Radiolab
Radiolab is a radio program and podcast produced by WNYC, a public radio station based in New York City, and broadcast on more than 570 public radio stations in the United States.[1] The show has earned many industry awards for its "imaginative use of radio" including a National Academies Communication Award[2] and two Peabody Awards.[3][4]
Genre
Long-form journalism
30–60 minutes
United States
WNYC
WNYC Show Distribution
- Jad Abumrad (formerly)
- Robert Krulwich (formerly)
- Latif Nasser
- Lulu Miller
- Jad Abumrad
- Robert Krulwich
- Ellen Horne
- Simon Adler
- Jeremy S. Bloom
- Becca Bressler
- Rachael Cusick
- David Gebel
- Sindhu Gnanasambandan
- Maria Paz Gutiérrez
- Dylan Keefe
- Matt Kielty
- Annie McEwen
- Alexandria Neason
- Sarah Qari
- Arianne Wack
- Pat Walters
- Molly Webster
- Ellen Horne (formerly)
- Suzie Lechtenberg
Soren Wheeler
New York, NY
2002
Radiolab was founded by Jad Abumrad in 2002, and evolved into its current form by Abumrad with co-host Robert Krulwich and executive producer Ellen Horne.[5][6][7][8] As of 2023, Radiolab is hosted by Latif Nasser and Lulu Miller.[5][9][10]
The show focuses on topics of a scientific, philosophical, and political 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.
Format[edit]
Each episode of RadioLab is one hour long and tackles various philosophical and scientific topics. Each episode is elaborately stylized. For instance, thematic—and often dissonant and atonal—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."[6] In addition, previously recorded interview segments are interspersed in the show's live dialogue, adding a layered, call-and-response effect 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."[6] 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.
The episode credits are generally read by people who were interviewed or featured on the show, rather than by the hosts, while the program credits are read by listeners.
As of June 15, 2009, the podcast offers full, hour-long episodes on a regular schedule with a variable number of 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".[21] These extra podcasts, referred to as "Shorts", are occasionally combined into full-length compilation episodes.
Reception and awards[edit]
Radiolab has been widely acclaimed among listeners and critics alike for its imaginative format and original use of sound design.[22][6] It has been hailed, along with This American Life, as one of the most innovative shows on American radio.[22]
As of January 2023, Radiolab has earned 13 podcast industry award nominations, including 7 wins, including the 2013 People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Science and Medicine Podcast and the 2015 People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Produced Podcast.[23][24] Radiolab was also awarded for the Shorty Award for Best Podcast.[25]
Radiolab has also won two Peabody Awards for broadcast excellence.[3][4] The first Peabody was awarded to the show overall, and the second was awarded for the episode titled "60 Words" (aired on April 18, 2014) garnered a second Peabody Award for Radiolab.[26][27]
Radiolab also received a 2007 National Academies Communication Award "for their imaginative use of radio to make science accessible to broad audiences".[2] The program has received two Peabody Awards; first in 2010 and again in 2014.[28][27]
In 2011, Abumrad received the MacArthur grant, in recognition of his work with RadioLab.[29]
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.[30]
Controversy[edit]
On September 24, 2012, in a podcast titled "The Fact of the Matter", the program ran a segment about the yellow rain incidents in Laos and surrounding countries in the 1970s. Included in the story was an interview with Hmong veteran and refugee Eng Yang, with his niece Kao Kalia Yang serving as translator. After hearing the segment, Kao Kalia Yang and others complained that her uncle's viewpoints had been dismissed or edited out, that interviewer Robert Krulwich had treated them callously, and that the overall approach to the story had been racist. The complaints prompted several rounds of allegation, apology, rebuttal, and edits to the podcast, as well as commentary in various sources such as the public radio newspaper Current.[31][32]
On August 12, 2017, Radiolab removed an episode titled "Truth Trolls" about the attacks on LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner's HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US art project by trolls.[33][34] The program had been criticized for appearing to condone the actions of extremist groups, with Turner condemning the reporting as "abhorrent and irresponsible" for describing the vandalism and harassment they had been subjected to as "a really encouraging story" and "comforting."[33] Abumrad issued an apology for giving the impression that they "essentially condoned some pretty despicable ideology and behavior,"[34] while WNYC stated that they supported Radiolab's decision to remove the podcast, adding that "Radiolab unambiguously rejects the beliefs and actions of the trolls, and deeply regrets doing anything that would imply differently."[35]
More Perfect[edit]
In June 2016, Radiolab launched their first "spinoff series" entitled More Perfect.[38][39] The series examines controversial and historic cases in the Supreme Court of the United States.[40][41] The show's title comes from the preamble of the United States Constitution which begins "We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union".[38][42] The team working on the podcast became interested in the topic after studying an adoption case related to the Indian Child Welfare Act.[43]
The show's first season launched on June 1, 2016, and ran for eight episodes.[44][45] The second season returned on September 30, 2017, and aired nine episodes.[46] The show's third season began on September 18, 2018, and ran for nine episodes.
The show relaunched on May 11, 2023, hosted by Julia Longoria (former host of The Experiment, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Atlantic, and one of the original More Perfect producers), with a 12-part season.[47]
Since then, More Perfect has not aired any more episodes, although reruns are still occasionally posted in the Radiolab feed.