On Point
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| On Point | |
 |
|
| Genre | News: analysis, commentary, features, interviews, specials |
|---|---|
| Running time | c. 110 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | WBUR |
| Syndicates | National Public Radio |
| Hosts | Tom Ashbrook |
| Creators | Graham Griffith |
| Producers | Wen Stephenson Karen Shiffman Julie Diop Eileen Imada Stefano Kotsonis Tania Ralli Hilary Barngrove McQuilkin John Wihbey Chelsea Merz |
| Recording studio | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Air dates | 17 September 2001 to present |
| Opening theme | "Everything is Alright" |
| Website www.onpointradio.org |
|
 PodcastPodcast / RSS feed |
|
On Point is a two-hour call-in radio show hosted by Tom Ashbrook, a former Boston Globe foreign editor and reporter, author and Internet entrepreneur. It is produced by WBUR in Boston and syndicated by National Public Radio. Using a fast-paced format, the show seeks to address the pressing news issues of the day, as well as to provide arts and culture programming.
It is distributed to 114 public radio stations across the United States by NPR. Major markets include New York City and Washington, D.C., as well as Nashville, St. Louis, Des Moines, Madison, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor/Detroit, Hartford, Providence, Tampa, Spokane, Eugene, and parts of California. On Point also averages more than 300,000 podcast downloads a month, making it a leader among affiliate-produced shows in the NPR world. Callers phone in from a wide variety of locations across the country.
The show has featured guests such as former President Jimmy Carter; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former Secretary of State James Baker; Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; Gloria Steinem; Bill Cosby; Camille Paglia; music mogul Russell Simmons; Joyce Carol Oates and John Updike; Jack Welch, George Soros and Eli Broad; and journalists David Remnick, Eleanor Clift, Trudy Rubin, Andrea Mitchell, Andrea Stone, Martha Raddatz, Clarence Page, Ron Brownstein, Chris Matthews, David Gergen, Ellen Goodman, and David Brooks.
The show also features a wide array of arts, culture, health, technology, and business-oriented programming. Musical guests have included: John Mellencamp, Indigo Girls, Lou Reed, KD Lang, Herbie Hancock, Martin Sexton and Ry Cooder.
The show is traveling to Shanghai, People's Republic of China, to broadcast a week of programming from April 14-18. Topics will range from the Beijing Olympics to Chinese cinema. Among the guests will be leading China analysts, officials and journalists. A new website, [1], has been launched to coincide with the trip.
In the run-up to the 2008 presidential campaign, the show has interviewed candidates Barack Obama, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Sam Brownback. Recent election commentators have included Donna Brazile, Tom Brokaw, Bob Shrum, Dana Milbank, Tony Fabrizio, Joe Klein, EJ Dionne, Pat Buchanan, Peter Hart, and Hendrik Hertzberg.
In February 2008, host Tom Ashbrook interviewed fraudulent memoirist Margaret B. Jones/Seltzer. Several days later, the fraud in her work was revealed by The New York Times, which had also published features on Seltzer's work. On Point then broadcast a follow-up show taking account of its own role in the media's reception of the memoir and critically exploring the publishing industry.
Host Tom Ashbrook went on medical leave in November 2007 to undergo heart bypass surgery. He resumed fulltime broadcasting Jan. 2, when he discussed his medical journey in a show with his doctors and nurses.
On Point is broadcast live from Boston from 10 to 12 EST, occupying the former time slot of The Connection, and repeated from 7 to 9 p.m. The show often features senior editor of The Atlantic Monthly and historian Jack Beatty, as a news analyst. Jane Clayson, former CBS morning anchor and correspondent, is commonly the show's fill-in host; NPR's Jacki Lyden, Anthony Brooks and James Hattori have also hosted.
On Point was created by Graham Griffith, and first broadcast on 17 September 2001 to provide special coverage in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The show's popularity led to it becoming a standalone program, first broadcasting under the On Point name on 4 February 2002.
It is currently led by senior producer Wen Stephenson and directed by Eileen Imada.
The On Point theme music, "Everything is Alright", comes from the album Pause by Four Tet.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||
