Argo also needs its own dedicated team, technology and structure, aspects that will kick into high gear in early 2010 when the first Argo staffers join NPR. USA Today vet Joel Sucherman starts as project director Jan. 11, while the Knight Foundation’s Matt Thompson, co-producer of viral hit Epic 2004, joins as editorial product manager Feb. 1. (Two more positions are left to fill on the core Argo team: lead technology architect and a front-end designer/developer.) Sucherman started in radio; his time at USAT, where Wilson also was before NPR, included founding USAT‘s online audio and video unit, as well as more recent work building vertical communities.

The stations that will take part are set, although NPR has yet to finalize which topic each will cover in depth. Sucherman and Thompson will work with the stations to refine their proposals while the team starts to build out the player and publishing platform Argo will use. Once the topics are in place — examples offered are green energy, health care, and immigration — Argo will start hiring blogger-reporters for each market. KPBS (San Diego); KPCC (Southern California); KQED (San Francisco); KALW (San Francisco); OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting); KPLU (Tacoma/Seattle); MPR (Minnesota Public Radio); WAMU (DC); WXPN (Philadelphia) ; WNYC (New York); WBUR (Boston); and WGBH (Boston).

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation are providing $3 million for the first two-year phase. Participating stations had committed to covering part of the costs of the project during this phase, and supporting it on their own after that.

Wilson sees Argo as a way of trying to replace what newspapers have traditionally provided. “Do you do it comprehensively across the board on all topics the way newspapers have or a little more selectively, realizing there are a broader number of news organizations?” Instead of one trying to do it all, difference outlets can focus on certain topics or aspects. Argo includes a strong emphasis on collaboration.

But he’s careful to explain: “We’re not betting the farm on one approach. This is a very big effort but it’s going to take a variety of different efforts to figure out what constitutes local presence.” Argo’s coverage isn’t meant to be at expense of traditional topics like politics and education. That’s one reason why it’s a funded project, to make sure stations can afford to a dedicated blogger-reporters and the right kind of technology.

And iPhone is just the beginning. NPR already has apps in the pipeline for Symbian and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android. As the NPR team waited for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to approve the app, CEO Vivian Schiller and NPR Digital SVP & GM Kinsey Wilson spoke with paidContent about the network’s mobile strategy. It’s all aimed at what Wilson sees as “a unique opportunity in the mobile space” to be the premiere audio news provider.

At the same time, NPR is playing up the combo aspects of the app developed by the NPR Mobile team and Bottle Rocket Apps. Wilson explains: “This is the first app that is both for reading and for listening; our feeling is that people want to do one or another. There are times when reading a story is simply the quickest and most efficient way to get the news you want. There are other times, particularly when you’re engaged in other activities, that listening makes more sense. Where we have both, we’ll certainly present both.”

He adds, “Our emphasis both in mobile and on the web is first and foremost the NPR experience and the depth we’re able to provide in various areas. We need to stay current on the news and that’s an absolute price of admission.” That means a mix of NPR and AP; as NPR’s blogs are integrated into the app, NPR’s content should outweigh AP most of the time.

Member stations: It might have been easier to stick to providing NPR’s own programming but the goal was always to produce the combined experience. Schiller: “If somebody says they love NPR, they may say that but what they mean is they love their listening experience in whatever market they

“We are not expanding, but we are not pulling back either. We are being selective in our use of video,” Kinsey Wilson, SVP & GM, NPR Digital Media, explained when we asked about the decision.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller offered the NYT multiple reasons for holding back on video: it’s expensive and the value to NPR is uncertain. With that in mind, “We absolutely should not be heavily invested in video.” It also was a sore point with some member stations when NPR went more into video a year ago, before Schiller moved to NPR from the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) where she was general manager of NYTimes.com. There’s no small irony here, given that Schiller joined the Times from CNN, and before moving to the website, ran the joint venture Times *Discovery* Channel. She was an advocate of increasing video at NYTimes.com.

We’ll take a closer look at NPR.org as the relaunch takes effect. In the meantime, here’s an intro from NPR’s Scott Simon.

This still leaves the CEO position at NPR up for grabs…interim CEO Dennis Haarsager is still in place as the head of NPR since March this year, with the mandate to find a permanent CEO within the next six months.

– Jordan Hoffner, YouTube’s head of content partnerships: The iPhone was really important. “It’s not just about being an Internet distributor, it’s about capturing the traffic from the phone and YouTube.” He said it’s not only about content being watched on a phone, but also being uploaded from the phone. “Our strategy is to be where people want to consume this stuff.”

The most discussion surrounding mobile came during the traditional media panel, which provided a sober message that you won’t find on Twitter — going mobile is not a big priority and has some risks. The panel featured the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO), SI Digital and USA Today. Audience members pressed the panelists on their interest in mobile, and in citizen journalism, in general.

– Gordon McLeod, President, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network: “It hasn