Today Zach and I completed v1.1 of The Public Radio.
I'll write more about our hacknight in the next few days, but for now I wanted to give a brief description of the project - for any latecomers, you know :)
The Public Radio is a collaboration between myself and Zach Dunham. It is an ongoing project; we are planning a full launch this spring.
The Public Radio is an FM radio which is not tuneable by the user. Instead, it is purchased pre-tuned to your station of choice - whether that be your local NPR affiliate (Zach prefers 93.9 WNYC) or your favorite pop station (I prefer HOT97). Once you receive your Public Radio, it's set to your station only, and that can only be changed by sending the unit in to us.* The radio only has one knob; it controls power and volume only.
If you use FM radio to discover new content - if your Scan/Seek controls are in heavy use - then The Public Radio may not be for you. But if you discover new content as we do - mostly online - but still want to maintain the personal, emotional connection that you've built with your favorite local station - then The Public Radio is a convenient and appropriately understated way of doing that. Its design fits in anywhere, and its portability makes it easy to use in areas of your house where you don't have easy access to iTunes or Spotify.
The Public Radio is currently available for beta testers; if you're interested, send a note and we'll put you on our list :)