examines the unfortunate connection between violence and our tendency to identify with one key trait our ethnicity, or religion, for example to the exclusion of all others. Sen argues that we can combat this tendency by rejecting this narrowly defined, limited sense of identity, and embracing a broader, richer and more complex understanding of ourselves. Amartya Sen was born in West Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) and teaches economics at Harvard University. He is known in the wider world for his work on the causes of famines. Note: Susan Wennemyr served as associate producer on this program. Click here: to listen (28:30 minutes). To listen to a panel on Combating Global Poverty that includes Sen, click here to access WGBH s Forum Network.

Annually, public radio programmers from across the nation (and overseas) gather to talk shop. This year, the mood at the Public Radio Program Directors Association conference, in Philadelphia, was one of concern. With many listeners newly entranced by the gadgets and gizmos of the 21st Century podcasts, blogs, satellite radio, streaming audio it all adds up to one intimidating fact: the consumers of today s content want it on their terms. And the old guard of public radio now realizes it has some catching up to do. But therein lies the opportunity, and the reason why many of the more adventuresome attendees had a spring in their step. For starters, here s Jay Kernis, the Senior VP of Programming at National Public Radio: Click here: (9 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview. Also in attendance was a contingent of BBC World Service cognoscenti, who brought their own brand of blunt charm to the affair. Key among the charmers was Phil Harding, Director of English Network and News. Click here: (7 minutes) to listen to the interview. But with Elisabeth Perez-Luna in attendance, the Americans were able to hold their own. Currently, she is the News Director and the Executive Producer of National Radio Programming at WHYY: Click here: (12 minutes) to listen to the interview.

This is a continuing series of interviews conducted at the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Philadelphia. George Boosey, the Program Director for North Carolina Public Radio, is a bigwig in public broadcasting. Might he also be a contrarian? Certainly he s more circumspect than many of his colleagues when it comes to the bells and whistles of the new new media . Click here: (9 minutes) to listen to the interview. Nikki Shields is the Program Manager for Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Hers is a loyal audience for the time being. And Nikki plans to keep it that way. Click here: (4 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview. Michael Arnold is the director of programming for Public Radio International, which distributes Christopher Lydon s Open Source, the BBC World Service, This American Life and more. PRI s the newer kid on the block, and as such, may well be scrappier and quicker at adapting to the new world of the Web 2.0. Click here: (5 minutes) to listen to the interview.

This is a continuing series of interviews conducted at the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Philadelphia. Liliane Landor is the commanding editor of news and current affairs at the BBC World Service. And as a member of the BBC s Creative Future for journalism team, she s already devoted a good deal of time to the questions bedevilling public broadcasting. Click here: (6 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview. Eric Nuzum is NPR s refreshing, colorful director of programming and acquisitions. We spoke in an exceedingly noisy room, so this interview is short and loud. If it leaves you hungry for more, try this. Click here: (2 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview. Karen Shiffman is senior associate producer for On Point, the smart, approachable NPR program hosted by Tom Ashbrook and produced at WBUR in Boston. She gives us a glimpse of its inner workings. Click here: (5 minutes) to listen to the interview. Click here for part 1, featuring the BBC s Phil Harding, Elisabeth Perez-Luna, and Jay Kernis. And click here for part 2 with Michael Arnold, Nikki Shields and George Boosey.

This is a continuing series of interviews conducted at the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Philadelphia. Todd Mundt is one of the Young Turks in public media he even has an influential blog. Todd recently left Michigan Public Media to take a job in his home state at Iowa Public Media. I d keep your eye out for some upheaval there (in a good way!) Click here: (5 minutes) to listen to the interview. Program director Jackie Sauter admits she s no pro when it comes to newfangled Internet contraptions. But that hasn t kept her from moving North Country Public Radio online. Click here: (5 1/2 minutes) to listen to the interview. Andrew Haeg is the senior producer of Public Insight Journalism at Minnesota Public Radio, which is a fresh new way to interact with and learn from your audience. Click here: (4 minutes) to listen to the interview. Click here for part 1, featuring the BBC s Phil Harding, Elisabeth Perez-Luna, and Jay Kernis. Click here for part 2 with Michael Arnold, Nikki Shields and George Boosey. And click here for part 3, with the BBC s Liliane Landor, On Point s Karen Shiffman, and Eric Nuzum of NPR.

This is the final series of interviews conducted at the Public Radio Program Directors conference in Philadelphia. Maria Thomas is the VP and general manager of NPR digital media. As such, she oversees the development and distribution of NPR content to the Internet, mobile phones and the like. Need I say more? Click here: (3 minutes) to listen to the interview. Lucio Mesquita is the head of the Americas and Europe for the BBC World Service. He is thoughtful, almost philosophical, and in this interview he takes me to task for my quest for purity in public broadcasting. He also discusses opera, soap opera, Shakespeare, silent movies, and of course, the BBC! I had to save the last word of my Future of Public Radio series for Lucio. Click here: (11:30 minutes) to listen to the interview. Click here for part 1 featuring the BBC s Phil Harding, WHYY s Elisabeth Perez-Luna and Jay Kernis, a senior veep at NPR. Click here for part 2 with Michael Arnold of PRI, MPBN s Nikki Shields and WUNC s George Boosey. Click here for part 3 with the BBC s Liliane Landor, On Point s Karen Shiffman and Eric Nuzum of NPR. Click here for part 4 with WOI s Todd Mundt, Jackie Sauter with NCPR and Andrew Haeg of MPR.

Note: this interview was rebroadcast Jan. 21 at 10 pm on WGBH. It has also aired on WCAI/WNAN, WNED, KXOT and KYOU. Alan Dershowitz The controversial Harvard Law professor, author and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz talks with ThoughtCast about his latest book, Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways , as well as his views on the Israeli-Palestinian-Hezbollah conflict, torture, human rights and our war on terror. His premise: the world has changed, and international law must change with it. We need more tools, he argues, in the fight against terror networks whose recruits hold no fear of death or retribution. Note: Although the subjects we discuss are controversial, my goal is not to argue with Alan, but to find out what he s thinking. My hope is that our conversation will provoke further discussion on these hot-button issues. Click here: (30 minutes) to listen to the interview. Click here: to listen to the hour-long version. And click here to listen to Dershowitz debate Harvey Silverglate on civil liberties on the WGBH Forum Network. Please join the conversation by leaving a comment!

Kevin Smokler Kevin Smokler, the author, critic and literary blogger, has recently edited a book of essays called Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times. Its aim is to remind the world of the relevance of reading, eh, books. Not just summaries of books, or book reviews, or headlines about books, but the real thing. No matter if the book is a bunch of cartoons, the latest supermarket bodice buster, or issued from the Apple PowerBook of yet another disaffected kid from Brooklyn you know, the one with the rectangular glasses, pale skin and perfectly uncoiffed hair. It s all good to Kevin, and who can disagree with him. Here s a short interview I grabbed shortly before he took the mike at the Harvard Book Store: Click here: (7:18 minutes) to listen to the interview. And here s Bookmark Now, the Talk! (34 minutes.) It features Kevin, naturally, and also Paul Collins, the author of Sixpence House and Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism.

WGBH broadcast this ThoughtCast interview on Arts and Ideas, and also features it on their Science Luminaries series, as part of WGBH Science City. Lisa Randall Professor Randall is a theoretical particle physicist who sees past the rest of us to a world of extra dimensions and parallel universes. Hers is a world of warped geometry, sink-holes and branes — a world that fills glaring gaps in current thinking, and can finally explain why gravity is so weak ! Now while this might sound like so much Greek just wait. Randall s latest book, written for the layman, is called Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe s Hidden Dimensions so she s had plenty of practice explaining these high-flying ideas to English majors. Click here to listen to Lisa Randall s lecture at IDEAS Boston on the WGBH Forum Network.

Note: WCAI and WNAN, the Cape and Islands public radio channels, broadcast this interview, as did Yellowstone Public Radio! Robert Pinsky Former poet laureate Robert Pinsky tackles King David of the Bible - the shepherd, poet, warrior and adulterer - in his Life of David. Is David a legend? A real, flesh and blood warrior who killed Goliath, and united the 12 Jewish tribes into one nation? Robert Pinsky delves into these questions, and into David s story, with relish. David s story has been told many times, and the tale has changed with each telling. There s the David of the Hebrew Bible, and another version of his life in the Talmud. We know he slept with Bathsheba, but was this a sin? An act of love? Of violence? It depends on whom you ask. David, who lived about 3000 years ago, was beloved of God, and as a result, he got away with more than his share. He was a seductive, wily politician, a doting father, a bitter old man. These contradictions in David s character spur Pinsky on, and he adds his own twist to the tale, as you will hear, on ThoughtCast!

Note: This interview was broadcast on WGBH radio, on Arts and Ideas. Click here for details. Megan Marshall Author Megan Marshall has recently written a well-received biography of the three Peabody sisters - Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia - who were key players in the founding of the Transcendentalist movement in the early to mid 19th century. Elizabeth, the oldest, was intellectually precocious, learning Hebrew as a child so she could read the Old Testament. Mary was the middle sister, somewhat subdued by the dominant - and bossy - qualities of Elizabeth, and by the attention paid to the youngest, Sophia, who was practically an invalid. Nonetheless, Mary managed to become a teacher, writer and reformer. Sophia, beset by devastating migraines, spent most of her early years in bed. But when she had the strength, she painted. In an interview with ThoughtCast, Megan Marshall continues the tale Click here to listen to a lecture by Megan Marshall on the Peabody sisters on the WGBH Forum Network.

Note: this program was broadcast on KYOU, open source radio. Check it out! Three Internet gurus talk with ThoughtCast about the social architecture of the web, and how it might bring people together, and/or pull them apart! The four of us spoke following a daylong conference on the subject. David Weinberger David Weinberger is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, as well as the man behind Joho the Blog. He is also the author of Small Pieces, Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web and The Cluetrain Manifesto, and is currently working on a new book, Everything is Miscellaneous. Chris Nolan Chris Nolan, an independent, online journalist, is a former member of the mainstream media, and is known to have coined the phrase stand alone journalism. As the founder of Spot-on, a web site featuring diverse voices across the political spectrum, she embodies this practise of stand alone independent journalism on the web. Stowe Boyd Stowe Boyd is president and chief operating officer of Corante, a new media company devoted to promoting social software on the web. A self-described media subversive, Stowe also pens the blog Get Real on Corante, in addition to his personal blog, A Working Model. And there s more: Corante has recently launched Corante Hubs and the related Corante Network. coranteSSA