A regular on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!, he has a historic-homes preference: “I like the houses of the presidents that you can’t remember were actually president, the guys between Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.” And they’re a great fit for his other project, Mobituaries, what with their being, you know, dead. Continue reading »
Category Archives: Radio
292: Deborah Amos
Her years as Middle East correspondent for NPR News gave her strong feelings about accountability, the rule of law, and handbags: “This lovely accessory is a bag made out of Saddam Hussein’s bedroom curtains.” A conversation at the Princeton Public Library. Music: Dan Kassel. Continue reading »
Episode 251: Brian Lehrer
Reviewing his 30 years at WNYC, the invaluable broadcast journalist considers this question: have decades of technological progress improved the shows themselves? Yes, he asserts, and in an unexpected way. Plus music from The Wisterians. Continue reading »
Episode 194: Jami Floyd
The local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on WNYC, journalist Jami Floyd was biracial before that term existed: “I was very very lonely as a child because I was a biracial kid…[but] there was no biracial.” A conversation about race, refugees, and a Raggedy Ann turned Raggedy Andy – not a metaphor – at … Continue reading »
Episode 108: Kurt Andersen
He came to public attention as a co-founder of Spy magazine and later as the editor-in-chief of New York magazine. The author of three novels, he is the host and co-creator of the public radio program Studio 360. Plus, music from Peter Gordon and Ned Sublette. Big doings at the Brooklyn Historical Society. PERSON: Gene Shallit … Continue reading »
Episode 39: Lopate Brothers
On this episode there are two guests, brothers, an experiment in shared narrative, as they contradict but also deepen one other’s version of youthful events. Leonard Lopate is an institution on New York radio, but he didn’t plan to be. He studied painting with Mark Rothko and worked in advertising, hosting his first radio show … Continue reading »
Episode 21: Jack Hitt
Jack Hitt began in journalism as editor of the Paper Clip, his Charleston, SC, grade-school literary magazine. He has since risen or, depending on your perspective, fallen to writing for Harpers and the NY Times and presenting great pieces on “This American Life.” His newest book is Bunch of Amateurs. This podcast was recorded in … Continue reading »
Episode 11: John Hockenberry
Throughout John Hockenberry’s career as a journalist, he has shown a disconcerting willingness to put himself in danger, covering wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Kosovo and Afghanistan and, perhaps most dangerous of all, writing a scathing review of a Clint Eastwood movie. That piece, circulated as Million Dollar Bigot, raised significant issues to the … Continue reading »