PD: When I learned the word, "notoriety" was a negative type of fame or attention. The use of the word in the NPR story, though, is synonymous with "popularity" or "celebrity". The NPR story is just the latest example of the transformation of the meaning of this word into its polar opposite has become commonplace.

F: ... the meaning for notoriety as used in the NPR item referred to and the sense that Philip Davich would prefer are not exactly polar opposites. They denote basically the same thing, it's just their connotations that are somewhat different.

In either case they mean "well-known". It's just a question of whether they're well-known in a positive sense or a negative sense. The polar opposite of "well-known in a positive sense" would be some variety of "unknown".

'S'all I'm sayin'.

That said, AHD4 agrees with PD about the connotations of notoriety, i.e., it's basically 'being known in a negative way'. OED, on the other hand, has both neutral and negative definitions going back to the mid-16th century. PD has a good question, though.