On Air
The Triumph and Tumult of NPR
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Graybill
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Steve Oney
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By:
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Steve Oney
About this listen
An epic, decade-long reported history of National Public Radio that reveals the unlikely story of one of America’s most celebrated but least understood media empires.
Founded in 1970, NPR is America’s most powerful broadcast news network. Despite being overshadowed by the larger and more glamorous PBS, public radio has long been home to shows such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and This American Life that captivate millions of listeners in homes, cars, and workplaces across the nation. NPR and its hosts are a cultural force and a trusted voice, and they have created a mode of journalism and storytelling that helps Americans understand the world in which we live. In On Air, a book fourteen years in the making, journalist Steve Oney tells the dramatic history of this institution, tracing the comings and goings of legendary on-air talents (Bob Edwards, Susan Stamberg, Ira Glass, Cokie Roberts, and many others) and the rise and fall and occasional rise again of brilliant and sometimes venal executives. It depicts how NPR created a medium for extraordinary journalism—in which reporters and producers use microphones as paintbrushes and the voices of people around the world as the soundtrack of stories both global and local.
Featuring details on the controversial firing of Juan Williams, the sloppy dismissal of Bob Edwards, and a $230 million bequest by Joan B. Kroc, widow of the founder of McDonalds, On Air also chronicles NPR’S daring shift into the digital world and its early embrace of podcasting formats, establishing the network as a formidable media empire. Fascinating, revelatory, and irresistibly dishy, this is a riveting account of NPR’s unlikely launch, chaotic ascent, and ultimate triumph—a must-hear for anyone interested in the history of public radio and its impact on American culture.
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Story
Nate Bargatze used to be a genius. That is, until the summer after seventh grade when he slipped, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a rock, and “my brain got, like, dented or something.” Before this accident, he dreamed of being “an electric engineer, or a brain doctor, or maybe a math person who does like, math things for a living.” Afterwards, a voice in his head told him, “It’s okay. You’re dumb now. All you got is standup.” But the “math things’ industry’s loss is our gain because Nate went on to become one of today’s top-grossing comedians who breaks both attendance and streaming records.
By: Nate Bargatze