''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and worldwide through several different outlets, formerly including the NPR

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

station in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. ''All Things Considered'' and ''

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 ...

'' were the highest rated public radio programs in the United States in 2002 and 2005. 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; in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

it airs as a fully recorded program) or from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. ''ATC's'' weekend counterpart, ''Weekend Edition'', airs on Saturdays and Sundays.

Background

''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 after ''

The Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' was an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At i ...

'' and ''

''. In September 2010, ''All Things Considered'' had an average quarter-hour audience of 1.8 million. ''ATC'' is co-hosted by rotating cast of regular anchors; current hosts include

Ari Shapiro Ari Michael Shapiro (born September 30, 1978) is an American radio journalist. In September 2015, Shapiro became one of four rotating hosts on National Public Radio's flagship drive-time program ''All Things Considered''. He previously se ...

Ailsa Chang Ailsa Chang (born January 12, 1976) is an American journalist. She’s a host of the NPR newsmagazine ''All Things Considered''. She is a former host of '' Planet Money'' and previously covered United States Congress for NPR. Prior to joinin ...

Mary Louise Kelly Mary Louise Kelly is an American broadcaster and author. She anchors the daily news show ''All Things Considered'' on National Public Radio (NPR), and previously covered national security at the network. Prior to NPR she reported for CNN and the ...

, and Juana Summers. The first broadcast of ''ATC'' was fed to about 90

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s on May 3, 1971, with host Robert 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 on

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the growing anti–

Vietnam War protests Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The majority of the protests were in the United States, but some took place aro ...

taking place there. 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. 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 premiered ''Morning Edition''. ''Weekend All Things Considered'' (''WATC'') is a one-hour version of the show that premiered in 1974 and is broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 p.m. ET, currently hosted by Scott Detrow. ''ATC'' was excluded from the NPR deal with

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

so as not to compete with local stations airing the show. To coordinate the choice of interview partners in cultural coverage between ''ATC'' and other NPR shows (as of 2010: ''Morning Edition'', the weekend editions, ''

Talk of the Nation ''Talk of the Nation'' (''TOTN'') is an American talk radio program based in Washington D.C., produced by National Public Radio ( NPR) that was broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. It focused on current events and controversial ...

'', and ''

Tell Me More ''Tell Me More'' is a National Public Radio (NPR) interview show that was hosted by journalist Michel Martin. ''Tell Me More'' was first introduced online in December 2006 through an "open piloting" program called "Rough Cuts". Martin and the ...

''), NPR set up a "

dibs Dibs may refer to: * Pekmez, Arabic fruit molasses * "Dibs" (song), a 2015 song by Kelsea Ballerini * The subject of '' Dibs in Search of Self'', an emotionally crippled boy * Mr Dibs (born 1964), a British rock musician * Nestlé Dibs, a fro ...

list" system around 2005, whereby the first show to declare interest in a particular guest can "reserve" that person. On March 23, 2020, ''ATC'' launched ''The National Conversation'', a live

call-in show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...

addressing listener questions about the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

. The program aired from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET on weeknights from the end of March through May 2020. Similar to ''Up First'', the podcast complement to the network's ''Morning Edition'' and ''Weekend Edition'', NPR launched '' Consider This'' as a podcast companion to ''ATC'' on June 29, 2020, with ''ATC'' 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-based KERA. ''Consider This'' is also the successor to NPR's weekday afternoon ''Coronavirus Daily'' podcast, 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. The podcast's weekend episode moved to Sundays in May 2023, and as of June 2023 is hosted by ''WATC'' host Scott Detrow.

Format

The format is less rigid than that of ''Morning Edition'', with a wider array of type and length of stories. The length of stories tends to be greater than ''Morning 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 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. Unlike ''Morning 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 with ''Morning 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.

Awards

Major awards won by the show include the Ohio State Award, the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

, the Overseas Press Club Award, the DuPont Award, the American Women in Radio and Television Award, and the

Robert F. Kennedy Award The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism is a journalism award named after Robert F. Kennedy and awarded by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The annual awards are issued in several categories and were est ...

. In 1993, the show was inducted into the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...

, the first public radio program to be given that honor. In 2017, the first broadcast episode (from 1971) of ''All Things Considered'' was selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. Recordings in the collection are considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

International broadcasts

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

in Australia broadcasts a continuous hour of selected segments from each day's program between 12:00 and 13:00

Australian Eastern Standard Time Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30) and Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00). Time is regulated by the individual states a ...

Monday to Friday. Segments A to D are edited together omitting local NPR news inserts.

NPR Berlin NPR Berlin was the first international affiliate of the American public radio network, NPR. The station started broadcasting in April 2006. It replaced a radio station from Voice of America that previously broadcast on the 104.1 MHz frequency. T ...

in Germany aired in the local German timeslot, live from the United States.

Hosts

Weekday hosts

* Robert Conley (1971) * Mike Waters (1971–1974) * Jim Russell (1972) *

Susan Stamberg Susan Stamberg (born September 7, 1938) is an American radio journalist. Stamberg was co-host of NPR's flagship program ''All Things Considered'' from 1972 to 1986. In that role Stamberg was the first female host of a national news broadcast. She ...

(1972–1986) *

Bob Edwards Robert Alan Edwards (May 16, 1947 – February 10, 2024) was an American broadcast journalist who was a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He hosted both of National Public Radio's flagship news programs, the after ...

(1974–1979) * Sandy Ungar (1980–1982) *

Noah Adams Noah Adams is an American broadcast journalist and author, known primarily since 1987 from National Public Radio. Career A former co-host of the daily ''All Things Considered'' program, Adams is currently the contributing correspondent at ...

(1982–1987, 1989–2002) *

Renée Montagne Renée Montagne () is an American former radio journalist and was the co-host (with Steve Inskeep and David Greene) of National Public Radio's weekday morning news program, '' Morning Edition'', from May 2004 to November 11, 2016. Montagne and ...

(1987–1989) *

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio afternoon news broadcast ''All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Ear ...

(1987–2018) *

Linda Wertheimer Linda Wertheimer (; born March 19, 1943) is a former American radio journalist for NPR. She's considered one of NPR's "Founding Mothers" along with Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and the late Cokie Roberts. Background and education Wertheimer ...

(1989–2002) *

Michele Norris Michele L. Norris ( ; born September 7, 1961) is an American journalist. From 2019 to 2024 Norris was an opinion columnist with ''The Washington Post''. She co-hosted National Public Radio's evening news program ''All Things Considered'' from 20 ...

(2002–2011) *

Melissa Block Melissa Block (born December 28, 1961) is an American radio host and journalist. She co-hosted NPR's ''All Things Considered'' news program from 2003 until August 14, 2015. In August 2015 she became a Special Correspondent for NPR, responsible fo ...

(2003–2015) *

Kelly McEvers Kelly McEvers is an American journalist. McEvers is host of NPR's "Embedded" podcast. She was a co-host of NPR's flagship newsmagazine ''All Things Considered'' until February 2018 . Before this she was a foreign correspondent for NPR, in which ...

(2015–2018) *

Audie Cornish Audie N. Cornish (born October 9, 1979) is an American journalist who currently hosts '' CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish'' and the weekly CNN Audio podcast, '' The Assignment with Audie Cornish''.https://www.cnn.com/profiles/audie-cornish She ...

(2012–2022) *

(2015–present) *

(2018–present) *

(2018–present) * Juana Summers (2022–present)

Weekend hosts

* Mike Waters (1974–1978) *

Joe Frank Joe Frank ( Joseph Langermann; August 19, 1938 – January 15, 2018) was an American writer, teacher, and radio performer best known for his often philosophical, humorous, surrealist, and sometimes absurd monologues and radio dramas he recorde ...

(1978–1979) *

(1978–1982) *

Liane Hansen Liane Hansen (; born September 29, 1951) is an American journalist and radio personality. She was the host of the National Public Radio (NPR) newsmagazine ''Weekend Edition Sunday'' from 1989 until her retirement in May 2011. Her experience in b ...

(1979–1981) * David Molpus (1982–1984) * Lee Thornton (1982–1984) *

Steve Curwood Stephen Thomas Curwood (born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on December 11, 1947) is a journalist, author, public radio personality and actor. While working for ''The Boston Globe'' as an investigative reporter and columnist he shared the 1975 Pulitze ...

(1983–1984) *

Alex Chadwick Alex Chadwick is an American journalist best known for his work on National Public Radio, and as a former co-host of the radio newsmagazine '' Day to Day''. He was a part of the development of NPR's '' Morning Edition'' in the 1970s and was a ...

Lynn Neary Lynn Neary is a former American radio journalist. She was a correspondent on National Public Radio and on National Desk's Arts and Information Unit, covering books and publishing. Early years and education Neary was born and raised in Crestwood ...

(1984–1992) *

Emil Guillermo Emil Guillermo is an American print and broadcast journalist, commentator and humorist. His column, "Emil Amok", appeared for more than 14 years in '' AsianWeek''—at one time, the most widely read and largest circulating Asian American newsweekl ...

(1989–1991) * Daniel Zwerdling (1993–1999) *

Lisa Simeone Lisa Simeone (born July 11, 1957) is an American freelance radio host and writer. She is best known for hosting public radio shows such as ''World of Opera'' and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra weekly broadcast series. Early life and education Sim ...

(2000–2002) *

Steve Inskeep Steven Alan Inskeep (; born 1968) is an American journalist who is currently one of the four rotating hosts of ''Morning Edition'' and '' Up First'' on National Public Radio. Prior to being a host of ''Morning Edition'', Inskeep covered the Pentag ...

(2002–2004) * Deborah Elliott (2005–2007) *

Andrea Seabrook Andrea Seabrook (born January 14, 1974) is an American journalist. She is best known for her work in public radio, primarily on NPR and ‘’Marketplace’’. Seabrook was among the first on-air public radio personalities to leave NPR and star ...

(2007–2009) *

Guy Raz Guy Raz (; born November 9, 1975) is an American journalist and podcaster. He formerly hosted NPR's '' Weekend All Things Considered'' and the '' TED Radio Hour''. Early life and education Raz was born in West Covina, California. He graduated ...

(2009–2012) * Arun Rath (2013–2015) *

Michel Martin Michel McQueen Martin is an American journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio and WNET. After ten years in print journalism, Martin has become best known for her radio and television news broadcasting on national topics. Background ...

(2015–2023) * Scott Detrow (2023–present)

Commentators

Joe Bevilacqua Joseph K. Bevilacqua (born January 2, 1959) is an American actor, producer, director, author, dramatist, humorist, cartoonist, and documentarian. Biography Early life Bevilacqua was born on January 2, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, the son of ...

(won 2006 New York Festivals award for ''All Things Considered: a tribute to

Joe Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian immigrants in New York City, Barbera joined Van Be ...

'') * David Budbill *

Alan Cheuse Alan Stuart Cheuse (January 23, 1940 – July 31, 2015) was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and ...

(–2015) *

Andrei Codrescu Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for ...

Vertamae Grosvenor Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor (April 4, 1937 – September 3, 2016) was an American culinary anthropologist, griot, poet, food writer, and broadcaster on public media. Born into a Gullah family in the Low Country of South Carolina, she moved with them ...

Kevin Kling Kevin Kling is an American storyteller and a commentator for National Public Radio. Life and career Kling grew up in Osseo, Minnesota, and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. He began his career i ...

* John McIlwraith (1990–2001) *

Bob Mondello Bob Mondello (born 1949) is an American film critic. Annually, Mondello sees over 300 films, commenting on them on radio, in print, and in speaking engagements at film clubs and public radio presentations. Career Mondello spent more than a decade ...

Daniel Pinkwater Daniel Manus Pinkwater (born November 15, 1941) is an American author of children's books and young adult fiction. His books include ''Lizard Music'', ''The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death'', ''Fat Men from Space'', '' Borgel'', and the p ...

Reynolds Price Edward Reynolds Price (February 1, 1933 – January 20, 2011) was an American poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist and James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University. Apart from English literature, Price had a lifelong interest in Biblical ...

Ralph Schoenstein Ralph Schoenstein (1933 – August 24, 2006) was an American writer and humorist. He was a frequent commentator to NPR's ''All Things Considered''. Schoenstein grew up in Manhattan, and graduated from Columbia University in 1953. He began writing ...

Daniel Schorr Daniel Louis Schorr (August 31, 1916 – July 23, 2010) was an American journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his te ...

(1985–2010) *

Bailey White June Bailey White (born May 31, 1950) is an American author and a regular radio commentator for the National Public Radio program ''All Things Considered''. Biography June Bailey White was born in Thomasville, Georgia, May 31, 1950. She is the da ...

Featured series

From time to time, NPR produces and distributes short series of radio pieces. Series that have aired during the show include: * ''All Tech Considered'' * ''The Changing Face of America'' * ''In Character'' * ''Lost & Found Sound'' * ''The NPR 100'' * ''Prison Diaries'' * ''Teenage Diaries'' * ''

This I Believe ''This I Believe'' was originally a five-minute program, hosted by journalist Edward R. Murrow from 1951 to 1955 on CBS Radio Network. The show encouraged both famous and everyday people to write short essays about their own personal motivati ...

'' * ''Three Books'' * ''Three Minute Fiction'' * ''The Yiddish Radio Project'' * ''You Must Read This'' * ''My Unsung Hero'' * ''Main Character of the Day'' * ''Weekly Dose of Wonder''

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1971 radio programme debuts 1970s American radio programs 1980s American radio programs 1990s American radio programs 2000s American radio programs 2010s American radio programs 2020s American radio programs American news radio programs NPR programs Peabody Award–winning radio programs United States National Recording Registry recordings