As It Happens

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As It Happens is a long-running interview show on CBC Radio One in Canada. It is hosted by Barbara Budd and Carol Off and has been one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on CBC radio; it is also distributed in the United States by American Public Media.

The show was introduced in 1968 as a reverse call-in show — rather than having the public call in, the reporters at As It Happens called newsmakers and pundits for their opinions.

In its history, the show has had many notable interviews, including:

the wife of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn just after his arrest
Sandra Good, the best friend of Squeaky Fromme, just after her friend had attempted to shoot Gerald Ford
a Rwandan woman seemingly moments away from being killed by Tutsi militia during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide — she stayed on the phone with As It Happens up to the point when the attackers knocked on her door. She was ultimately spared.

The show has also interviewed a wide array of presidents, prime ministers, terrorists, inventors, and authors.

Despite the gravity of many of its stories, As It Happens is also known for being lighthearted and carrying news of the obscure and bizarre. For instance, during the early 1990s there were updates for several years on the battle over a large fiberglass fish that annoyed a neighbour in England. The show is also well known for noting how far each city in the UK is from Reading.

Another well known and amusing interview was with a hard-of-hearing British farmer. It is frequently played on the programme as an amusing interlude.

The show is broadcast each day from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. throughout Canada, and can be heard throughout much of the northern United States. As It Happens can be heard on Radio Canada International and on the Internet via streaming audio at this link.

American stations that carry As It Happens do not air the final half hour (7:30 to 8:00 p.m.) of the program. Currently, the CBC also ends the program at 7:30 on Mondays, followed by the comedy program The Debaters, and on Thursdays, followed by the documentary series Dispatches.

The opening and closing themes theme songs Curried Soul and Koff Drops, respectively are played by Moe Koffman.

[edit] Hosts

1968 - 1969 — Philip Forsyth, Harry Brown and William Ronald
1969 - 1971 — Harry Brown and William Ronald
1971 - 1973 — Harry Brown, Cy Strange and Barbara Frum
1973 - 1974 — Harry Brown and Barbara Frum
1973 - 1981 — Barbara Frum and Alan Maitland
1981 - 1985 — Alan Maitland and Elizabeth Gray
1985 - 1987 — Alan Maitland and Dennis Trudeau
1987 - 1993 — Alan Maitland and Michael Enright
1993 - 1997 — Michael Enright and Barbara Budd
1997 - 2005 — Barbara Budd and Mary Lou Finlay
2006 - ongoing — Barbara Budd and Carol Off

The late Alan Maitland lives on somewhat under the guise of Fireside Al, his story-reading alter ego, repeats of which are still played on the show, particularly his Christmas readings of Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd and O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi.

In 2005, the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada honoured Barbara Frum's As It Happens.