Planetary Radio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Planetary Radio is a weekly 30-minute radio show devoted to space exploration and astronomy, hosted and produced by Mat Kaplan and The Planetary Society. Every week, it comprises mostly of interviews and telephone-based conversations with a scientist, engineer, project manager, artist, writer and an astronaut. In addition, it contains segments such as Questions and Answers, hosted by Emily Stewart Lakdawalla, space headlines, and the program ends with a light-hearted segment called What's Up with Bruce Betts which highlights where and when you can see significant astronomical events that week, a random space fact, an announcement of any anniversaries, and a space trivia contest where randomly chosen participants can usually win a t-shirt or poster. Occasionally, Planetary Radio will cover proceedings of conferences related to the exploration of space.

It first made its debut on the Internet in November 2002, with the interview with Planetary Society executive director Louis D. Friedman, in Windows Media. At the same time, KUCI started airing Planetary Radio on its schedule, and in February 2004, WMUH added it to its schedule. It became availabie in MP3 format for download in early July 2004. Starting from May 2005, it is also available as a podcast. Archives of previous shows are available and new programs are normally released on Mondays.

[edit] Current Stations/Services

As of May, 2007, there are over 105 radio stations and services across the US and the world currently broadcasting Planetary Radio, along with XM Satellite Radio^[1]. Some radio stations in Malaysia have expressed interest in broadcasting Planetary Radio.