NPR looks to developers for help distributing shows

National Public Radio, the home of humorist David Sedaris and the popular show All Things Considered, is opening up its API.

What NPR wants is for developers to help make it easier to share its content on Web sites and blogs, including those owned by the 860 NPR member stations.

Want to build a widget that will play Morning Edition on desktops or on Web sites or create mashups with NPR content? The nonprofit media organization will welcome you.

"This launch represents one of the first comprehensive Open APIs introduced by a major national media organization," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

NPR is like a lot of media companies. Managers are sitting on popular content but need ways to broaden the distribution, said Zach Brand, NPR's chief of technology strategy. They decided to seek help from developers.

"With six people here, we have a limited idea capacity," said Daniel Jacobson, NPR's director of application development. "Developers will come up with a lot of brilliant ideas."

Members of NPR's Open API development team will demonstrate its capabilities at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference in Portland, Ore., next week.