Brian Lehrer
Encyclopedia
Brian Lehrer is a radio
talk show
host on New York City
's public radio station WNYC
. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award
-winning program, The Brian Lehrer Show, features interviews with newsmakers and experts about current events and social issues. Lehrer was formerly an anchor and reporter for NBC
Radio Networks, and has been in broadcast journalism for more than 20 years. Lehrer also hosts a weekly tech- and web-oriented television show, BrianLehrer.TV on CUNY TV
.
. While a student there, he hosted a radio program on the college radio station WSUA which has become WCDB Albany.
He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a masters degree in Journalism from Ohio State University
. Lehrer resides in Inwood
, Manhattan
with his wife and two sons.
for leads and guests. He tries to maintain a balance between issues as they affect listeners, and "horse-race" pundit discussions of politics.
(channel 75 on New York City
cable systems). In 2009 the show was nominated for a regional Emmy award (New York Emmy Awards
).
, The New York Sun
, Newsday
, The New York Daily News
, and on Slate.com. His WNYC
commentaries are also distributed globally on the NPR
.org website.
Lehrer was a questioner in the WABC-TV
New York City Mayoral Debates in 1997, 2001, and 2005. He has appeared on television as a commentator on New York 1
, WNET
Channel 13, and CNNfn
, and hosted public affairs shows on WNYC-TV and WNET from 1990-1998.
Lehrer was the recipient of the Associated Press New York Broadcasters "Best Interview" Award in 2000 for an interview with a rape survivor, and in 2001 for his role as moderator on NYC radio of the only mayoral primary debate between Michael Bloomberg
and Herman Badillo
. During his tenure as host of "NPR's On The Media
," the national program was named "Best Weekly Show" by the Public Radio News Directors in 1999.
Lehrer is also an award-winning author and documentary producer. He was awarded the New York Press Club
's "Heart of New York Award" for his documentary on new immigrants Immigrant New York: The Last 20 Years, and a New York Public Library
"Best Books For The Teenaged" award for The Korean Americans.
He currently moderates several major public forums, including The Nation
vs. The Economist
series and the Harper's Forum series, and has moderated or hosted major events for the American Museum of Natural History
and Westinghouse Science Foundation, among others.
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host on New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's public radio station WNYC
WNYC
WNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...
. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
-winning program, The Brian Lehrer Show, features interviews with newsmakers and experts about current events and social issues. Lehrer was formerly an anchor and reporter for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Radio Networks, and has been in broadcast journalism for more than 20 years. Lehrer also hosts a weekly tech- and web-oriented television show, BrianLehrer.TV on CUNY TV
CUNY TV
CUNY TV is a non-commercial Educational-access television cable station in New York City, part of The City University of New York's university system. It provides tele-course programming varying from mathematics, physics and biology to history, art and social studies. It also provides cultural...
.
Biography
Lehrer obtained B.A. degrees in Music and Mass Communications from the State University of New York at AlbanyUniversity at Albany, The State University of New York
The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...
. While a student there, he hosted a radio program on the college radio station WSUA which has become WCDB Albany.
WCDB
WCDB is a college radio station run by students attending The University at Albany in Albany, New York. Located at 90.9 FM WCDB's programming includes a wide range of music, news, sports and public affairs programs...
He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a masters degree in Journalism from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. Lehrer resides in Inwood
Inwood, Manhattan
Inwood is the northernmost neighborhood on Manhattan Island in the New York City borough of Manhattan.-Geography:Inwood is physically bounded by the Harlem River to the north and east, and the Hudson River to the west. It extends southward to Fort Tryon Park and alternatively Dyckman Street or...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
with his wife and two sons.
The Brian Lehrer Show
Lehrer has been hosting his show, originally called On The Line, since its inception in 1989. The format is interviews with newsmakers, combined with listener phone calls. Newsmakers are local, national and international, often authors on book tours, or metropolitan area politicians, including both of New York's senators, and most congress, state and city representatives from the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area. But sometimes guests are less-famous individuals affected by the news, like Brooklyn residents on the site of giant housing developments, or neighbors of noisy Manhattan night clubs. Frequent topics are housing, health care, transportation, education, and other government functions, the arts, the experience of living in New York and the surrounding area, and international affairs, such as the Iraq war or Israel/Palestinian conflict, particularly from a New York perspective. His programs often use The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
for leads and guests. He tries to maintain a balance between issues as they affect listeners, and "horse-race" pundit discussions of politics.
Secrets for producing a talk show
In February 2009, Brian Lehrer Show Executive Producer Nuala McGovern, who was leaving the program, compiled a selection of the greatest moments on the program since she started in 2000, and gave "five secrets for producing a talk show:"- "Accept that you're going to have to break a few eggs in the name of public service." Sometimes you have to ask that tough question "that may not be what the guest wants." For example, in 2003, Lehrer interviewed Iraqi foreign minister Adnan PachachiAdnan PachachiAdnan al-Pachachi or Adnan Muzahim Amin al-Pachachi is a veteran Iraqi politician and diplomat. Pachachi was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq from 1965 to 1967; he again served as Permanent Representative to the UN...
, part of the first provisional government of Iraq. A caller from Iraq said that he would not recognize the Iraqi government because it was installed by the American government. Pachachi answered the question, but angrily responded, "I find it extraordinary that you allow people like that to use these airways." In another example, Lehrer asked Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
, "Why did you deny the state of Florida the right to recount votes in its own state?" This was appropriate, he said, because 75% of the New York vote went for Al Gore in the 2000 election. - "Be ready to turn on a dime." For example, during the New York City blackout, the station's main power went out.
- Screen the call-ins carefully. For example, when a caller said that Senator Hillary Clinton was anti-military and required all the military officers in the White House to wear civilian clothes, not uniforms, McGovern saw that Senator Clinton herself was calling in to deny it.
- "Research" includes getting out and talking to people. "Taxi drivers are a font of information." If a subject provokes discussion, "it's probably going to work on the radio." For example, one successful subject is parenting kids in the City. One successful segment was about a mother who allowed her 9-year-old son to travel alone on the subway.
- "Know thy audience." Audience call-ins are an important resource for good programs. Successful call-ins were about first-time voters, how it is to live with HIV, how religion affects your politics, your environmental sins, losing your job. One listener suggested renaming "Citi Field" to "Debits Field."
CUNY TV show
Lehrer currently hosts a cable TV talk show called BrianLehrer.TV (formerly Brian Lehrer Live) on CUNY TVCUNY TV
CUNY TV is a non-commercial Educational-access television cable station in New York City, part of The City University of New York's university system. It provides tele-course programming varying from mathematics, physics and biology to history, art and social studies. It also provides cultural...
(channel 75 on New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
cable systems). In 2009 the show was nominated for a regional Emmy award (New York Emmy Awards
New York Emmy Awards
The New York Emmy Awards are a division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honoring those in television and advanced media in the New York Metro Area and parts of Connecticut...
).
Other work
Lehrer's op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, The New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, and on Slate.com. His WNYC
WNYC
WNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...
commentaries are also distributed globally on the NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
.org website.
Lehrer was a questioner in the WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
New York City Mayoral Debates in 1997, 2001, and 2005. He has appeared on television as a commentator on New York 1
NY1
NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...
, WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
Channel 13, and CNNfn
CNNfn
CNNfn was a U.S. cable television news network operated by the CNN subsidiary of the media comglomerate Time Warner from December 29, 1995 and of AOL-Time Warner until December 15, 2004. The network was dedicated to covering financial markets and business news.It was available in a number of...
, and hosted public affairs shows on WNYC-TV and WNET from 1990-1998.
Lehrer was the recipient of the Associated Press New York Broadcasters "Best Interview" Award in 2000 for an interview with a rape survivor, and in 2001 for his role as moderator on NYC radio of the only mayoral primary debate between Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and Herman Badillo
Herman Badillo
Herman Badillo is a Bronx, New York politician who has been a borough president, United States Representative, and candidate for Mayor of New York City. He was the first Puerto Rican to be elected to these posts and be a mayoral candidate in the continental United States.-Early years:Badillo was...
. During his tenure as host of "NPR's On The Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
," the national program was named "Best Weekly Show" by the Public Radio News Directors in 1999.
Lehrer is also an award-winning author and documentary producer. He was awarded the New York Press Club
New York Press Club
The New York Press Club is a membership organization of and for journalists and media professionals in the New York City metropolitan area. The club is a private, non-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any government office or agency and does not advocate or participate in any political...
's "Heart of New York Award" for his documentary on new immigrants Immigrant New York: The Last 20 Years, and a New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
"Best Books For The Teenaged" award for The Korean Americans.
He currently moderates several major public forums, including The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
vs. The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
series and the Harper's Forum series, and has moderated or hosted major events for the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
and Westinghouse Science Foundation, among others.