Concerns around disintermediation and what they stations call "bypass" ( NPR delivering audio direct to consumers and bypassing terrestrial FM) is what prevented this from launching earlier, not the tech or UX concerns. They had to launch with a plurality of stations, localizations was required, and they had to work donations into the mix. Donations is particularly challenging since there is no one donation form (every station is independent, each has their own form/account, and no one would agree to a central account powered by, say Stripe or whatever). They couldn't launch an MVP like Swell, they had to go live with way more. That said, public radio has its strengths, one of which is that they own their content.