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Overview
Over its twenty-year history National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" has become a landmark American program, a unique source of news and of voices from across the country that don't often get a hearing elsewhere. In these pages, Noah Adams captures a year in the life of "All Things Considered," and celebrates the special pleasures of the show: its original blend of frontline news reporting, commentary, and features; its spirited attention to the highways and the byways of American life; and the people - "All Things Considered" staff and listeners alike - who make it all happen. The year's stories take us from China to Romania and from Alaska to Appalachia, from the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe to a West Virginia fire department's ramp supper fundraiser. Along the way we look in on musicians, writers, farmers, and bungee jumpers; we go whale watching and lighthouse hunting; and we ride the rails from St. Paul to Seattle on the "Empire Builder" train. We see how the broadcast is put together by a team of reporters, technicians, and announcers determined to bring us the news straight from the source, without distortions and simplifications. We learn how "All Things Considered" and National Public Radio got their starts, and how Noah Adams came to join them both. And we hear a lifetime's worth of stories of radio work gone (sometimes) just right and (occasionally) hilariously wrong. Most of all we meet people on both sides of the radio who we're glad to know, listeners from all across the country and the "All Things Considered" reporters - Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, John Hockenberry, Deborah Amos, Susan Stamberg, and others - who have become as familiar to us, and as trusted, as neighbors across the back fence. As engaging and varied as the program it chronicles, here is a must-read for every fan of what Time calls "the most literate, trenchant, and entertaining news program on the radio."Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Now in its 21st year, National Public Radio's All Things Considered covers both news and feature stories. Adams, who has been the host of the program since 1979, here examines the year from June 4, 1989, to June 4, 1990--a signal period when the news included the massacre of students in Tiananmen Square, the death of the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, the toppling of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of democracy in Eastern Europe, and the release from prison of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Adams tells how these events were covered on NPR, and explains as well who covered them, what those reporters are like and why certain news-making people were selected for in-depth profile pieces. For the program's regular listeners, the book will provide an opportunity to get better acquainted with people who are like old friends; for those unfamiliar with the show, it will prove less interesting. (Oct.)Donna Seaman
National Public Radio's 20-year-old evening news show has never been more popular. Celebrated, treasured, and supported by listeners for its in-depth, varied, and personable coverage, "All Things Considered" is a marvelously successful collaboration of anchors, producers, foreign correspondents, editorial assistants, and interviewees. Host Noah Adams brings us an insider's view of the action in a day-by-day account of one year's worth of shows. And what a year June_ 1989 through June_ 1990 was! Adams describes coverage of the violence in Tiananmen Square, the disintegration of the Soviet bloc, and the release of Nelson Mandela, to name just a few of the world-changing events he and his team scrambled to interpret and report on. Along with the big news stories are daily interviews with writers, musicians, and filmmakers; the search for "enders," lighthearted feature stories; and the logistics of securing translators, international phone hookups, and travel arrangements everywhere from Kansas to Bucharest. Adams writes about listener mail, editorial decisions, and his fondness for dogs and good, down-home food. Anecdotes, excerpts from interviews, and, most of all, profiles of people at the station and at-large enliven this compelling, impressive chronicle of a year on radio and a year of life. According to Susan Stamberg, Noah Adams has the "most genuine, uncontrived voice in broadcasting." He's not bad in print, either.Book Details
Published
February 4, 1993
Publisher
New York : W.W. Norton, c1992.
Pages
384
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780393030433