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| Genre | Long-form journalism |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30–60 minutes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Home station | WNYC |
| Syndicates | WNYC Show Distribution |
| Hosted by |
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| Created by |
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| Produced by |
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| Executive producer(s) |
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| Senior editor(s) | Soren Wheeler |
| Recording studio | New York, NY |
| Original release | 2002 |
| Website | radiolab |
Radiolab is a radio program andpodcast produced byWNYC, apublic 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 aNational Academies Communication Award[2] and twoPeabody Awards.[3][4]
Radiolab was founded byJad Abumrad in 2002, and evolved into its current form by Abumrad with co-hostRobert Krulwich and executive producer Ellen Horne.[5][6][7][8] As of 2023, Radiolab is hosted byLatif Nasser andLulu 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.
The original version ofRadiolab was a three-hour weekly show on New York City radio station WNYC's AM signal. Abumrad, then a freelancer for WNYC, produced and hosted the show, which presented documentary radio work in an original style.[6] Dean Cappello, then chief content officer of WNYC Radio toldThe New York Times that it was conceived, back in 2002, as a space for experimentation and also as a way to fill a "blank space" on the station’s Sunday-night schedule.[6]
These early themed episodes were not necessarily science-related, but tackled issues such as the death penalty, religious fundamentalism and politics in Africa and the Middle East.
In 2003, Abumrad was given a freelance assignment by WNYC to interviewABC 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), and both had worked at WBAI before moving on to WNYC and NPR.[7][6] They became fast friends and began collaborating as co-hosts on experimental radio pieces — initially outside of Radiolab. In 2003, they sent their first piece to radio producerIra Glass for a proposedFlag Day episode ofThis American Life.[6] The 2-minute piece, which never aired onThis American Life, was included in the 2008 Radiolab episode “Jad and Robert: The Early Years.”[7] In the episode Abumrad and Krulwich interview Glass, and ask him his recollection of the piece. "It was horrible", Glass said. In an interview with Abumrad and Krulwich, Glass said: "I never would have put the two of you together on anything again… It's just amazing that you were able to put together such a wonderful program after that."[7]
In 2003, Abumrad was joined on Radiolab by Executive Producer Ellen Horne, whom Abumrad credits with breathing life into the show.[11] They began evolving the show into its current form,[12][13][14] and by January 2004,Radiolab had become an hour-long, science-themed program characterized by Abumrad's uniquesound design style. The program, at that time, was still considered experimental.[14] In June 2004, Robert Krulwich appeared as a "guest host" on an episode titled "Time."[15] By the following episode ("Space", aired two weeks later), they were co-hosts. In 2005, the program had its first official season, with five episodes, on WNYC.[6][16] The program gained national distribution soon after. Live shows were first introduced in 2008.[17]
Initially distributed nationally by NPR, WNYC began distributing the show in 2015. The change was noticeably marked by the omission of NPR's name in the show's opening audio sequence after the tagline, "You're listening toRadiolab...from WNYC."[18]
Horne left RadioLab in 2015,[5] and Krulwich retired from his role as co-host in February 2020.[8] In September of the same year, Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser were named co-hosts, succeeding Krulwich.[19] In January 2022, Abumrad announced his retirement from Radiolab, handing over the reins to co-hosts Miller and Nasser.[20] The podcast now offers a subscription calledThe Lab with which listeners can directly support the production.
Each episode ofRadioLab 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 withThe 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 sameNew 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 thatRadiolab'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.
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 withThis 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 2013People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Science and Medicine Podcast and the 2015People'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 twoPeabody 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 forRadiolab.[26][27]
Radiolab also received a 2007National Academies Communication Award "for their imaginative use of radio to make science accessible to broad audiences".[2] The program has received twoPeabody Awards; first in 2010 and again in 2014.[28][27]
In 2011, Abumrad received theMacArthur grant, in recognition of his work with RadioLab.[29]
In a 2007–2008 study by Multimedia Research (sponsored by theNational Science Foundation), it was determined that over 95 percent of listeners reported that the science-based material featured onRadiolab was accessible.[clarification needed] 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]
On September 24, 2012, in apodcast titled "The Fact of the Matter", the program ran a segment about theyellow rain incidents inLaos and surrounding countries in the 1970s. Included in the story was an interview withHmong veteran and refugee Eng Yang, with his nieceKao 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 beenracist. 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 newspaperCurrent.[31][32]
On August 12, 2017,Radiolab removed an episode titled "Truth Trolls" about the attacks onLaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner'sHEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US art project bytrolls.[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 supportedRadiolab'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]
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.[36]
The tour covered 21 cities and primarily focused on a speculativefringe theory regarding theCretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that has not been published in apeer-reviewed journal.[citation needed] The fundamental new idea surrounding this theory is that when a large asteroid impacted the Earth, the asteroid driving into the ground caused the rock to become heated so extremely that it became gaseous. This "rock-gas" was then ejected outside the Earth's atmosphere and intospace. The rock-gas, after cooling into many tiny glass particles, was pulled back in by Earth's gravity. The majority of this "glass-rain" burned up in the Earth's atmosphere upon re-entry, causing the Earth's atmosphere to become superheated, killing most of the species living on the surface of the Earth within a matter of hours. The episode did not include any discussion of the problems with the theory or that it has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Episode 3 ofSeason 12, titled "Apocalyptical – Live from the Paramount in Seattle", was recorded at one of the live show tour locations thatRadiolab performed. Unlike most shows, this show was also filmed, and made available on their official website.[37]
In June 2016, Radiolab launched their first "spinoff series" entitledMore Perfect.[38][39] The series examines controversial and historic cases in theSupreme Court of the United States.[40][41] The show's title comes from thepreamble of theUnited 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 ofThe Experiment, a co-production of WNYC Studios andThe 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, althoughreruns are still occasionally posted in the Radiolab feed.
Radiolab launched seriesRadiolab for Kids which features content suitable for children and family listening, including the seriesTerrestrial on September 15, 2022.[48]
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