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KPCC's 2015 Public Radio Bracket Madness: Round 2 — vote now!
Round 2 in KPCC's Public Radio Bracket Madness!
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Mike Roe/KPCC
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It's time for Round 2 of this year's Public Radio Bracket Madness. Go vote here and read about the Round 1 results below, as well as the matchups that these results set up.
The close calls
- The Frame defeats Off-Ramp: In the first round, KPCC's new arts and entertainment show the Frame went up against KPCC veteran Off-Ramp, and the votes came down to the wire. The Frame wound up slightly edging out Off-Ramp with just 50 votes separating the teams. They've got a tough next round though, as the Frame will be facing the soft-spoken Roman Mars with his 99% Invisible, which took down the Dinner Party Download in Round 1.
- StartUp edges out Death, Sex & Money: With a mere 5 votes separating these shows, StartUp's ingenuity pulled it ahead of the show about the issues we don't like to talk about. The newcomer faces a behemoth in the next round though: last year's winner, Radiolab. Can that startup ingenuity take StartUp past Radiolab, or will Radiolab and their editing wizardry stay strong?
- Freakonomics Radio out-thinks Science Friday: In a contest decided by less than 40 votes, the statistically odd storytellers of Freakonomics beat the scientific stalwarts of Science Friday. Next, they'll take on the folks holding institutions like KPCC accountable for their reporting — On The Media.
- Invisibilia rises above Pop Culture Happy Hour: In a victory that became more visible during the week, Invisibilia pulled ahead of the culture critics at Pop Culture Happy Hour to have a not-that-comfortable 5 percentage point cushion of victory. Still, they're going to have to face the quiet intelligence of interviewing mastermind Terry Gross and Fresh Air in the next round, which dominated its first round competition. Can stories of our invisible world overcome in-depth conversation?
More hot Round 2 contests
- Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! versus This American Life: Wait Wait was last year's runner-up to Radiolab, but that was with This American Life taking the year off. With TAL back in the running, can Wait Wait still continue its strong showing, or will it fall to the public radio bracket's prodigal son?
- Serial versus Marketplace: This is the first year with podcasts featured in the competition, and the podcast that launched a thousand podcast thinkpieces, Serial, had a strong first round victory. They're up against the king of business radio shows Marketplace in Round 2. Can they overcome to, in the next round, face their progenitor, This American Life? Or will the veterans at Marketplace be able to squelch Serial before it gets too big for its britches?
Round two voting is open now and will remain open until 12 p.m. Pacific on Tuesday (March 24). Here's the schedule for the rest of the bracket (all times are Pacific):
- Top 16: Friday, March 20 at 1:15 p.m. until Tuesday, March 24 at 12 p.m.
- Top 8: Tuesday, March 24 at 2 p.m. until Friday, March 27 at 12 p.m.
- Final 4: Friday, March 27 at 2 p.m. until Tuesday, March 31 at 12 p.m.
- Championship match: Begins Tuesday, March 31 at 2 p.m.
Note: Times have been updated.
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The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 7 (the day after that other March Madness bracket ends).
Go ahead and campaign for your favorites in the comments below, on our Facebook page or on Twitter with the hashtag #KPCCMadness. Feel free to talk up your favorites and poke fun at everyone else, just keep it friendly — this is public radio after all. (Click here to see a full-size version of the brackets!)
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