I love Public Radio.  I didn’t always.  But then I met my husband, and well, I kinda got a little hooked.  Granted, I tend to like the more fun, less newsy kind of programing.  But all in all, I’m a fan.

Last night I was lucky enough to attend our local NPR station, KPCC’s launch party for their new iPad app.  And yeah, I know, that sounds totally Californian….a launch party for an app.  But they had every reason to be throwing that party.

They’re doing something that hasn’t been done before…not on public radio and not with news radio.  They’re aware of how people listen to their programming and they’re making it available for their listeners whenever they want.  And they’re making the new visually stunning (the photos and videos look great) and easy to read.

They’ve got this cool “short list” with bite-sized blurbs for the quick and dirty top news items (twice a day – morning and evening) that can easily be expanded to longer, more detailed pieces.  And they’re culling the web for stories they know they’re interested in – even if it’s a non-NPR news source – that relates to us, the local audience.

They also recently started offering up some great panel discussions at their on-site, Crawford Family Forum.  And on the app, you’ll be able to pull up previous events, watch the live events (I watched a great one from Geek Girls Dinners not all too long ago on Women in Tech via the website), and RSVP to future events (you know I’ll be at the upcoming Tech in the Classroom event).

Being totally honest, (and the wife of a web developer who’s always looking at pages and apps) I was impressed with what they’ve created.  It looks good.  And it behaves great – talk about having a good user interface.  They put a lot into it, and it shows.

Way to go KPCC!  I can’t wait for the new iPhone app upgrade that’s coming, as well.

Click here to find your app (the iPad launch is currently pending Apple approval).