AIRblast Presents: Crossing Media: from Public Radio to NYTimes.com Amy O’Leary, New York Times Multimedia Producer        "I don’t think my current job existed before I started working at it. But before June 2007, I don’t think anyone had been working as an audio producer for a newspaper. That’s when my colleague Sarah Kramer (formerly of StoryCorps) and I began working at The New York Times. It’s a job that uses every skill I acquired as a radio producer and independent, and also some skills I picked up when I was working at a software company in Minnesota.        Our title is " Multimedia Producer," and Sarah and I are still figuring out exactly what that means. … The word "multimedia" is a terrible one. Dry and Latinate, it suggests only that we really haven’t defined what we’re doing when we put stories online. Unshackled from a radio transmitter, a printing press, or a TV antenna, all kinds of things can happen to a story, and that’s much more exciting than the word suggests." View the entire article » THE PULSE: Here are interpretations of the top responses from the 18 percent of AIR members who completed our recent five-point survey, ranked according to the number of responses: Q: What quality differentiates AIR from other professional organizations? 1. Communication: The high level of AIRdaily’s passionate, participatory interaction. 2. Culture: AIR is marked by collegiality and generosity of spirit, providing an especially important foundation for members working independently, outside an organization. 3. Expertise and wisdom: The availability of and access to high-level, trusted expertise. 4. Diversity: The mix of veterans mingling with new members who, together, represent a much broader range of styles, formats, and techniques than is generally seen/heard on public radio. 5. Accessible leadership: The board and management style is open and egalitarian. 6. Creativity is the emphasis of AIR and its members. 7. Financial: Member networking can lead to paying gigs. See the full results here If you missed AIR’s Virtual Annual Meeting. . . Die-hard members descended upon one of the last remaining JavaScript chatrooms to participate in AIR’s 2007 virtual annual meeting. Our lively cyberspace meet-up gave our board representatives a chance to share some of their juice, and AIR members a chance to ask questions about rates, about priorities, about relations with PRX, Transom, and Third Coast, and to challenge AIR’s leadership to think mo’ bigger. Catch up on the transcript here. You can send your comments and questions to airblast@airmedia.org Funding for AIR comes from our members and the generous support of NYSCA, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.