Fascinatingly, WNYC does not seem to treat Jad [Abumrad] and Robert [Krulwich] as their resident geniuses. WNYC likes them fine. It supported their work before anyone was noticing. And all credit to WNYC for being one of the very few public radio stations who see it as part of their mission to invest in innovative new shows like this and Studio 360 and The Takeaway. But the two guys who are rethinking and reinventing American radio don’t seem to be a big part of the station’s identity. Perhaps inevitably, it’s the daily talk show hosts (and especially the very skillful Brian Lehrer), who log so many more hours on the air, who define that. Meanwhile, around the country, public radio managers seem to appreciate the show and to understand that Jad and Robert are trying something new, but often they broadcast Radiolab at marginal times without the kind of heavy promotion that might befit the most groundbreaking, audience-friendly show of the last decade. (Though to be fair, because Radiolab is not in weekly production, it can be hard to schedule effectively.) The fact that it took the Peabody Awards committee so many years to figure out that Radiolab deserved that honor is a sign that a lot of people used to a more mainstream media sort of excellence don’t always apprehend what’s so special about Radiolab. Sometimes it seems like the only people who understand how terrific the show is, are listeners. When I meet public radio fans, and we get to talking about what programs they’re liking these days, Radiolab is the program they want to gush about.
