Are you serious here, Rip? If not, surely you don't believe the old wheeze that what Pacifica considers "journalism" is anywhere near the quality of what NPR puts out on a weekly basis. You need to get out more. Their continuing Katrina coverage alone makes us look stupid. K ----- Original Message ---- From: Rip Robbins <Rip.Robbins@xxxxxxxxxx> To: PacificaRadiowaves@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; NewPacifica@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 12:29:41 PM Subject: [PacificaRadiowaves] RE: create five better ones it its place Looking for new national talent? What Would Pacifica Do? Here is how NPR went about finding its “new” talent, and the winners: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Announces Winners of "Talent Quest" ( Washington , D.C. ) - - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced the winners of Talent Quest, the first public radio talent search competition to find and encourage a new generation of public radio on-air talent. They are: Majora Carter <http://launchproduc tion.com/> - her pilot show, The Promised Land, focuses on extraordinary individuals with innovative ideas about changing lives and transforming communities around the world and down the street. Al Letson <http://www.alletson .com/> - his pilot show, State of the Re: Union, takes listeners to different locations around the United States and explores how that city, town or area creates community. The show will highlight the people who help make communities work and the issues they face. Glynn Washington <http://www.snapjudg mentradio. com/> - his pilot show, Snap Judgment, explores the decisions people make, often in an instant, which can change their lives forever. CPB selected two organizations, the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) <http://www.prx. org/> and Launch <http://www.launchpr oduction. com/> to lead the Talent Quest effort and to identify three on-air hosts and help them produce pilots. PRX conducted its search as a multi-stage, web-based contest open to the public. Over 1450 people submitted entries in the first round and more than 130,000 people voted online at www.publicradioques t.org <http://www.publicra dioquest. org/> . A panel of judges picked the top nine entries, with the 10th selected by popular vote. The finalists then had to go through three rounds of creative challenges that tested their hosting skills- all posted publicly online for comment and discussion. Launch, a collaboration of three veteran producers- Mary Beth Kirchner, Julie Burstein and Marge Ostroushko- tapped into its extensive network of contacts and those of its advisory board. They scouted the nation's top musicians, writers and thinkers in search of potential hosts. Launch conducted interviews with dozens of people and produced audio "screen tests" that narrowed the field of contenders. Rip Rob bins Manager, KSVR 91.7 FM