There actually isn't any such thing as an "NPR Station". NPR is not a broadcaster. They are a content-producer. There are stations that are NPR members that carry lots of NPR content, but they are free to also carry local content they produce, content they license from other syndicates (e.g. PRI, American Public Media, PRX)

This isn't really any different from the streaming player on npr.org. It's got a slightly fancier subscription mechanism. At the end of the day, it's not that useful because I can't rely on my phone's 4G to remain connected without buffering while listening to an hour long news program on a trip.

What would be worth charging money for is an app that could cache a configurable number of hours of new curated content when connected to wifi. Even so, that's not really any different from podcasts.

I feel like the world is still very much in a transitional state with regards to how we think about apps. NPR offers its stuff over the air for free, but you write some code to do the same thing with a computer, and suddenly people are saying it should cost money.

New York's public radio station, WNYC, recently revamped its app to incorporate this feature, which I agree is very useful:

http://www.wnyc.org/mobile/

A lot of the available content categories aren't specific to New York, so it might be worth checking out regardless of where you live.

I imagine most of the local fees go to very tactical things like keeping the transmitter on, which is non-trivial. Not that streaming should exclude local affiliates from funding, but it should be the local channel's responsibility to handle the cost of things it can't share (transmitters, office space, staff, etc), and share or get money for content and such which it can share back.

At least during the beta, a "Donate" segment would occasionally be interspersed between programs/segments; the app displayed a button that linked you to the start of their online donation process.

When I started listening, the first thing it did was play a bump for my local station, I am really hoping this fully incorporates local content.

I have a strong feeling that they will charge for it eventually. Maybe the app will ask them to donate as they use it?

I don't know if their funding/production model is flexible enough to allow them to do it, but it seems like some great opportunities for IAP here.

For example, if Planet Money produced a monthly bonus episode for, say, $5, I know I wouldn't think twice before tapping "Buy".

I could get behind some premium long form content from NPR, especially Planet Money.

I have a strong feeling that when your local station's pledge drive begins, the app will use your location data to generate notifications about donating, which you'll be able to do through the app.

At least, that's how I would do it. NPR is missing out on a big donation opportunity by not taking advantage of an app store's built-in in-app purchase/donation infrastructure.

Unfortunately Apple's ToS explicitly forbid charitable donations inside of apps, which is exactly what an IAP donation would be. Public radio's hands are tied unless Apple changes it's policies.

It already includes a donation link under the station name. Right now it just sends you an email with donation info. Hopefully they can streamline that in the future.

but you are able to donate. The app actually tells you how to donate to your localized station by clicking on the "How to Donate" link in the menu area.

But it's NPR... It's government-owned, right? A public broadcaster? Can they legally charge for anything?

NPR is not a public broadcaster in the sense of other nation's public broadcasters.

It was founded, initially, with funding from congress, as an independent, non-profit broadcaster. Currently, NPR receives very little to no funding from the Government. Something like 2% of NPR's funding comes from state, local, and national government. Though individual stations may receive radically varying amounts of government funding.

It is Public in the sense that it serves the public interest and is funded by listeners.

No, it's not government-owned.

"According to the 2009 financial statement, about 50% of NPR revenues come from the fees it charges member stations for programming and distribution charges."[0]

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npr#Funding

They're not government owned. They're get a subsidy through the appropriate government agency (don't remember the name at the moment) but it's only about 10% of their budget and they are free to act however they wish.

NPR is not state media. That would be Voice of America, which is not allowed to broadcast in the US.

I just looked it up and it is allowed to broadcast domestically since 2013. Anyway it kind of seems a bit quaint in the face of BBC world service.

They are not government owned. They take grants but they are prohibited from taking money directly. A large part of their income comes from member stations who pay for access to shows, content, and support.

fyi, NPR is is publicly and privately funded, but is not owned by the government.

There is a good article here on its status:

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/2001/011228.html

"Legally speaking, NPR is a private, not-for-profit corporation chartered by the District of Columbia and qualified by the Internal Revenue Service as a "501(c)(3)" organization exempt from taxation. "

I don't actually think the government owns it. The government provides some of it's funding (not all, though, which is why there's always a fund-raising drive?).

*edit - now seeing all the answers below