Join us for an In Conversation event with author Steve Oney and his new book, On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR! This event is free with books available for purchase. ABOUT THE BOOK: An epic, dishy, character-driven history of NPR–its on-air stars, its biggest shows, its producers, and all the drama, intrigue, and power plays that happened behind the scenes–fourteen years in the making, from journalist Steve Oney. JUICY BEHIND-THE-SCENES TOUR THROUGH FIFTY YEARS OF NPR: Steve Oney makes the characters and crises of NPR come alive while telling the story of America during the last 50 years. Founded in 1970, NPR is America’s most powerful broadcast news network. Shows like All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Fresh Air, Planet Money, 1A, and Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! have reached millions of listeners, making NPR and its hosts into a cultural force and a trusted voice. Oney presents a dramatic character-driven history of this institution, from producers carrying on secret liaisons in the recording booths to foreign correspondents reporting from battlefields. A BOOK THAT WILL DROP JAWS WITH ALL OF THE SEX… DRUGS… TITANIC BEQUESTS… BACK-STABBING… FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT… CAREERISM…: On Air recounts and fills out the real stories behind the headlines that have marked and marred NPR through the ages, from the financial management that nearly killed NPR in 1983, from the brutal and sloppy dismissals of Bob Edwards and Juan Williams, to the $235 million bequest from the estate of Joan B. Kroc (the widow of the founder of McDonald’s) to the slide into alcoholism and the scars of trauma of Anne Garrels, to the ouster of CEO of Vivian Schiller, to the workplace misbehavior of many others. There’s cocaine! There’s sex! There are personal feuds and vendettas! NPR may seem staid, but its history is anything but. A SOBER LOOK AT WHAT THE BEST JOURNALISM TAKES: Beyond the gossip and the dish, On Air chronicles how some of the finest journalists of the last five decades found new and brave ways of telling stories not just with words and stories, but with the atmospherics of sounds. Oney is particularly good at deconstructing the artistry with which Susan Stamberg, Bob Edwards, Renee Montaigne, Anne Garrels, Ira Glass, and many others created and then lifted the audio storytelling formats that are now so ubiquitous in our age of audiobooks and podcasts. FAMOUS ON-AIR PERSONALITIES: From the four leading women who characterized the early decades of NPR–Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Nina Totenberg–to the household names of today like Terry Gross, Scott Simon, and Peter Sagal, figures from NPR’s history populate these pages. You’ll also meet behind-the-scenes workers who played a major role in the network’s success. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Steve Oney is the author of the new book On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR. His first book, And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank,...
