American radio journalist Neal Conan spoke to a packed crowd at the UC Berkeley J-School recently about international reporting, the importance of public radio and the cancellation of “Talk of the Nation,” a national program for which he served as its radio host from 2001 until the last show June 27, 2013.
“I don’t know what we were doing wrong,” Conan said. “I think they thought canceling ‘Talk of the Nation’ addressed a financial problem. I happen to disagree with them but these are serious people with serious problems. They thought they had to do something and this is what they did.”
Over more than thirty five years with National Public Radio, Neal Conan served as a reporter, editor, producer, news executive. His positions included stints as Bureau Chief in New York and London; he was, at various times, editor, producer and Executive Producer of “All Things Considered,” and, in a temporary capacity, Foreign Editor, Managing Editor, and News Director.
His work has been recognized with Peabody, Armstrong and DuPont-Columbia Awards, among others, for coverage of the Iran-Iraq War and the conflict in Northern Ireland and as part of the teams responsible for live coverage of 9/11, and the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He anchored NPR’s live coverage of major party political conventions, confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominees, and a presidential impeachment.
On a leave of absence in 2000, he worked as the play-by-play announcer of the Aberdeen Arsenal, a team in the independent Atlantic League and wrote a book about his experiences: “Play by Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League.”
Conan departed NPR after the discontinuation of “Talk of the Nation.” Please click on the SoundCloud file above to listen to the full discussion with Conan.
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