PRSS Services for Producers

The Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) is the distribution network for thousands of hours of news, music, and specialized audience programming every year to public radio stations throughout the United States. Managed by NPR Distribution, PRSS services include:

Producers at workstation Reliable Program Distribution
Over 100,000 hours, annually, of public radio programming are delivered over the PRSS. The system currently interconnects multiple uplink sites with more than 400 downlink terminals at public radio stations around the country.

Marketing
The PRSS offers several free-of-charge marketing services:

An account representative to help you match available services with your needs and to assist with scheduling.
The ContentDepot portal where your program page can include text, contact information, audio samples, promos, graphics, links, and other promotional data.
Access to ContentDepot messaging, a private message network that allows producers to communicate timely information to stations quickly. ContentDepot messages can contain program descriptions, timings and cues, and other relevant information.

24/7 Uplink Services and Program Monitoring
The Network Operations Center (NOC), located at NPR headquarters in Washington, DC, is the nerve center of the PRSS, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The NOC coordinates and monitors more than 1300 transmissions each week from system uplink to the channels scheduled by NPR Distribution. The NOC also serves as the uplink for Washington, DC.

Several transportable uplinks are available for transmitting live events from remote locations.

Carriage Reporting
NPR's Audience and Corporate Research department compiles program carriage information. To learn more about their services, please call 202.513.2810 or 800.329.5379 or email crcservice@npr.org.

Technological and Service Innovation
The PRSS is committed to constantly improving the services it provides to the public radio community. The ContentDepot offers increased service, usage reporting, online scheduling, and program notification enhancements.

If you are not already distributing your programming via the PRSS, please contact us at 202.513.2600 or prsstraffic@npr.org for more information.