JMS

The Boston Globe profiles Rebecca Watson, one of the three winners of the PRX Public Radio Talent Quest.

Just making it this far “is quite an achievement,” says Jake Shapiro, the executive director of the Cambridge-based Public Radio Exchange, which ran the contest. “We had over 1,400 entries.”

Watson, Shapiro explains, was a long shot, particularly in the contest’s early rounds, which combined open voting with judging by public-radio professionals. “She was the one that made it all the way through most improbably,” Shapiro says. “She was a popular pick. She wasn’t one of the judges’ picks. What I think is part of [Watson's] success is that she earned the judges’ respect.”

I was one of the judges whose respect Rebecca definitely earned, particularly after getting to meet her in person at not one but two rocking PRX parties. She’s a star in the making, no doubt.

You can hear all three pilots from Rebecca, Al and Glynn on the Public Radio Talent Question website, and they are also available on PRX for anyone to listen, rate and review and for public radio stations to license for broadcast.

PRX is a grantee in the Ford Foundation’s 5-year “Global Perspectives in a Digital Age: Strengthening Public Media” initiative, which has been a remarkable experience that has put us right in the thick of some important developments in the field.

The foundation just put out a report on “The Public Square in a Digital Age” that includes a section on public radio and PRX.

You listen to National Public Radio. You tune in to Public Broadcasting Service stations. But does Public Radio Exchange ring a bell? PRX, a clearinghouse for archived quality programming, is part of a new wave of public service media that has arisen in response to rapid technological change and segmenting audiences.