Today, NPR launches Cabinet of Wonders, a new radio program featuring the best of New York's acclaimed variety show by the same name. Cabinet is staged by its host and founder John Wesley Harding and routinely touts an exciting cast of comedians, authors and musicians. We picked Harding's brain this week about the show and how he selects each night's guests.

How did you come up with the idea for Cabinet of Wonders?

It was a way to combine the fact that I'm a musician and a writer. So I asked my writer friends (most of whom would like to be musicians) and my musician friends (most of whom would like to have their lyrics carefully considered as at a reading); and then I worked out that comedy could be the glue in the middle.

In fact, initially it was a fun way to do an album release party, and it blossomed from there. And that's how the show came about. Besides, the time was right for a little variety. Maybe watching one person on stage for 90 minutes is a bit old hat. This is more like a cross between the Stax Review and a Secret Policeman's Ball (with great literature).

From books to music you've got a great and varied background, how does that experience help you host the show?

Well, apart from anything else, it means I read a lot and I listen a lot, and I have pretty catholic tastes. The show's mainly stuff that I like and the idea is to put all those things together - great literary writing, really fine comedians, wonderful musicians - and then sculpt them into a show which, rather than seeming like a hastily thrown together benefit, is a carefully-curated Cabinet of Wonders: that's where the hard, and enjoyable, work is. And that's why the show has the format it has, involving poems about the performers and so on. My influences are all very vaudeville: I'm just trying to update those influences to my own ends.

What characteristics, talents, or abilities do you look for when picking your guests?

The main thing is that I love what they do. And after that (because I believe that all good performed art, whatever it's chosen genre or medium, can sit together happily on one bill) the only important thing is that no one is too much of a prima donna, because the show can't quite handle that.

There's very much a "let's do the show right here" atmosphere, so it's important that everyone digs in together. The great thing about performers is... they're performers. They want to be good. So if you pick people who are good, they very rarely let you down.

Is there a comedian, a writer and a musician you've also wanted to be part of the show, but haven't gotten yet. Who are they?

David Bowie! Because he's one of my musical heroes and he's been very quiet of late.

Any number of writers, though you have to be careful with writers in the Cabaret setting. I've seen writers kill with completely and totally serious readings, but it takes a special reader to do that.

Apart from that, I just love to put things together that people wouldn't expect, so they leave liking something they had no idea they would or simply had no idea that it even existed.

What do you do to makes the stage show radio friendly?

Have very few ventriloquist acts. Try to swear as little as possible. Describe what people are wearing in helpful detail.

In 2006, Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova released an album together called The Swell Season. A longtime fan of Hansard's band The Frames, NPR's Stephen Thompson quickly fell for the song "Falling Slowly" and ran it as an NPR Music Song of the Day. A year later, a version of the song ended up on the soundtrack for the film Once, then won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The Song of the Day feature has been a staple on the NPR site for six years now, and while not every song is going to end up on the Top 40 charts or played throughout NPR Music's office as a communal favorite, each is selected because it will resonate with someone the way "Falling Slowly" did with Stephen. Any given week, the selected artists can range widely, from familiar voices to seemingly nameless artists, but these songs aren't picked at random from the hundreds of albums mailed to NPR Music each week.

So, what does it take to be picked? Song of the Day's curator and NPR Music writer-editor Stephen Thompson has one basic rule:

"Love the song."

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean Stephen loves the song. He works with a team of about three dozen NPR staffers and freelancers. Each contributor is held to the "love the song" standard with every song pitched. Whether NPR's Lars Gotrich selects a recent discovery in what he calls "outersound" or John Murph delves into jazz, the diversity of voices allows the series to maintain a variety of musical perspectives. It may seem straightforward, but Stephen's challenge as curator is to distinguish Song of the Day music from other outlets of discovery, at NPR.org and elsewhere.

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Just four months ago, a group of wide-eyed interns arrived at NPR Headquarters. The 2012 spring intern class came from across the world, with diverse ages, experiences and passions. All the interns, however, harbored a deep interest in NPR and the shared desire to make their mark on the NPR legacy.

In Intern Edition, a thirty minute multimedia show produced exclusively by interns, we found the opportunity, and challenge, to draw upon the talents of our intern class and create our own piece of NPR history.

Over the past four months, we've worked relentlessly to create an engaging multimedia experience that showcases the greater themes of life—morality, identity, the power of one—through the lens of everyday events. On Wednesday, we presented the final project, Intern Edition: Life In Turn, to the NPR Staff, and today, we present it to the online community on the Intern Edition website.

"Life in Turn" encompasses characters and stories as diverse as our intern class: Washington's own Willy Wonka, a community of online hackers aiming to save the world and a teenager girl confronting her father's PTSD. Each premiere story is accompanied by engaging visuals—a first for Intern Edition.

If our premiere has left you craving more NPR intern productions, read our Life in Turn blog, where you'll find videos from our Deskless Concerts, interviews with NPR personalities and other eclectic internal musings. Our Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr also bring you behind-the-scenes of the NPR Intern Experience.

As we gather our NPR swag and tearfully move forward into the next phase of life, we would like to give a huge thank you to the NPR staff, who has served as a constant source of guidance, support and inspiration to us this semester. Our experiences at NPR have greatly shaped not only the premiere, but our future aspirations as well.

We hope you enjoy the premiere, and keep your eyes—and ears—open for our aspiring public media superstars!

NPR's new quiz show, Ask Me Another, premieres tomorrow. Host Ophira Eisenberg, a cast of puzzlers and a live audience together work through puzzles, word games and brainteasers in each episode.

To get your brains warmed up for Friday's debut, give this custom NPR puzzle a whirl. The game is "Not Particularly Relevant" and was written by the puzzlemasters behind Ask Me Another. To play, just read each clue below and answer with phrases and names that have the initials NPR. Answers follow each clue by clicking "Continue."

Ask Me Another is available to NPR member stations beginning tomorrow. Among the first stations to air Ask Me Another this weekend and into the later part of May are: WHYY, WBUR, KRCU and WCPN. Contact your local station for varied carriage and broadcast plans.

Inside NPR, the short bits of music that you hear often between stories on Morning Edition or Tell Me More or any of the other NPR programs are called music buttons.

Generally you'll hear no more than 10 seconds of music, but these audio clips fasten each story to another like buttons on a shirt. The end result is an hour or two of often dramatically different stories pieced together perfectly into a complete program.

If selected correctly, a music button played at the end of a piece is a perfect pairing. Sometimes the music button you hear is also an integral part of the piece itself. And some days it takes a little searching to find a story's musical complement.

This is the behind-the-scenes story of how one song was selected.

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Five years ago today, NPR brought listeners a new kind of midday-talk program: one charged with offering candid examinations of the way we intersect, and often collide, in a culturally diverse world.

Hosted by Michel Martin, Tell Me More was first introduced online in late 2006 through a novel "open piloting" program development process. That April, the intimate, one-hour program went live: launching as a daily midday show on public radio stations. Those first few programs explored topics ranging from Philadelphia's "Gayborhood"; to how aid was appropriated for Hurricane Katrina victims; to CBS anchor Rene Syler's personal account of her double mastectomy. While news comes and goes, Tell Me More consistently examines a breadth of topics that make you stop, think and reevaluate.

Now, Tell Me More has over half-a-million weekly listeners on nearly 100 NPR Member Stations across the country. The show has broadcast from Las Vegas and Philadelphia, where it covered the NABJ; and from Denver and St. Paul for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. It's brought to air conversations with President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama; Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and Madeleine Albright; U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, Sugar Ray Leonard and Tori Amos. And whether it's looking at politics, family values, religion or finance, Tell Me More hears the real voices of parents and educators; of lawmakers and thought-leaders; of actors, authors, musicians from every genre and medium.

Michel's quick wit, thoughtful approach to content and inherent curiosity helped to engineer an exceptional editorial staff that operates on the belief that – as she puts it – "nobody says what you can't do, it's only how we can do it." Tell Me More has cast itself as a gathering place for dialogue about the stories that affect our daily lives, but aren't necessarily on our radar. By proactively curating content around notable events – whether it's listener-contributed "coming out" stories during LGBTQ month, or paying homage to those who've inspired show contributors during Black History Month – Tell Me More has become a place for smart, and real, conversations.

Celebrate by sharing how Tell Me More has left you informed, inspired, and entertained by using #TMMBirthday and @TellMeMoreNPR, or by visiting the program's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/NPRTellMeMore.

Alison Stewart is returning to NPR as the host of another innovative project, TED Radio Hour. The program is a joint endeavor from NPR and TED with each show based on a talk delivered from the renowned TED stage, addressing urbanization, sustainability, happiness and much more.

As the founder of NPR's popular newsmagazine The Bryant Park Project (2007-2008); creator of MTV's "Choose or Lose" Rock the Vote campaign; and national TV news anchor through one of the country's most trying decades, Stewart is well suited to dig into TED's catalog of 18-minute talks with the people who bring these revolutionary ideas to life.

Stewart sat down with us while in DC this week to talk about the new show, her career and looking at the big picture.

What can listeners expect from TED Radio Hour that may be different than TED Talks?

Having gone to a TED talk, it's really great to sit and listen to someone talk for 18 minutes straight, but your brain goes: "But, what about that?" "What about that?" "I wish I could ask that." "I don't agree with that." And so that's my job. I'm that voice for the NPR listener who hears this incredibly interesting person, but wants to know more. [TED's] mantra is, "Ideas worth spreading," and we also want to find a way to examine ideas in action.

What is your vision for how audiences experience and connect with conversations on the show?

I hope they have the experience of hearing really nice, long, fat pieces of interview and of TED Talks. I'm hoping they experience the joy of listening. I hope – this happened to me at TED – and I hope that people have the experience of hearing something that really applies to them personally in their lives, and they think about something differently as a result of hearing the show.

If you were asked to give a TED Talk, what topic would you speak on?

Well it's about somebody's area of expertise, so I could give one of two talks. I would give a TED Talk about the power of listening and the kind of things you can hear. I would also give a TED Talk about the power of community in shaping education.

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UPDATE: The email address to submit sounds has been corrected below.

When you think about where you live, what sounds come to mind? In Washington, D.C., the sound might be the click of a camera shutter made by tourists. But what about your city?

• Kids splashing in a pool?
• Train whistles?
• A pick-up basketball game at the neighborhood court?
• Foghorns?
• The clatter of pots and pans at your favorite restaurant?
• Construction equipment?
• Crickets chirping in the early evening?

The NPR Cities Project is seeking out the sounds you hear every day that make where you live unique. Your sound could air on All Things Considered or the brand-new TED Radio Hour, or become part of a multimedia interactive.

Simply record a sound file and send it to us:

1. Go to a place where you can hear your favorite sound and start recording.
2. Say your full name slowly and clearly. Then: "The sound of (YOUR CITY NAME) is (NAME OF SOUND)."
   For example: "My name is John Smith. The sound of Columbus, Ohio, is the lunch-time crowd at the deli on my street."
3. If you stumble, just pause, take a take breath, and try again.
4. Record the sound for at least 60 seconds.
5. Give it a listen (with headphones if possible) and make sure it came out clearly. Feel free to try it out a few times and then choose your best take.
6. Upload the file to Soundcloud and tag it #nprcities.

Or, for iPhone users, try this:

1. Go to a place where you can hear your favorite sound.
2. Open the "Voice Memos" app on your iPhone. (Every iPhone has it; if you can't find it, check the Utilities folder.)
3. Press the red record button on the left, and then hold the phone up to your ear as if you were making a call.
4. Say your full name slowly and clearly. Then: "The sound of (YOUR CITY NAME) is (NAME OF SOUND)."
   For example: "My name is John Smith. The sound of Columbus, Ohio, is the lunch-time crowd at the deli on my street."
5. With your phone still recording, get as close to the source of the sound as possible. Record for at least 60 seconds.
6. If you stumble, just pause, take a take breath, and try again.
7. Record the sound for at least 60 seconds.
8. When you're done, press the record button again to stop. Then press the button on the right to access your recording. Give it a listen (with headphones if possible) and make sure it came out clearly. Feel free to try it out a few times and then choose your best take.
9. When you're satisfied with the recording, highlight your file and click the "share" button. Email it to cities@npr.org nprcities@npr.org. Type your name in the subject.

[NOTICE TO USERS: NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the emails, audio clips and photographs that we receive. We may edit them for clarity, brevity or format and identify authors by name and location. By sending us a photograph, email or audio clip, you agree to these terms. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.]

We've laced up our cleats, pulled out our dusty mitts and popped in some Big League Chew—Morning Edition is ready to take a swing with the majors!

As America celebrates baseball's opening day today, Morning Edition begins a new series that will follow one major league hopeful as he works to earn a spot on the Chicago White Sox roster.

Morning Edition host David Greene launched the series Monday when he talked with shortstop Tyler Saladino, 22, at the Chicago White Sox spring training. Saladino had just received news of his promotion from single-A to double-A when he sat down with Greene to share humbling first day stories, behind-the-scenes insight on his minor league lifestyle and the anticipation of donning a White Sox uniform.

David Greene will be checking in with Saladino and other minor league hopefuls throughout the season on Morning Edition.

"Despite all the talk about America's consternation or cowardice when it comes to talking about race, I seemed to have found auditorium after auditorium full of people who were more than willing to unburden themselves on this prickly topic." – Michele Norris, NPR

For more than a year, NPR's Michele Norris has used her Race Card Project to facilitate discussions about race, a conversation recently thrust to the forefront of the American media following the killing of Florida student Trayvon Martin. As political figures and other officials use their own platforms to weigh in on the issue, less public, but equally passionate, discussions are sweeping across the country. While some express their feelings through acts of solidarity - school walkouts or wearing hoodies – many others took the opportunity to speak out through The Race Card Project's six-word essays.

After an exceptional number of Race Cards were submitted reflecting sentiments about this tragedy, NPR invited its listeners to do the same this past Tuesday.

Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan brought this national dialogue to the midday news/talk show after issuing a call-out question to listeners: how is the death of Trayvon Martin changing the conversation about race where we live, work, go to school, go to church, etc.? In a live, panel discussion, Westlake High School teacher Hassan Adeeb and Sheriff Bryan Gardner of Linn County, IA, joined NPR's Vice President for Diversity in News and Operations Keith Woods, and The Race Card Project Founder Michele Norris for a candid talk with listeners in-studio, over the phone and by email. Listen to the discussion here.

In addition, coverage from NPR's National Correspondent Corey Dade and Tell Me More host Michel Martin's interviews with Trayvon Martin's father, Tracy Martin, are available at The Two-Way blog. Michel Martin's interviews with Tracy Martin, and the family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, air this Thursday at 11:00 AM (ET) on Tell Me More. Find local NPR Member stations and broadcast times at www.npr.org/stations.

Public radio has the reusable tote trend in the bag, and we wore them with pride long before cities starting collecting taxes on grocery sacks and the days of the taboo plastic bag.

Anyone who has attended SXSW in the last few years knows that NPR Music has its own line of branded sacs; which this year, once again, are headed to Austin to be handed out to fans and artists at the city's largest music event of the year.

It's an exciting and busy week for NPR Music and the six NPR Member stations joining them at the festival, so let's hope no one gets sacked along the way. (Only joking.) But, speaking of sacs, check out all of the NPR Music totes below; if you're going to be at SXSW this week, pick up your own or find them in the NPR Shop. We think they're are quite fetching!

For five years now, the NPR Music staff has made some pretty big marks in SXSW history, and this year delivers on those expectations. Not only is NPR Music presenting Fiona Apple in her first performance outside of LA in five years, but is also live video streaming tonight's opening night showcase at Stubb's, offering its annual daytime concert at the Parish, and streaming a slew of showcases. NPR Music is also live broadcasting Bruce Springsteen's SXSW music keynote worldwide- a first for SXSW. To find much, much more, visit npr.org/sxsw

Last night New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge music venue played host to The Shins for a concert put on by NPR Music. Over 300 fans and media attended the event, but they weren't the only ones who were able to experience the show as it happened. Audiences worldwide watched the concert live on the new NPR Music iPad App, and public radio stations WFUV New York and WXPN Philadelphia broadcast live from the venue.

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During KCPW's Pledge Drive last fall, when we were all holding our breath hoping to make hourly fundraising goals, we received an interesting phone call. It wasn't someone hoping to make a quick donation.

It was Peter Sagal.

He was calling to ask if KCPW wanted to host a Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! road show. An audible, excited relief flooded the station. The answer was an instant, YES!

Back in 2000, KCPW was the first NPR Member Station to host a Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! road show. It was a smash hit!

As soon as the news got out about the February 16 show, the phone began ringing off the hook with people asking for tickets. The show was completely sold out by the time the panelists arrived to our sweet, salty city.

KCPW hosted a reception before the show that was busting at the seams with supporters. Local artist Travis Bone was commissioned to generate an original WWDTM - SLC image that was used to make t-shirts, posters, and bookmarks that were a big hit at the concession stand.

"Wait Wait was great. Memorable," said KCPW supporter Tim Chambless. "More significantly, it was great to see the Salt Lake's symphony hall full to capacity of NPR listeners. I was very pleased to hear the closing words of encouraging support for KCPW."

We couldn't agree more. Thanks Tim. And thank you, Peter Sagal for that call.

Erin Haley is the Development Director and Major Gifts Coordinator at KCPW 88.3 & 105.3 FM in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It's that time of the year, when established acts and artists on the rise pack their equipment and make an annual mid-March voyage to Austin, TX.

In addition to NPR Music's coverage of this year's SXSW, several NPR Member stations from across the country will offer their own events and broadcasts. Check out what station hosts and shows are planning below, and remember to tune in.

And, in honor of SXSW, all times listed below are on Austin time (Central)!

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Following up on his piece during yesterday's Morning Edition about the Lakota high school students who've had enough with negative stereotypes, reporter Jim Kent gave 'This is NPR' a behind-the-scenes take on how he approaches stories like this one and what he's learned in the process.

Getting to Know a Place and the People:
"You need to spend time, as you do anywhere, with any reporting assignment. You might have good intentions, but you just can't show up. I'm not an expert, but there was a time where I was spending 3-5 days a week on the reservation. The point is I have spent time here."

Impressed by the Students:
"It's great when kids speak up. One of the students I talked with, Feather Rae Colombe, said, 'I can't believe I'm being interviewed like this. I've always wanted the opportunity to say things to the world.'"

Breaking Down Stereotypes:
"Native Americans are just like everyone else; they have problems like we all do. The town of Mission is like any other small town in the USA. The point they want us to know is that it's not "The Reservation," it's just a small town."