Apple has added its first news station to iTunes Radio, NPR News and Culture. The station went live Tuesday morning, and it offers a mix of live news and segments from the public radio network's shows, including All things Considered, and The Diane Rehm Show.
NPR News and Culture
Heretofore, Apple has focused exclusively on music for iTunes Radio, but the world of real radio includes talk shows and news stations, though the latter two categories skew towards an older demographic. In addition, neither news nor talk radio helps Apple sell music. In the case of NPR News and Culture, it doesn't allow Apple to profit by selling ads, either—NPR is commercial free.
According to Re/Code, Apple intends to add more news stations. No one is specifying what those stations might be, but doing so would certainly make iTunes Radio a more full-featured radio competitor.
In the meanwhile, NPR has been very aggressive in embracing digital outlets. NPR programs can be found on the Web at NPR.org and through its Web app called Infinite Player, and the network's iPhone and iPad apps have long offered an excellent listening experience.