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Starting March 1, much of KCRW's original programming will be available as podcasts. From the release:
Podcasting, a growing grassroots phenomenon that’s captured much media attention in the past month, allows people to download what they want to hear, when they want to hear it – automatically. Listeners can select their favorite programs, hook up their MP3 players to their computers, and “sync” instant downloads of those programs....KCRW General Manager Ruth Seymour explains: “KCRW sees podcasting as a further extension of the radio station. The programs on our website have proven to be as popular as they are on the air; so it makes sense to allow more people to hear them, especially with the portability that podcasting offers – it’s KCRW To Go.”
KCRW’s roster of podcasts includes the nationally distributed, daily public affairs program, "To the Point," with host Warren Olney; and "Left, Right & Center" - a political week-in-review with talking heads, Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley, Robert Scheer and Matt Miller.
Included among the cultural shows to be podcast are: "Bookworm," a nationally syndicated half-hour of interviews with authors such as Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Salman Rushdie; "The Treatment," with former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell; and "The Business" hosted by Variety reporter Claude Brodesser with an inside look at the entertainment industry.
KCRW also offers a unique and impressive line-up of weekly commentators, whose 3 to 4 minute segments will be included in the station’s podcasting service: Pulitzer Prize winning car columnist Dan Neil, The New York Observer’s TV reporter Joe Hagan, “real life” in Hollywood, courtesy of producer/writer Rob Long, and The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern with film reviews, among others.
Music programs are not included due to "copyright issues," the station says.
*Also The KCRW release buries the news that Pulitzer-winning LAT auto critic Dan Neil is getting a commentary spot during "Weekend Edition/Saturday" with Scott Simon. It will run twice, at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m. He begins March 19.