Zeitfunk Awards: 2011

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

Thank you…thank you…thanks for being with us tonight. We’re honored to be here to present the 2011 Zeitfunk Awards for the “mostiest” of PRX members, producers and stations. We'll be filling in for John Barth who just tweeted this picture from the green room. Thanks for sharing, John.

Let the show begin!

With a total of 17,488 licenses in 2011, who will walk away our Most Licensed Producer? And with 93,000+ listeners signed up on PRX.org, which will be the Most Listened-To Piece? Keep reading to discover PRX's Zeitfunkiest people, groups, pieces and stories.

Other good stuff from 2011

The PRX tech team dominated the app scene and rolled out eight new apps for public media and won a Webby Award for the This American Life iPhone App. PRX and The Moth also won a Peabody Award for The Moth Radio Hour.

But it is the PRX producers, listeners and stations that make PRX what it is--a growing community dedicated to bringing significant stories to millions of people.

Cheers to you, to stories and to an amazing year!


Zeitfunk 2011 First-Place Winners


Most Licensed Producer
Philip Nusbaum   (more)

Most Licensed Group
Vinyl Cafe   (more)

Most Licensed Piece
Best of the Best: The 2011 Third Coast Festival Broadcast from Third Coast International Audio Festival   (more)

Most Licensed Series
Vinyl Cafe   (more)

Most Licensed Debut Producer
Paula Morrell   (more)

Most Licensed Debut Group
WTF with Marc Maron   (more)

Most Licensed Station
WKSU - Kent, Ohio   (more)

Station that Licensed the Most Pieces
KFOK-LP - Georgetown, Calif.   (more)

Most Licensed Youth-Produced Piece
Our 9/11: Growing Up in The Aftermath
from Radio Rookies (more)

Most Listened-To Piece
The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters   (more)

Most Playlisted Piece
The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters   (more)

Most Licensed Producer by Public Radio Remix
Rebecca Sheir   (more)

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

Outside Purchaser that Licensed the Most
HCC Radio The Dragon   (more)

Most Embedded
The Hidden World of Girls (Hour 1) from the Kitchen Sisters   (more)

Most Visited Embedded
The Hidden World of Girls (Hour 1)
from the Kitchen Sisters (more)


Complete Zeitfunk 2011 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.

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

Most Licensed Producer

These individual producers had the most pieces licensed by stations and outside purchasers (non-station entities) in 2011. All of these producers listed have a weekly series, which shows the benefits of having weekly content.

  1. Phil Nusbaum | 419 licenses
  2. Daniel Wargo
  3. Stephen R. Webb
  4. Bob Ephlin
  5. Chris Kuborn
  6. Jamie Hoover
  7. Clay Scott
  8. Guy Hand
  9. Charles Lee
  10. Ben Manilla

Most Licensed Group

Groups are collections of two or more producers who distribute work on PRX. These are the groups that had the most pieces licensed by stations and outside purchasers in 2011.

  1. Vinyl Cafe | 776 licenses
  2. The Moth
  3. NPR Music
  4. L.A. Theatre Works
  5. StoryCorps
  6. Joyride Media
  7. Isla Earth
  8. Radio Netherlands Worldwide
  9. State of the Re:Union
  10. Finger Lakes Productions

Most Licensed Station

Stations are also big producers of pieces. These stations sold the most pieces to other PRX stations and outside purchasers in 2011.

  1. WKSU - Kent, Ohio. | 617 licenses
  2. WXPN - Philadelphia, Penn.
  3. WNYC - New York, N.Y.
  4. KMUW - Wichita, Kans.
  5. WFIU - Bloomington, Ind.
  6. WNPR - Hartford, Conn.
  7. WGUC - Cincinnati, Ohio
  8. KALW - San Francisco, Cal.
  9. WHRV - Norfolk, Va.
  10. KCUR - Kansas City, Missouri.

Most Licensed Piece

Here are 2011's best-selling pieces that were not part of a recurring series.

  1. Best of the Best: The 2011 Third Coast Festival Broadcast from Third Coast International Audio Festival | 50 licenses
  2. Living Nine Eleven from WNYC
  3. Like A Rolling Stone - The Music of Bob Dylan
  4. Tie:
    Travels with Mike: In Search of America 50 Years After Steinbeck from The Center for Documentary Studies
    The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters
  5. The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 2) from The Kitchen Sisters
  6. The Sonic Memorial Project from The Kitchen Sisters
  7. The Whole Story: How Mr. Rogers Saved Public Media from 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting
  8. BackStory - American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving from BackStory with the American History Guys
  9. Robert Johnson Centennial Celebration from Joyride Media
  10. Tie:
    Dream Jobs 2011: Outside the Cubicle from Spectrum Radio
    Mississippi Gulf Coast - Defending the Gulf from State of the Re:Union
    Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound from the Association of Independents in Radio

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 2011.

  1. Vinyl Cafe from Vinyl Cafe | 736 licenses
  2. Folk Alley from WKSU
  3. The Moth Radio Hour Spring and Fall 2011 Seasons from The Moth
  4. Blues & Beyond from WXPN
  5. L.A. Theatre Works from L.A. Theatre Works
  6. StoryCorps from StoryCorps
  7. Radiolab from WNYC
  8. The Bluegrass Review from Philip Nusbaum
  9. Stuck in the Psychedelic Era from Stephen R. Webb
  10. Global Village with Chris Heim from KMUW

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 2011.

  1. KFOK-LP - Georgetown, Calif. | 901 pieces licensed
  2. KPVL - Decorah, Iowa
  3. KUOW - Seattle, Wash.
  4. WRNC-LP - Ashland, Wisc.
  5. KUT - Austin, Texas
  6. KKRN - Round Mountain, Calif.
  7. KOSU - Stillwater, Okla.
  8. Tie:
    KEOS - Tacoma, Wash.
    WTIP - Grand Marais, Minn.
  9. KMXT - Kodiak Island, Alaska
  10. Yellowstone Public Radio - Billings, Mont.

Most Licensed Debut Producer

Consider this the "top new artists" category in this year's Zeitfunk awards. Of all the individual producers who were new to PRX in 2011, these folks sold the most pieces.

  1. Paula Morell | 31 licenses
  2. Candice Agree
  3. Aaron Sand
  4. Tie:
    Jack Loeffler
    David Tarnow
  5. Erin Gleeson

Most Licensed Debut Group

Consider this Part Two of the "top new artists" category. Here are the groups of producers who were new to PRX in 2011 and sold the most pieces:

  1. WTF with Marc Maron | 133 licenses
  2. The Guardian
  3. This Land Press
  4. NOVA
  5. The New Jazz Archive
  6. RAFI USA

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 by stations and outside purchasers in 2011.

  1. Our 9/11: Growing Up in the Aftermath from Radio Rookies and WNYC | 21 licenses
  2. Fresh Greens 2.0 from Terrascope Youth Radio and NHPR
  3. What is American? from Youth Media Project
  4. Tie:
    Homestead Childhood City High Radio
    Best Couple from Radio Rookies and WNYC
  5. 3-Way Tie:
    Different, Not Disabled: The Perception of My Mind from WHJE
    Schooled: Teens' Stories About American Public Education from KUOW
    Coming of Age Illegal from MPR News Stations

Most Listened-To Piece

To keep our public radio community open and growing, we allow anyone who signs up on PRX.org to stream any piece for free. And, we give the option of open streaming that doesn't require logging in, lets the Facebook audio player play full pieces, and gives access to an embeddable audio player.

Here are the pieces that were listened to the most in 2011. An individual listen is considered 30 seconds or more of play.

  1. The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters | 7,422 listens
  2. The Moth Radio Hour 402 from The Moth
  3. The Moth Radio Hour 401 from The Moth
  4. The Moth Radio Hour 405 from The Moth
  5. The Moth Radio Hour 403 from The Moth
  6. The Moth Radio Hour 301 from The Moth
  7. The Moth Radio Hour 501 from The Moth
  8. The Moth Radio Hour 404 from The Moth
  9. The Moth Radio Hour 302 from The Moth
  10. The Moth Radio Hour 502 from The Moth
  11. The Moth Radio Hour 303 from The Moth
  12. The Moth Radio Hour 305 from The Moth
  13. The Moth Radio Hour 503 from The Moth
  14. The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 2) from The Kitchen Sisters
  15. The Moth Radio Hour 504 from The Moth
  16. The Moth Radio Hour 304 from The Moth
  17. WTF Episode 106 with Robin Williams WTF with Marc Maron
  18. WTF Episode 101 with Judd Apatow from WTF with Marc Maron
  19. The Moth Radio Hour 505 from The Moth
  20. WTF Episode 108 with Carlos Mencia from WTF with Marc Maron
  21. WTF Episode 110 Dane Cook & Janeane Garofalo from WTF with Marc Maron
  22. The Moth Radio Hour 204 from The Moth
  23. WTF Episode 104 with Louis CK from WTF with Marc Maron
  24. The Moth Radio Hour 101 from The Moth
  25. Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver from Paul Ingles
  26. February 24, 1607: The Premiere of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo from WFMT
  27. The Moth Radio Hour 205 from The Moth
  28. Why Pink Floyd? from Andy Cahn
  29. WTF Episode 103 with Bob Odenkirk & Maria Bamford from WTF with Marc Maron
  30. The Moth Radio Hour 104 from The Moth


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 2011. We do not include PRX's staff editors' picks or our format curators' picks in the totals.

Make your own playlist!

  1. The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters | 24 playlists
  2. Tie:
    The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey (Hour 2) from The Kitchen Sisters
    The Moth Radio Hour 302 from The Moth
  3. Tie:
    Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound from the Association of Independents in Radio
    The Moth Radio Hour 303 from The Moth
  4. 3-Way Tie:
    The Moth Radio Hour 304 from The Moth
    The Moth Radio Hour 301 from The Moth
    The Witches of Lublin from Sue Zizza

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. These are the individual producers whose pieces were licensed the most by Public Radio Remix in 2011.

  1. Rebecca Sheir | 15 licenses
  2. Hillary Frank - The Longest Shortest Time Podcast
  3. Tie:
    Aaron Sand - Sift Podcast
    John Kessler
  4. Tie:
    Rachel Falcone
  5. Eric Molinsky

Outside Purchaser that Licensed the Most

Outside Purchasers are a growing list of distributors, services, and shows beyond public radio stations. These are the PRX OPs who licensed the most from PRX producers in 2011.

  1. Public Radio Remix* | 649 licenses
  2. HCC Radio The Dragon | 76 licenses
  3. The Story
  4. YouthCast
  5. SALTcast Podcast
  6. Tie:
    WORLDcompass.org
  7. CBC Inside the Music
  8. HowSound
  9. Third Coast Festival/Re:Sound
  10. Interfaith Voices

* A note regarding Public Radio Remix: It is PRX-owned but curated independently by Roman Mars and Emily Corwin, who license the content largely from PRX's indie producer community. We will be rewarding the first-place trophy to HCC Radio The Dragon, but left Remix on the list so that our community could see the impact Remix has.

Most Embedded

Sharing is caring. PRX's embeddable audio player allows listeners to embed the audio on websites and blogs. Here are the pieces that were embedded the most in 2011.

  1. The Hidden World of Girls (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters | embedded 12 times
  2. The Art of War from War News Radio
  3. Learning Experience from War News Radio
  4. Ira Glass Generic Promos from WTF with Marc Maron

Most Visited Embedded

Of all the pieces that were embedded using PRX's embeddable audio player, these were on websites that were viewed the most.

  1. The Hidden World of Girls (Hour 1) from The Kitchen Sisters | Visited 34,710 times! Read about it on our blog.
  2. The Hidden World of Girls (Preview) from The Kitchen Sisters
  3. Ira Glass Generic Promos from WTF with Marc Maron
  4. WTF Episode 101 with Judd Apatow from WTF with Marc Maron
  5. Why Pink Floyd? from Andy Cahn
  6. The Moth Radio Hour 402 from The Moth
  7. The Moth Radio Hour 401 from The Moth
  8. The Moth Radio Hour 101 from The Moth
  9. The Moth Radio Hour 204 from The Moth
  10. The Moth Radio Hour 405 from The Moth
  11. The Moth Radio Hour 403 from The Moth
  12. The Moth Radio Hour 501 from The Moth
  13. The Moth Radio Hour 305 from The Moth
  14. The Moth Radio Hour 404 from The Moth
  15. The Moth Radio Hour 302 from The Moth
  16. The Moth Radio Hour 301 from The Moth
  17. Moon Graffiti from The Truth
  18. Beyond the Comfort Zone from The Drucker Institute
  19. The Moth Radio Hour 303 from The Moth
  20. Asian-American Health Disparities in Minnesota from KFAI

Useful Stats and Facts

During 2011...

  • 8,000 individual pieces were licensed by station and outside purchasers; many of those pieces were licensed more than once. The total number of licenses was 17,488 (that's 4,062 more than 2010)!
  • 185 new sellers sold pieces.
  • 437 individual producers and 176 groups sold pieces.
  • We counted 28,519 new registered members on PRX.
  • Listeners added 805 new comments to PRX.

By Dec. 31st, 2011, PRX had:

  • 201 active stations
  • 2,535 producers
  • 90,010+ listeners (PRX members who don't buy or sell work, but who listen to pieces)
  • 29,896+ published pieces
  • 1,666 series
  • paid nearly $1.4 million to producers

Most Licensed Piece Lengths of 2011

Producers: check out what's selling!

  1. 55+ to 60 min.  (6,747 licenses)
  2. 0+ to 5  (3,184 licenses)
  3. 50+ to 55  (2,917 licenses)
  4. 5+ to 10  (1,746 licenses)
  5. 115+ to 120  (1,107 licenses)
  6. 25+ to 30  (702 licenses)
  7. 10+ to 15  (241 licenses)
  8. 60+ to 65  (119 licenses)
  9. 35+ to 40  (114 licenses)
  10. 20+ to 25  (112 licenses)

Staff Yearbook


Original image by Ricky Gervais

Staff Favorite Memes

If you couldn't guess, we spend a lot of time on the internet. Here are our favorite internet jokes from 2011.