NPR To Be Seen And Not Just Heard

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‘I saw it on the radio” was the catch phrase in a classic radio industry ad campaign.


National Public Radio West wants to take that concept to a new level.


According to Ken Stern, the network’s executive vice president, the national non-profit producer and distributor of radio programming is looking to hire a video editor possibly by the end of the year.


When created, the position will be based out of NPR’s West Coast bureau in Culver City. Details have yet to be worked out and budgetary approval is pending, but the editor would most likely produce reports for the network’s podcasts.


NPR West’s Culver City campus opened nearly four years ago and is the production facility for the national network’s popular “Day to Day” and “News & Notes” shows.


“The West Coast bureau is such a crucial addition to what NPR is,” said Andi Sporkin, NPR’s vice president of communications. “It’s not a satellite location, it’s part of the fabric of who we are.”

The network has been offering podcasts for a year this month and plans to progressively expand its offerings, Stern said.


Since the Washington, D.C.-based network’s Southern California headquarters moved from its small Santa Monica site, which had six employees, to its current site it has expanded to 75 staffers. NPR bought the Culver City office, which was formerly occupied by now-defunct tech company Digital Planet, for $8 million in 2002. The 25,000-square-foot building houses two sound studios, five production rooms and a TV-equipped studio that are all open to the public for weekly tours. A second 12,500-square-foot building on the site is currently being leased to a tenant.


“It’s geographically balanced the editorial content of this network,” said Cinny Kennard, general manager of NPR West. “We have a distinctly non-D.C. style; our own west coast sensibility.”

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