 | |
| Genre | News: analysis, commentary, features, interviews, specials |
|---|---|
| Running time | 135 minutes weekdays; 50 minutes weekends approx. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Home station | NPR |
| Hosted by | Mary Louise Kelly Ailsa Chang Juana Summers Scott Detrow |
| Original release | May 3, 1971 (1971-05-03) – present |
| Website | npr.org/all-things-considered |
| Podcast | Podcast |
All Things Considered (ATC) is the flagship news program on the American networkNational Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in theUnited States, and worldwide through several different outlets, formerly including the NPRBerlin station inGermany.[1]All Things Considered andMorning Edition were thehighest rated public radio programs in the United States in 2002 and 2005.[2][3] The show combines news, analysis, commentary, interviews, and special features, and its segments vary in length and style.ATC airs weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (live) or Pacific Time (recorded with some updates; inHawaii it airs as a fully recorded program) or from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time.ATC's weekend counterpart airs on Saturdays and Sundays.
ATC programming combines news, analysis, commentary, interviews, and special features broadcast live daily from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (3 to 5 p.m. Central Time) (20:00 to 22:00 UTC), and is re-fed with updates until 10 p.m. ET (9 p.m. CT) or 7 p.m. PT (02:00 UTC). Broadcasts run about 105 minutes with local content interspersed in between to complete two hours. In 2005,ATC aired on over 560 radio stations and reached an audience of approximately 12 million listeners each weekday, making it the third most listened to radio program in the United States afterThe Rush Limbaugh Show andMorning Edition.[2] In September 2010,All Things Considered had anaverage quarter-hour audience of 1.8 million.[4]ATC is co-hosted by rotating cast of regular anchors; current hosts includeAilsa Chang,Mary Louise Kelly,[5]Juana Summers[6] andScott Detrow.[7]
The first broadcast ofATC was fed to about 90radio stations on May 3, 1971, with hostRobert Conley. During the first week, these stations were not allowed to broadcast the feed "live" but could record it for later broadcast. The first story was about the march onWashington, D.C., and the growing anti–Vietnam War protests taking place there.[8] NPR chose to place its inaugural daily newscast at the afternoon commute timeslot instead of the morning because many of its affiliates at that time did not sign on for the day until mid-morning or afterward.[9] It was not until 1979, by which time most affiliates had expanded their broadcast days to begin at 6 a.m. or earlier, that NPR premieredMorning Edition.[citation needed]
Weekend All Things Considered (WATC) is a one-hour version of the show that premiered in 1974[10] and is broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 p.m. ET.
ATC was excluded from the NPR deal withSirius Satellite Radio so as not to compete with local stations airing the show.[11]
To coordinate the choice of interview partners in cultural coverage betweenATC and other NPR shows (as of 2010:Morning Edition, the weekend editions,Talk of the Nation, andTell Me More), NPR set up a "dibs list" system around 2005, whereby the first show to declare interest in a particular guest can "reserve" that person.[4]
On March 23, 2020,ATC launchedThe National Conversation, a livecall-in show addressing listener questions about theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The program aired from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET on weeknights from the end of March through May 2020.[12]
Similar toUp First, the podcast complement to the network'sMorning Edition andWeekend Edition, NPR launchedConsider This as a podcast companion toATC on June 29, 2020,[13] withATC hosts providing in-depth analysis of a single story each weekday afternoon. National podcast episodes are supplemented in select areas by additional local reporting and analysis from journalists at various NPR member stations, such as Dallas-basedKERA.[14]Consider This is also the successor to NPR's weekday afternoonCoronavirus Daily podcast,[15] which had published throughout the spring of 2020. It expanded to weekends on January 8, 2022, with episodes hosted by then-WATC host Michel Martin on Saturdays.[16] The podcast's weekend episode moved to Sundays in May 2023.
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The format is less rigid than that ofMorning Edition, with a wider array of type and length of stories. The length of stories tends to be greater thanMorning Edition, with some stories lasting for almost 23 minutes. Certain types of personal interest stories are almost always covered within this limit; those relating to hard news or entertainment tend to last the standard three-and-a-half to four minutes.
The program begins with the familiar Don Voegeli theme song[17] under a one-minute billboard of the stories to be covered during the hour. Then the standard five-minute NPR newscast is delivered from one minute to six minutes past the hour. The newscast offers a cutaway after three minutes (at four minutes past the hour), allowing stations to cover the last 2.5 minutes with evening rush-hour news and traffic reports. For those stations that run the newscast untouched, a 30-second music bed follows instead.
The first, or "A" segment, begins at :06:30 after the hour. It features important news stories, although not necessarily the most important news stories of the day. Often it is here that the most significant interviews or developing stories are placed. Segment A runs 11:29 in duration, and closes out at :18 after with a two-minute station break.
At :20:35 past the hour,ATC picks back up with Segment B. This segment, which runs 8:24, features more news and analysis, and often contains lighter stories and commentary. Segment B breaks for the half-hour at :29 past. The program goes into a one-minute local break.
At the bottom of the hour,ATC resumes with a "host return". In the 30-second return, the host or hosts discuss what's coming up in the remaining half-hour and intro the news. This is immediately followed by a 3:30 newscast which ends at :34 after the hour, followed by a one-minute local break.
Segment C kicks off at :35:35 past the hour, and runs 8:24. Long feature stories are heard here, or as many as three shorter stories or commentaries may be heard as well. Segment D occurs immediately after Segment C at :44 past the hour, and runs for four minutes. Segment D is a designated cutaway for stations to run local commentary or features in lieu of the national segment. Segment D ends at :48 after the hour, and another two-minute break ensues. Occasionally, the show will "break format" and place a long, 12-minute story in Segments C and D without a local cutaway.
Segment E starts at :50 after, and concludes the hour. The segment runs 8:09. UnlikeMorning Edition, there is no set format for this segment, although usually the second hour will contain an arts, culture, or lighter news story in this segment. Other times, hard news otherwise not fitting in the program may be placed here.
Stations receive a preliminary rundown before each broadcast (usually a few minutes before 4:00 p.m. Eastern) denoting the timing and placement of stories so they can schedule local content as appropriate. This rundown is updated as stories change until the feed ends at 10 p.m. ET. As withMorning Edition, two hours of content are scheduled for each program. After 6 p.m. Eastern, the feed repeats the earlier hours for the Midwest and West Coast, although information is updated through the evening as appropriate.
Major awards won by the show include the Ohio State Award, thePeabody Award, the Overseas Press Club Award, theDuPont Award, the American Women in Radio and Television Award, and theRobert F. Kennedy Award. In 1993, the show was inducted into theNational Radio Hall of Fame, the first[18] public radio program to be given that honor.
In 2017, the first broadcast episode (from 1971) ofAll Things Considered was selected for preservation in theNational Recording Registry by theLibrary of Congress. Recordings in the collection are considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[19]
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ABC NewsRadio in Australia broadcasts a continuous hour of selected segments from each day's program between 12:00 and 13:00Australian Eastern Standard Time Monday to Friday. Segments A to D are edited together omitting local NPR news inserts.
NPR Berlin in Germany aired in the local German timeslot, live from the United States.
From time to time, NPR produces and distributes short series of radio pieces. Series that have aired during the show include:
National Public Radio alone reaches more than 20 million listeners, and its daily newsmagazine shows,All Things Considered andMorning Edition, attract a larger audience than any program except Rush Limbaugh's.
NPR has a contract to program two Sirius channels, NPR Talk and NPR Now. But Mr. Klose said there were no plans to add the top-rated news programs to its satellite lineup against station wishes. 'We will respond to the will of the system,' he said.
