Localore Labs

Localore Labs is AIR’s investment in research and development to problem-solve for long-standing industry practices and biases in need of change, build new spaces to feature stories by independents, and model how to effectively engage with them. The Lab’s current portfolio includes the following programs:

History of Localore

In 2008 AIR launched Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0 (or MQ2) with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. MQ2 distributed $400,000 in grants to fund creative and innovative projects in that first year. Most were immersive or community-based or both, and all included an audio component that was ready for broadcast. By 2013, the program had been re-branded as Localore, a name that better reflected the emphasis on telling local stories. Projects from the 2013 grant year are archived at http://localore.net/ while projects from 2015-2018 (Localore: Finding America) are archived at https://www.localore.org. Current’s reporting on Localore captures some of the fantastic work that came out of earlier iterations of that program.

Equity and Fair Practice

Our equity initiative centers our commitment to supporting fair compensation and contracts for independent contributors. Through the initiative, we support regular review of our Code of Fair Practice and sample contracts, along with tracking legislation that will impact independent contractors and aggregating data about the current state of work in radio and podcasting. We also work to improve compensation for independent contractors doing professional work in radio and podcasting. Our work on equity and fair practice provide AIR members with the tools they need to advocate and negotiate for their own needs, while also improving practice across the industry.

New Public & Assignment

New Public is AIR’s working name for our publishing and licensing venture, designed to engage independents in markets large and small in the production of hyper-local news for national audiences. Our goal is to deliver hyper-local features for national audiences at scale. To support effective collaboration between editors and producers, AIR is building Assignment, a content management, licensing, payment, and talent matchmaking platform  to complement New Public.

Co-Productions

AIR is committed to bringing diverse voices and local stories to the airwaves through co-productions. We regularly partner with public radio stations to co-produce experimental audio storytelling in collaboration with independent contributors.

SoundPath

SoundPath, AIR’s new digital training platform for the audio community, offers a mix of pre-recorded and real-time video classes in producing, editing, reporting, engineering, podcasting, and narrative audio storytelling for media makers—aspiring and professional alike.