| Genre | Scientific, philosophical investigation |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | WNYC |
| Syndicates | Public Radio Exchange |
| Hosts | Jad Abumrad Robert Krulwich |
| Editors | Soren Wheeler |
| Producers | Jad Abumrad Amanda Aronczyk Jonathan Mitchell Lulu Miller Jessica Benko |
| Exec. producers | Ellen Horne |
| Air dates | since 2002 |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 33 (List of episodes) |
| Audio format | Stereophonic |
| Website | www.radiolab.org |
| Podcast | WNYC Podcast |
Radiolab is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast.
Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show focuses on topics of a scientific and philosophical nature. The show attempts to approach broad, difficult topics such as "time" and "morality" in an accessible and light-hearted manner and with a distinctive audio production style.
Radiolab received a 2007 National Academies Communication Award "for their imaginative use of radio to make science accessible to broad audiences."[1] In 2011, Abumrad received the MacArthur grant.[2]
Although Radiolab is a "limited run series", nine seasons of five episodes each have been produced; the tenth season is currently airing.[3][4]
Contents |
Having majored in experimental music composition and production at Oberlin College, Jad Abumrad worked for New York City Pacifica affiliate WBAI before landing a job freelancing for National Public Radio (NPR). In 2002 he produced a series of post-9/11 radio documentaries called 24 Hours at the Edge of Ground Zero, and regularly contributed material to Studio 360, both for WNYC. [5] In 2003 Abumrad was given an assignment to interview ABC News science reporter Robert Krulwich and the two men discovered they had a lot in common: both were alumni of Oberlin College (though 25 years apart), both had worked at WBAI before moving on to WNYC and NPR. They became fast friends and began collaborating on experimental radio pieces, the first of which they sent to Ira Glass for a proposed Flag Day episode of This American Life. "It was horrible," said Glass of the tape in an interview with Abumrad and Krulwich. "It's just amazing that you were able to put together such a wonderful program after that."[6]
Not to be dissuaded, Abumrad and Krulwich continued to collaborate. In 2004 Jad Abumrad began hosting a series of sporadic science-themed programs under the name "Radiolab" and featured Robert Krulwich as a "guest host" on a program about time in early June.[7] By the following episode, (Space, aired two weeks later), they were co-hosts, launching into the program's first official season in 2005.[8]
Radiolab is aired on over 300 radio stations across the U.S., including California, Alaska, and New York. Each episode is one hour long and tackles various philosophical and scientific topics. However, the show began in 2002 as a three-hour weekly show on New York City radio station WYNC's AM's signal.[9] It wasn't until 2004 that Krulwich began appearing as a regular guest and eventually as a co-host. Each Radiolab episode is elaborately stylized. For instance, thematic—and often discordant—music accompanies much of the commentary. In an April 2011 interview with the New York Times, Abumrad explained the choice in music: “I put a lot of jaggedy sounds, little plurps and things, strange staccato, percussive things.”[10] In addition, previously recorded interview segments are interspersed in the show's live dialogue, adding a layered, call-and-response affect to the questions posed by the hosts. These recordings are often unedited and the interviewee's asides appear in the final product. In the same New York Times interview, Abumrad said, “You're trying to capture the rhythms and the movements, the messiness of the actual experience...It sounds like life.”[11] And unlike traditional journalism, in which the reader is given only access to the final article, not the interview, Abumrad added that Radiolab's process is more transparent.
Radiolab has been widely acclaimed among listeners and critics alike. Around 1.8 million listeners tune into the show, though most of them access it via podcasts.[12] It has even been hailed, along with This American Life, as one of the most innovative shows on radio.
In a 2007–2008 study by Multimedia Research (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), it was determined that over 95 percent of listeners reported that the science-based material featured on Radiolab was accessible. Additionally, upwards of 80 percent of listeners reported that the program's pace was exciting, and over 80 percent reported that the layering of interviews was engaging.[13]
Radiolab has also won several awards, including the 2010 George Foster Peabody Award for broadcast excellence.[14] In spring 2011, Krulwich and Abumrad took the show on a live, national tour, selling out in cities such as New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles.[15]
Each hour-long episode, through stories, interviews, and thought experiments usually deals with a specific topic and investigates it from several different angles. Utilizing sound design (not a common practice in modern radio programming), rapid dialog edits and sound effects are used to build a soundscape constructing an expository conversation, and usually feature brief, seemingly unscripted tangents. The credits are generally read by people who were interviewed or featured on the show, rather than by the hosts.
As of June 15, 2009, the podcast offers full, hour-long episodes on a regular schedule with two podcasts in between "that follow some detour or left turn, explore music we love, take you to live events, and generally try to shake up your universe."[16]