''The Takeaway'' was a weekday

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

program co-created and co-produced by

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

and

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

. Its editorial partner was GBH; at launch the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' were also editorial partners. In addition to co-producing the program, PRX also distributed the program nationwide to its affiliated stations. The program debuted on

in New York, WGBH in Boston, and

WEAA WEAA (88.9 FM) is a non-profit, NPR affiliate station that serves Baltimore, Maryland. It is licensed and owned by Morgan State University. WEAA is located on campus, with studios at the School of Global Journalism and Communication, and a tra ...

in Baltimore. At time of its last broadcast, the program had approximately 241 carrying stations across the country, including markets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Portland, Boston, and more. The show had several permanent hosts since its inception in 2008, sometimes with a single host, other times with two hosts. The program began with two co-hosts Adaora Udoji and

John Hockenberry John Charles Hockenberry (born June 4, 1956) is an American journalist and author. He has reported from all over the world, on a wide variety of stories in several mediums for more than three decades. He has written dozens of magazine and newsp ...

. Celeste Headlee replaced Udoji to become the second permanent co-host of The Takeaway. After Headlee left, Hockenberry remained the solo host for the next five years; he was eventually replaced by Tanzina Vega. After Vega's hosting tenure,

Melissa Harris-Perry Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (born October 2, 1973), formerly known as Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell, is an American writer, professor, television host, and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics. Harris-Perry hoste ...

took over hosting duties until the show's end in 2023. On February 17, 2023

and PRX announced that The Takeaway had been cancelled. The last episode aired on June 2, 2023.

Mission

The program's stated intent was to deliver "national and international news and cultural stories through a conversational and unprecedented personality-driven format." The program launched on April 28, 2008, initially airing in two separate live feeds—from 6am to 7am on WNYC 93.9FM and from 8 to 9am on AM820. On January 25, 2010, as part of WNYC-FM's new schedule the show was moved to WNYC-AM, a later hour, and expanded to four hours. On September 3, 2012, the show was reduced to one hour. The program has received major philanthropic support from The

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...

, the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, and the

Skoll Foundation The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California, Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Billionaire entrepreneur Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 19 ...

Presenters

The show initially launched with Nigerian-American broadcaster Adaora Udoji and

as co-hosts. Udoji left the show after eight months. Over the course of several months in 2009, The Takeaway featured various guest co-hosts, including African-American journalist

Farai Chideya Farai Chideya (; born July 27, 1969, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States) is an American novelist, multimedia journalist, and radio host. She produced and hosted ''Pop and Politics with Farai Chideya'', a series of radio specials on politics fo ...

, WDET news director Jerome Vaughn; television presenters

Daljit Dhaliwal Daljit Dhaliwal (born 8 September 1962) is a British newsreader and television presenter. Dhaliwal is a former news presenter for the Al-Jazeera English news service that was broadcast from Washington, D.C. Previously, she was the anchor cha ...

and Lynn Sherr; and broadcast journalists Katherine Lanpher and Celeste Headlee. In addition, staffers Femi Oke and Todd Zwillich also guest-hosted. After several stints as guest co-host, Headlee joined the show as permanent co-host September 21, 2009 until her departure August 17, 2012. Hockenberry anchored until August 2017, stepping down without an appointed replacement. Todd Zwillich served as an interim host. On March 27, 2018, it was announced that Tanzina Vega, formerly of CNN and ''The New York Times'', would be the new host of ''The Takeaway''. Vega started hosting the program on May 7, 2018. Later that year,

Amy Walter Amy Elizabeth Walter (born October 19, 1969)"Profile: Amy Walter"

, of the Cook Political Report, joined as Friday host. On July 23, 2021, Vega announced her departure from ''The Takeaway'' and WNYC. Melissa Harris-Perry was named as interim host following Tanzina Vega's departure. On October 18, 2021, Harris-Perry was named permanent host and managing editor of the program.

Format

With the program's debut, public radio had more than one program available throughout the morning drive across time zones for the first time. The format of the program was influenced by discussions at the Stanford Joint Program in Design. It has a different tone and approach from NPR's ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

'', delivering national and international news and cultural stories through a conversational and personality-driven format rather than a magazine, packaged pieces format like ''Morning Edition''. The web presence of the program allows listeners to respond immediately to news and participate in editorial decision-making, as well as building a significant online community around the content. Effective September 2012, with an expiration of a

grant and limited uptake at public radio stations, ''The Takeaway'' was reduced to one hour, feeding at 9am Eastern with an updated hour feeding at 12 noon Eastern for the

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

and midday Eastern markets. WGBH Boston airs the program every weekday at 10am and 2pm Eastern. The difference between the expectations of public radio listeners and the tone of the program initially led to a negative response from some listeners. However, a 2012 study noted that the program had succeeded in attracting a more diverse audience, with

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

listenership exceeding public radio averages by 60%. The show also received multiple awards, including The

's Community Lifeline Award (shared with WNYC for coverage of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

in 2012) and the 2011 Radio and Television Digital News Association/UNITY Award (for their series "Fluid Identities").

Controversies

In 2011, ''The Takeaway'' dismissed part-time freelancer Caitlin Curran, after she had participated in the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

protests. According to WNYC's company guidelines: "Individuals may not participate in an advocacy manner in events involving causes or issues that

New York Public Radio New York Public Radio (NYPR) is a New York City-based independent, publicly supported, Nonprofit organization, not-for-profit media organization incorporated in 1979. Its stated mission is "To make the mind more curious, the heart more open and t ...

covers or may cover." At the time, ''The Takeaway'' was covering the protests extensively. The dismissal was widely criticized. On December 1, 2017, ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine published journalist Suki Kim's story alleging that John Hockenberry had created a toxic work environment for his co-hosts and lower-level co-workers and had even crossed the line of sexual harassment. In WNYC's own reporting about the story, journalist Ilya Marritz stated that four women had "approached WNYC News to say they recently filed harassment complaints with the station and have been dissatisfied with the response from human resources." In the wake of these revelations former host Adaora Udoji published an editorial in U.S. online edition of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', describing her experience as "an excruciating, painful ride that would haunt me nearly 10 years later." Five days after the Hockenberry story was published in ''New York'' magazine, WNYC suspended two of their best known hosts,

Leonard Lopate Leonard Lopate (born September 23, 1940) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the radio talk show ''Leonard Lopate at Large'', broadcast on WBAI, and the former host of the public radio talk show ''The Leonard Lopate Show'', broad ...

and Jonathan Schwartz pending investigations into "inappropriate conduct". Two weeks later WNYC announced that both hosts had been fired for violating WNYC's "standards for providing an inclusive, appropriate, and respectful work environment." On January 26, 2018, WNYC announced that Chief Content Officer Dean Cappello would no longer oversee WNYC News and WNYC Studios, nor would he oversee any direct reports. The cancellation of The Takeaway was mired in controversy. WNYC cited the expensive nature of producing a daily radio program, as well as a decline in the listening audience. They noted that the carriage of the program on public radio stations across the United States has dropped 13% in the last several years.

CEO LaFontaine Oliver cited a $7 million deficit for the company in 2023. Members of the NYPR employees' union countered by pointing out that executive compensation had remained completely intact at an estimated $1.85 million.

References

External links

*
''Public Radio International''''New York'' magazine interview with Hockenberry and UdojiThe best of John Hockenberry. WNYC.org#MeToo Hits Home: John Hockenberry Accused of Harassment, BullyingHarassment and Bullying Allegations Rock WNYC After Departure of Celebrated Host''The Takeaways own coverage: John Hockenberry Accused of Sexual HarassmentHow New York Public Radio Is Dodging Accountability for Its Sexual Harassment Problem
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