KPCC's 2014 Public Radio Bracket Madness is live! Vote here

Update: The KPCC Public Radio Bracket Madness is over. Click here to see who won.

It's March, which means it's time for KPCC's second annual Public Radio Bracket Madness — the bracket poll in which we ask you to pick your favorite public radio shows!

Last year, "This American Life" took home the trophy and the win. Now it's a new year, which means it's another time for public radio shows across the nation to fight it out.

But we're switching it up. Reigning champion "This American Life" and its "Veronica Mars" guest-starring host Ira Glass are ineligible to compete this year so we'll be crowning a brand new champion. We're also taking out some of the shows that failed to make that top four to make room for some new entrants.

We've also added clips from the various shows so you can get acquainted with some programs you may not have heard of.

Will the winner be last year's runner-up, "Radiolab"? Previous top four finalists "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me" or "Fresh Air"? Or one of the many brand new contestants seeking to claim their glorious victory?

There's a couple of ways to play:

• You can go to our special Public Radio Bracket Madness page to vote!
• You can vote in the matchups embedded below.
• You can also print out a copy of the bracket above, fill out how you think the contests will play out, and tweet an image of your bracket (using the hashtag #KPCCMadness and #MyKPCCMadness). At the end, we'll gather all the brackets that are closest and choose a winner from among them for a special prize.

We're also introducing area-based conferences — including the Western conference representing those of us here on the West Coast, the Central conference (featuring strong contenders from the Midwest and Canada), and two Northeastern divisions to represent the abundance of East Coast public radio.

Round one voting is open now and will remain open until 5 p.m. Wednesday. Here's the schedule for the rest of the bracket:

• Top 16:  Wednesday, March 19 at 6 p.m. to Sunday, March 23 at 6 p.m. 
• Top 8: Sunday, March 23 at 7 p.m. to Wednesday, March 26 at 5 p.m.
• Final 4: Wednesday, March 26 at 6 p.m. to Monday, March 31 at 5 p.m.
• Championship match: Begins Monday, March 31 at 6 p.m.

The winner will be announced on Monday, April 7.

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.

WEST

CENTRAL

UPPER NORTHEAST

LOWER NORTHEAST

Note: The schedule for the tournament has been updated.