Planet Takeout

Wondering how AIR's national production evolved from a blue-sky idea to the ten evocative multimedia projects now animating public stations across the country? Grab a bucket of popcorn and lean back to watch This is Localore.

Filmmaker Josh Banville directed and edited this half-hour documentary stepping us behind the curtain with the producer-station teams—revealing how they have taken big risks to lead projects that grab the attention of communities across broadcast, digital and street platforms.

Early reviews of Localore.net have begun rolling in: fantastic transmedia voyages...very cool...beautiful...the new Localore site's going to blow your top.

Don't miss a chance to see AIR's revolutionary national production for yourself. Starting Saturday, Localore producers will hit the road to share what they've created and learned:

On April 22, AIR will present the full scope of its national Localore production with the launch of a new metasite and a public screening at Boston’s Brattle Theatre.

AIR's national Localore production team flocks to the east coast in April for a series of important events. We hope you'll come meet the producers and stations behind the revolutionary work being launched across the country.

In NYC on April 20? Come mingle with AIR's national production team at MEGAPOLIS Celebrates Localore: The After Party.

During the day of April 20th the Tribeca Film Festival spotlights all ten Localore productions as part of an exciting celebration of new, groundbreaking digital storytelling work. That night, the party at DROM will bring together Locolore participants and MEGAPOLIS attendees for a night of music, dancing, and merrymaking.

Today, AIR and ITVS announced a partnership that will add fuel to AIR's producer-led teams at public radio and TV stations. 

As the Localore production cycle winds down, ITVS has invited the teams to apply for one more year of funding through their LINCS initiative (Linking Independents and Co-producing Stations). Those selected by ITVS will continue their groundbreaking projects, with AIR serving an advisory role. 

"It's all about the stance and style," Ignacio Gonzales told reporter Charla Bear.

Known to friends as "Notch," he builds hot rods for his shop, Top Notch Kustoms, and tiki bars on the side. Localore producers the Kitchen Sisters gleaned the best bits from Bear's interview with Gonzales for their project The Making Of... and worked with Bay Area illustrator Wendy MacNaughton to capture them visually. Then, they connected with Cowbird—an image-focused storytelling site built by digital artist Jonathan Harris—to post the finished product: a one-two storytelling punch.

“I look at this as a legacy," says Peter Pang, who runs the takeout that his father Sonny started more than 40 years ago in Boston's Dudley square. "We put all of our siblings through college through this takeout.”

Since the spring, Localore's teams of independent, station-based, and community producers have been engaged in an ambitious experiment blending media-technology, journalism, and storytelling. Their radio and television station partners span regions across the country—from rural outposts, to coastal urban matrices, to the open plains of mid-America. These collaborations are giving rise to a new form we call "full spectrum public media." Watch the video above to sample their work at the initiative's halfway mark—and see hints of more to come.

Around the country, the Localore projects are sparking interest from bloggers and online reporters:

Sonic Trace: LA Observed caught producers Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse Chavez at work yesterday, interviewing staff at Oaxacan eatery Restaurante Guelaguetza. "The digital age is presenting a renaissance for radio and audio," explained Diaz-Cortes in an interview for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles blog, Fifth & Flower. "It is a charmed time."