On Being
On Being is a podcast and a former public radio program. Hosted by Krista Tippett, it examines what it calls the "animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?"[1] This podcast should not be confused with the Australian magazine of the same name. [2]
Other names
First Person (2001–2003)
Speaking of Faith (2003–2010)
51 minutes
United States
English
Minneapolis, Minnesota
September 22, 2001 –
present
283
"Seven League Boots" by Zoe Keating
Radio program and podcast[edit]
Format[edit]
On Being is an hour-long radio show and podcast, hosted by Krista Tippett.
Tippett has interviewed guests ranging from poets to physicists, doctors to historians, artists to activists.[3] Her guests include the 14th Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, Mohammed Fairouz, Desmond Tutu, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rosanne Cash, Wangari Maathai, Yo-Yo Ma, Paulo Coehlo, Brian Greene, John Polkinghorne, Jean Vanier, Joanna Macy, Sylvia Earle, and Elie Wiesel.[4]
In 2006, On Being became the first national public radio show to offer unedited interviews alongside the produced radio show in their podcast and on their website.[5]
History[edit]
Krista Tippett pitched a series of pilots on religion, meaning, and ethics to Bill Buzenberg,[6] then Vice President for News at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, in the late 1990s.[7] The program became Speaking of Faith, a monthly series in 2001[8] and a weekly national program distributed by American Public Media (APM) in 2003.[9] In 2010, the show's name changed to On Being. In 2013, Tippett left APM to start the non-profit production company, Krista Tippett Public Productions, which she described as "a social enterprise with a radio show at its heart".[5][10]
As of July 2014, On Being aired on 334 public radio stations across the United States,[11] and the On Being podcast reached a global audience of 1.5 million listeners a month.[11] On Being was listed in the iTunes top ten podcasts of 2014.[12] In 2016, On Being changed distributors from APM to the Public Radio Exchange.[13]
In May 2022 it was announced that as of June 2022 the program would be changing from a weekly show to a "seasonal podcast," and the final weekly program aired in late June 2022.[14]
Content[edit]
The Columbia Journalism Review said of On Being and Tippett, "To listen to her show is to hear how intelligent and thoughtful religious people can be when they are allowed to be subjective and not merely regurgitate dogma."[15] In 2008 the show produced a series of programs called "Repossessing Virtue", exploring the spiritual and moral aspects of the economic recession.[16] Other series have included "Revealing Ramadan" and "Living Islam" and "The Civil Conversations Project." In 2014, On Being produced two radio specials. "Science on Human Frontiers" included interviews with Brian Greene, Natalie Batalha, S. James Gates, Sylvia Earle, and Esther Sternberg. Most recently On Being produced a special series on "The American Consciousness," a collection of live interviews at the Chautauqua Institution with Michel Martin, Richard Rodriguez, Imani Perry, and Nathan Schneider. During part of the program's run, musician Lizzo rapped in the closing credits.[17]