Behind the Mic

NPR studio 4A is getting a makeover into election night headquarters!

As one of its Fall thank you gifts, Alabama Public Radio will be offering the magazine Listen:  Life with Classical Music . for a contribution of $5 per month or more.

Listen: Life with Classical Music is North America’s classical music magazine covering people, places and events; recommendations of recordings, books, and film; and all the many ways our lives are touched by classical music. 

NPR asked for help in choosing designs for a new series of election-themed buttons, and the winning designs arrived. Here are the top three vote-getters and the 2012 NPR Election Buttons.

We've got a stash of these and we will be sending them out in our new member packets in our upcoming Fall Fund Drive!

Thank you to everyone who voted! 

As candidates ramp up their campaigns for November's presidential election, swing states may determine the outcome.

Have you ever wondered what an NPR reporter packs in their suitcase?

Here's your chance to look.  Two pictures give us a peek. 

The first picture show us the professional tools of the trade:

This year marks Fresh Air's 25th anniversary as a national NPR show.  Of course, there are celebrations.  But Terry Gross - famed for the questions she asks -  has found herself answering more than a few herself lately.

Two recent profiles demonstrate Terry can give as good as she gets from her guests.

Andrew Goldman of New York Times Magazine and Terry have a fun conversation.   They discuss everything from having children to Bill O'Reilly.

NPR is taking a cross-country tour of candies from around the U.S., sampling hometown sweets that deliver a nostalgic sugar rush. 

America loves its candy!  The tops three selling candies in the USA are  Hershey bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and M&M’s.  But Americans also rally around regional favorites. 

Help NPR pick which Election Button to print by voting by August 3rd. 

There are six cool choices to pick from. 

But hurry!  Voting ends tomorrow.

Maybe you're in your desk chair. You're in your office. You're in Mobile, or Florence, or Tuscaloosa, Montgomery.

You're on planet Earth.  But where are you, really?

The Alabama Public Radio news team traveled to the  National Press Club in Washington, D.C. last week to collect a national Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society for Professional Journalists. APR News Director Pat Duggins and reporters Maggie Martin, Ryan Vasquez, and Stan Ingold earned the honor for the Best Breaking News Coverage during the April 2011 tornadoes.    It is an honor well deserved!  

We at Alabama Public Radio are really proud of our new website.

A lot of people put in quite a bit of work to get it ready, but none more than Eva Lynch.  You probably do not know her name because she isn't on the air. But she is a tireless worker here at APR.  In fact, she pulls double duty and also works "for TV."  Which is the way we put it 'down here' in radio. 

In Tuscaloosa this morning we awoke to horrible news.  You've probably all heard by now that there was a shooting here that left 17 people injured.  Of course, we were all asking ourselves a lot of questions.  Your APR News team was busy asking those questions of other people.

NPR has long been dedicated to foreign news coverage.  In recent years, when most news organizations were cutting back their foreign news operations, NPR has been dramatically expanding theirs. 

As an example, with permanent bureaus in Islamabad, Istanbul, Kabul, Beirut, Cairo and Jerusalem NPR has produced comprehensive coverage of the continued implications of the Arab Spring. 

Urbanization has become a buzzword of the times, as more than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas. In the United States, it's more than 80-percent. There is an increasing awareness of cities as a defining trait of humanity and their importance to our health, economy, environment, and more.

DO YOU LIVE IN A CITY?  Check out this flow chart