Upstart Radio Program Looks To Challenge NPR's "Morning Edition"

Just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday, in a spacious but dilapidated studio belonging to WNYC in New York, a veteran public radio broadcaster named John Hockenberry put down his pages of notes, raised two fists to the sky, and shouted something that only he and his co-host, Adaora Udoji, could hear.

It was a gesture that suggested triumph and energy, nervousness and impatience, all at once. Then the "On Air" button turned red, and Mr. Hockenberry, whose new public radio show is called "The Takeaway," began speaking into his microphone, talking to listeners at the 15 public radio stations that have so far agreed to carry the show.

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Comments

[SwampFox]

Let's see... Morning Edition doubled its audience in the nineties. Then they fired Bob Edwards. Since then, ratings have been flat. Coincidence, I'm sure. NPR management decided they needed to freshen up ME so they brought in Steve Inskeep and Rene Montagne with a format more like All Things Considered (or The Today Show, or The View or ...). Listeners revolted, and NPR management's response was "So? They'll come back." For a few years Inskeep/Montagne were just okay -- absolutely no Edwards, but not awful either. But lately Inskeep has started sounding like he's auditioning for a CNN anchor spot. His personal asides after stories are increasingly trite and annoying. Like a CNN anchor. Hope he jumps to CNN. I haven't contributed to my public radio station since Edwards was fired, and I don't intend to until NPR figures out that they screwed up.

[Marlyn]

Sam Seder will be on Air America Radio today (May 5), 3 to 6 pm Eastern.

[kentay305]

the thing that seperates NPR from most programs is the balance of the actual recordings that are part of their stories and the people they effect are actually used in the report. just like a tv news program but not spliced and manipulated to lead a listener to a story. now if NPR would change that...it was be the start of their demise...

[Indubio]

I've listened to Morning Edition on a more or less regular basis for perhaps 20 years but when NPR executives decided to "freshen up" NPR, and, replaced Bob Edwards with Steve Inskeep and Rene Montagne they committed a serious blunder. Edwards is perhaps one of the finest interviewers working today and Inskeep and Montagne combined are no replacement.

I am unfamiliar with Hockenberry but if were to stop listening to Morning Edition it would be for "The Bob Edward's Show" on the XM Radio network...I hope XM merges with Sirius so I can once again listen to Bob! Who is John Hockenberry? He has won four Emmy awards and three Peabody Awards, and, he's a Distinguished Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab...hardly light weight qualifications and not the qualifications of a someone incomptent or out to lunch.

[ohiomark]

What are they saying here......that they have 12 listeners instead of 9?

[dadw5boys]

If NPR would drop Rush Limburger I would donate more.

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

Substantiate that one for me? I will give you a hint: Clear Channel.....

[wigcon]

John Hockenberry is a weirdo. Before you jump on the bandwagon look into his self-admitted weirdoness.

[Puller58]

They'll probably do as well as Air America.

[UnbiasView]

Meaning they will fail?

[raker]

Some NPR programs are interesting and pleasure to listen to, while others (most) are hosted by people with idiosyncratic speaking styles. Some sound like they're holding their noses to disguise their voices, and there's the one who leans into the mike each time he needs to take a breath, smacks his lips and inhales audibly. Ghastly. Worst are the many newer shows featuring people who sound like bored teenagers, squeezing thin voices through constricted windpipes as they listlessly read their copy. I'll listen to the NPR morning show that sounds least odd.

[DesertLight]

One would only listen to NPR raidio if he/she lived out in the middle of bum fuss Egypt and that is the only station they got.

[PoMoXian]

Good idea. I hope my local public station picks it up. I like NPR's lack of commercials and blatant idiocy, but I'm pretty bored with the tone and content of Morning Edition. Too often I want to listen to something interesting on my way to work but there's this damned "blandness" rut they've fallen into and so I wind up listening to a podcast or even Mike and Mike (sports radio) instead.

[seventhsonspeaks]

because the news is supposed to be exciting? why not just watch CNN or Fox?