THE FIRST FORTY YEARS

Shiny little platters. Not even five inches across. How could they possibly

contain the soundtrack of four decades? How could the phone calls, the

encounters, the danger, the desperation, the exhilaration and big, big

laughs from two score years be compressed onto a handful of CDs?

If you’ve lived with NPR, as so many of us have for so many years, you’ll

be astonished at how many of these reports and conversations and

reveries you remember—or how many come back to you (like familiar

songs) after hearing just a few seconds of sound. And you’ll be amazed

by how much you’ve missed—loyal as you are, you were too busy that

day, or too distracted, or out of town, or giving birth (guess that falls

under the “too distracted” category). Many of you have integrated NPR

into your daily lives; you feel personally connected with it. NPR has

gotten you through some fairly dramatic moments. Not just important

historical events, but personal moments as well. I’ve been told that a

woman’s terror during a CAT scan was tamed by the voice of Ira Flatow

on Science Friday being piped into the dreaded scanner tube.

INTRODUCTIONby Susan Stamberg

So much of life is here. War, from the horrors of Vietnam to the brutalities

of Iraq. Politics, from the intrigue of Watergate to the drama of the Anita

Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy. And raw emotion, from heroics and

heartbreak in New York on 9/11 to a couple in Chengdu, China searching

for their family in the rubble of a devastating earthquake. There are aural

salutes to creativity— from the outrageous Little Richard to the unique

observations of David Sedaris. Whimsy is here too—or at least evidence

that we’re not always so serious: wander into a dark closet to see if

Wint-O-Green® Life Savers® make sparks when chewed. Get driving

lessons from Click and Clack. Try to keep a straight face when Dame

Edna takes over the microphone.

These slices of life from radio—that most intimate medium—are

first-draft accounts, in sound, of four decades of history. On radio—

that evanescent medium—they came to life, then disappeared. Now,

on these CDs, all the extraordinary people and places and sounds

and sagas come back again, make grand reappearances, and help

us remember where we were when... and how NPR let us experience

and understand it.

I’ve always felt that my microphone was a kind of magic wand, waved

against silence. With it, I could bring pieces of days and ideas and

explanations to my listeners. All of the radio broadcasters on these

CDs wield such wands. With them, and through the particular magic

that is radio, they’ve caught stories that might not have been told. Now,

here, the stories are told again. And again and again, if you should wish!

Susan Stamberg, Terry Gross, Ivan Watson

Jean Cochran, President Carter & Corey Flintoff, Alex Chadwick & Lynn Neary, Daniel Schorr

Nina Totenberg, Renée Montagne & Steve Inskeep, All Things Considered 1974

Peter Breslow, Robert Siegel, Noah Adams & Linda Wertheimer, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Guy Raz

Michele Norris, Renée Montagne, Cokie Roberts, Linda Wertheimer, Peter Sagal & Carl Kasell

Nina Totenberg, Scott Simon

David Folkenflik, Robert Siegel,Jay Kernis, Michele Norris

Michel Martin, Elizabeth Blair,Cookie Monster, Cokie Roberts,

Tom Gjelten

Scott Simon, Alex Chadwick,Carl Kasell, Anne Garrels,

Scott Simon

NPR Board of Directors 1970s,Ari Shapiro, Linda Wertheimer,

Ira Flatow, Melissa Block

Susan Stamberg, Bob Boilen, Carl Kasell, Peter Sagal,

Christopher Joyce

Tom Gjelten, Ravi Shankar& Susan Stamberg

THE FACES OF NPR

7 AftermathofThreeMileIsland(7:45)All Things Considered, April 8, 1979 Cokie Roberts drives to the heart of the disaster, where she encounters a grave uncertainty faced by many victims of the unprecedented nuclear accident.

8 JohnHenryFaulkontheBicentennial(4:25)Celebration ‘76, July 4, 1976 A master storyteller and First Amendment advocate reflects on America’s bicentennial.

9 PickleRanch:FamilyRun(4:38)All Things Considered, May 14, 1979 Scott Simon reports from Eastern Michigan on a very special ranch in the heart of pickle country.

10 LifeattheSouthPole(12:45)

All Things Considered, December 19, 1979 Ira Flatow ventures to Antarctica, where important research is carried out under extreme conditions.

11 Sunset(4:24)All Things Considered, June 10, 1971 Mike Waters equates the glories of an evening sunset with a theatrical production, and gives it a glowing review.

1 IntroductionbySusanStamberg(1:43)

2 MayDayDemonstrationinWashingtonAgainsttheVietnamWar (11:01)All Things Considered, May 3, 1971The very first broadcast of All Things Considered featured eyewitness accounts of the largest antiwar protest in the history of Washington, DC.

3 LifeSavers®GiveOffSparks(4:04)All Things Considered, July 26, 1979 In the name of science, Susan Stamberg and Ira Flatow famously put a long-running debate to rest.

4 SpecialCoverageofPresidentNixon’sResignation(4:26)All Things Considered, August 8, 1974 Susan Stamberg and Mike Waters host a live call-in show as citizens share divided views in reaction to the news of President Nixon’s resignation.

5 NaziDemonstrationatMarquettePark(8:44)All Things Considered, July 9, 1978 Scott Simon reports from the scene of a Nazi march in Chicago, IL.

6 RobertKrulwichandthe$5Bill(6:13)All Things Considered, January 5, 1977 Robert Krulwich takes a hard-boiled look at the secrets buried within the fabric of the inconspicuous Lincoln note.

1970sCD 1

7 YuppieAnguish:AConceptforthe‘80s(2:29)All Things Considered, July 9, 1985Ian Shoales of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theatre ponders the phenomenon of materialism, yuppies and Madonna.

8 JimCrow:BlacksSurvivedwithDignity(2:40)All Things Considered, January 15, 1984 Commentator Vertamae Grosvenor talks about growing up during segregation.

9 ChallengerDisaster(2:32)All Things Considered, February 20, 1986 Daniel Zwerdling reports on efforts by Morton Thiokol rocket engineers to abort the ill-fated Challenger mission.

10 RogerBoisjoly,MortonThiokolEngineer(4:40)All Things Considered, April 16, 1987 Howard Berkes speaks to Roger Boisjoly, one of the Morton Thiokol engineers who tried to stop the Challenger launch.

11 Goodbye,Saigon(25:35)All Things Considered, April 29, 1985 Remembrances of the fall of Saigon from those who managed the difficult evacuation, and those who were left behind.

1 IntroductionbyNoahAdams(1:06)

2 WatchingaSolarEclipsewithYourHeadinaBox(3:11)All Things Considered, May 30, 1983 Susan Stamberg and Noah Adams take a cardboard box to the roof of NPR headquarters to watch a solar eclipse.

3 RevolutioninPrague(13:02)Weekend Edition Saturday, December 9, 1989 Alex Chadwick captures the spirit of the Czechoslovakians in his eyewitness account of the Velvet Revolution.

4 FridayswithRed:ARetrospective(3:25)Morning Edition, November 5, 1999 Walter “Red” Barber spent decades calling baseball games and cat-bird fights, and most of the 1980s visiting with Bob Edwards on Morning Edition.

5 Miniskirt:FashionIndustryMistake(3:12)Morning Edition, March 11, 1988 Nina Totenberg trains her legal eye on the latest fashion transgression.

6 LittleRichard,theQuasarofRock(5:23)Morning Edition, October 5, 1984 Bob Edwards interviews musical legend Little Richard.

1980sCD 2

7 PresidentClintonInterview(4:45)All Things Considered, January 21, 1998 Robert Siegel and Mara Liasson talk with President Bill Clinton about allegations that he had an affair with a White House intern—and a possible cover-up.

8 ObjectsofAffection(3:54)All Things Considered, August 19, 1998 Inspired by the necktie given as a gift from Monica Lewinsky to President Clinton, Steve Inskeep explores what other people do with the presents they receive from former spouses and lovers.

9 �ChrisRockInterview(7:09)Fresh Air with Terry Gross, February 6, 1997 Terry Gross sits down with cutting-edge comedian Chris Rock and sheds some light on what makes the funny man tick.

10 AdolescenceinWar-TornBosnia(8:18)All Things Considered, August 26, 1993 Irena Milic introduces Scott Simon to the social and psychological hurdles a teenage girl faces living in a war zone.

11 SantalandDiaries(8:52)Morning Edition, December 23, 1992 David Sedaris makes a special connection with NPR listeners when he shares his misadventures as a Christmas elf.

1 IntroductionbyRenéeMontagne(:44)

2 DrivingLessonwithClickandClack(7:09)Weekend Edition, June 22, 1996 Car Talk’s Tom and Ray Magliozzi let student driver Scott Simon take the wheel as they share some laughs—and a few rules of the road.

3 ClarenceThomasAccusedofSexualHarassment(7:59)Weekend Edition Sunday, October 6, 1991 Nina Totenberg breaks a story that dominated the headlines in the ‘90s and continues to affect the nomination process of potential Supreme Court justices.

4 PromNight(8:51)All Things Considered, June 21, 1994 Ira Glass tags along with a group of students taking part in the great American rite of passage—prom night.

5 DorothyWestandtheHarlemRenaissance(9:58)All Things Considered, March 6, 1995 Susan Stamberg revisits the remarkable career of Dorothy West and tours Martha’s Vineyard with the island’s most illustrious woman of letters.

6 RwandaCarnageClaimsOver500,000Lives(9:57)All Things Considered, June 13, 1994 A country of killers and a country of victims. Rural residents, both Hutu and Tutsi, offer some perspective on a society in crisis.

1990sCD 3

8 WarUpdate:ViewfromBaghdad(4:37)All Things Considered, April 9, 2003 Anne Garrels witnesses the transition of power as U.S. Marines sweep into the city, topple Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and leave Iraqis with mixed emotions.

9 Katrina:TheChertoffInterview(5:53)All Things Considered, September 1, 2005 Robert Siegel presses Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for answers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

10 StuckandSuicidalinPost-KatrinaTrailerPark(7:33)All Things Considered, August 7, 2007 Two years after Hurricane Katrina, families are desperate to leave a FEMA trailer park deep in the Mississippi woods that was intended as their temporary home.

11 AprilFool’s:NewEnglandSuffersMapleWoes(8:05)All Things Considered, April 1, 2005 A downturn in the maple syrup market has had unbelievably volatile results for some hardworking tree-tappers in Vermont.

12 CoupleFrantictoFindLovedOnesinRubble(9:33)All Things Considered, May 14, 2008 A couple works desperately to reach their parents and young child, still trapped in the rubble of China’s devastating earthquake.

13 Safety,ProsperityReturntoAfghanVillage(8:00)Morning Edition, October 20, 2006 Renée Montagne finds calm in Istalif, the center of Afghanistan’s pottery industry, where international aid has been used to improve lives.

1 IntroductionbyGuyRaz(1:23)

2 PlanetMoney:GiantPoolofMoney(10:09)All Things Considered, May 9, 2008 Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg explain how rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the U.S. became a global financial crisis.

3 ABitofaChatwithDameEdna(11:15)Weekend Edition Saturday, January 25, 2003 Self-described “megastar” and “advisor to royalty,” Dame Edna Everage takes a break from her tour to talk with “little” Scott Simon.

4 ChangeHasCome(2:46)Weekend Edition Sunday, November 9, 2008 Daniel Schorr marks the 2008 presidential election by providing some historical context—and some emotional perspective.

5 VernonJordanonPolitics,ObamaandCivilRights(4:09)Tell Me More, November 19, 2008 From civil rights attorney to White House advisor, Vernon Jordan looks back on his amazing career and the role of leaders on our nation’s journey to equality for all.

6 September11,2001 (:49) 9 a.m. Newscast Carl Kasell’s initial report on the September 11th attacks.

7 StoryCorps:Wives,Daughters,Mothers(3:27)Morning Edition, September 8, 2006 Monique Ferrer remembers her ex-husband Michael Trinidad, a victim of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.

2000sCD 4

1 NPR West Bureau: Patti Neighmond; Ina Jaffe; Leo del Aguila; Renée Montagne & Mandalit del Barco, 1995

2 Maury Schlesinger, 1981

3 Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson, 2008

4 Jay Kernis

5 Mara Liasson, 1994

6 All Things Considered Staff 1989

7 David Isay, 1996

8 Noah Adams, 2001

9 All Things Considered Hosts, 1987

10 Ellen Weiss, 1985

11 Jason Beaubien, 2008

12 Josh Darsa

13 Bob Edwards & Carl Kasell, 1981

14 Ira Flatow, 1974

15 Ari Shaprio, 2006

16 Elizabeth Arnold, 1999

17 Chicago Bureau Staff 1980

18 Jay Allison

19 Brendan Banaszak & Melissa Block, 2008

20 Richard L. Harris & Ira Glass, 1986

21 Robert Siegel & Neal Conan, 1986

22 Anne Garrels, 1989

23 Ralph Wood

24 Switching Console

25 Don Gonyea & Andrea Seabrook

26 Linda Wertheimer & Kris Mortensen

27 Linda Wertheimer

28 Alan Berlow, Cadi Simon, Ted Clark & John Dinges, 1987

29 Juan Williams, 2007

30 Leo del Aguila & Scott Simon, 1984

THE FACES OF NPR*

*Dates provided when available.

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

THE FACES OF NPR* 31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40 41 42

43 44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53 54

55 56 57 58 59 60

31 Robert Siegel, 2008

32 Jay Kernis, 1978

33 Michele Norris, 2007

34 Anne Garrels, 2003

35 Scott Simon, 2002

36 Renée Montagne & Steve Inskeep

37 Elizabeth Blair, 2008

38 Cookie Monster, 2008

39 Cokie Roberts

40 Nina Totenberg

41 Ravi Shankar & Susan Stamberg

42 Carl Kasell, 1977

43 Alex Chadwick, 1988

44 Frank Deford, 2009

45 Reel-to-Reel Tapes

46 John Hockenberry

47-8 Renée Montagne

49 Ari Shaprio, 2008

50 Linda Wertheimer, 1983

51 Ira Flatow & Penguins, 1979

52 Melissa Block, 2003

53 Jean Cochran, 2002

54 Tom Gjelten, 1994

55 Bob Boilen, 2004

56 Carl Kasell, 2004

57 Peter Sagal, 2004

58 Susan Stamberg, 1975

59 Christopher Joyce, 2006

60 Guy Raz, 2002

*Dates provided when available.

61 Linda Wertheimer & Manoli Wetherel, 1985

62 Jacki Lyden, 2003

63 Mara Liasson, President Bill Clinton, Michael Cullen & Margaret Low Smith, 1998

64 Paula Poundstone & Roy Blount, Jr.

65 Bill Drummond, 1984

66 Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, 2007

67-8 Art Silverman, 1978

69 Bob Edwards & Carl Kasell, 1973

70 David Folkenflik, 2008

71 Steve Inskeep, 2003

72 Michele Norris & Don Gonyea, 2009

73 Ray & Tom Magliozzi & Scott Simon

74 Leo del Aguila, 1999

75 Susan Stamberg

76 Bob Boilen, 2008

77 The Kitchen Sisters, 1979

78 Bruce Wahl & Crew

79 Michele Norris, 2008

80 Art Silverman, 1986

81 Stephen Thompson & Lars Gotrich

82 Patrick Jarenwattananon & Mike Katzif

83 All Things Considered Staff, 1981

84 Ken Rudin, 1981

85 Daniel Schorr, 2006

86 Renée Montagne, 2007

87 Terry Gross & Ray Suarez, 1996

88 Guy Raz, 2003

89 Linda Wertheimer

90 Susan Stamberg, 1979

THE FACES OF NPR* 61 62 63 64 65 66

67 68 69 70 71 72

73 74 75 76 77 78

79 80 81 82 83 84

85 86 87 88 89 90

*Dates provided when available.

91 Melissa Block, 2004

92 Nina Totenberg, 1980

93 Susan Stamberg, 1982

94 Terry Gross, 2004

95 Ivan Watson, 2004

96 Julie McCarthy, 1997

97 Tom Bowman, 2006

98-9 Tom Gjelten, 1987

100 Alex Chadwick & Lynn Neary, 1985

101 Daniel Schorr, 1987

102 Michel Martin, 2007

103 President Carter & Corey Flintoff

104-5 Tom Bullock

106-7 All Things Considered Staff, 1974

108 Scott Simon, 1979

109 Peter Breslow, 2006

110 Robert Siegel, 1980

111 Noah Adams & Linda Wertheimer

112 Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

113 Guy Raz, 2007

114 NPR Board of Directors 1970s

115 Michele Norris, 2008

116 Renée Montagne, 2002

117 Cokie Roberts, 1980

118 Linda Wertheimer, 1980

119 Peter Sagal & Carl Kasell

120 Scott Simon, 2008

THE FACES OF NPR* 91 92 93 94 95 96

97 98 99 100 101 102

103 104 105 106 107 108

109 110 111 112 113 114

115 116 117 118 119 120

*Dates provided when available.