“The Takeaway” debuts Monday on WNYC and elsewhere!

Posted by Maximum Fun on 26th April 2008

I’m looking forward to the launch of a brand-new public radio morning show tommorow, “The Takeaway,” with John Hockenberry and Adoara Udoji.

“The Takeaway” is a co-production of PRI (my distributor), the BBC, WNYC in New York, the New York Times and WGBH in Boston. The goal is, at it’s essence, to provide an alternative to Morning Edition, which is something that I think is desperately needed in public radio. (And to be clear: I like Morning Edition).

When I attended my first public radio conference six months or so ago in Minneapolis, I was really wowed by Hockenberry’s brief talk about how he imagined the show. Expect a program that at least aspires to be truly multi-platform, and focused on the in-depth and analysis, which is exactly what I think public radio does better than any other broadcast outlet.

You can hear the show on WNYC (both AM and FM at different times), on WEAA in Baltimore, and on WGBH in Boston. You can also hear it online at thetakeaway.org. There’s already a sample up at PRI’s site.

Now, just to make this a bit more Maximum Fun-like, I will say that while I was at the conference, I saw Udoji at Saks Off 5th in downtown Minneapolis. I was looking at shirts, and she asked me what shirt size I wore. I told her (16.5×35, if you’re wondering), then told her how much I enjoyed their presentation earlier that day.

“How did you…” she started, confusedly. “OH! You don’t work here!”

Yes, PRI’s new flagship star thought I worked at Saks’ discount store.