SERIES: HEAT with JOHN HOCKENBERRY

Summary:

Ten hours from the highly acclaimed 1990 series -- Hear why HEAT is a public radio legend.

Website:

http://www.murraystreet.com

Additional Credits and Funding:

Host: John Hockenberry

Repackaging by Eileen Delahunty at WNYC and Steve Rathe // Murray Street for PRX

HEAT with John Hockenberry is a Murray Street Production, (originally produced in association with KQED and WGBH) as heard on NPR. Presented now exclusively on PRX by WNYC, New York Public Radio and PRX. Funds for this redistribution come from WNYC, and the PRX Reversioning Project. Additional support from KQED, Public Radio San Francisco.

Tones:

Engaging, Informational, Intimate

Language:

English

Description:

HEAT -- WITH JOHN HOCKENBERRY

Highlights from the groundbreaking 1990 series.

Funny, tough, smart talk, and music you can dance to. Murray Street's Peabody Award-winning HEAT is back to entertain, engage and encourage publisteners at the end of the day. These ten episodes drawn from our deep archives feature John Hockenberry's new introductions and all the good old sensations.

Each HEAT program is self contained.

License now and receive an ORIGINAL HEAT T-SHIRT, signed by John Hockenberry.

Supplies are limited! More info at http://prx.org/articles/991

**THE HISTORY OF HEAT**
with thanks to everyone who made it possible...

In January of 1986 General Manager Brad Spear at WGBH suggested a collaboration with Murray Street in contemplation of the newly created CPB radio program funding. Steve Rathe and Leslie Peters worked with Spear and WGBH PD Ellen Kraft, adding music director Bob Telson and others to the team.

In August, 1986 HEAT of the Night with Marty Goldenson premiered for two nights on WGBH. The original guest list included: Barbara Ehrenreich, Stanley Aaronowitz, Lionel Tiger, VertaMae Grosvenor, John Pareles, Eric Bogosian, Ellen Goodman. The program subsequently won a Gold Award for programming from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (But no funding from them.)

In 1988 the NEA Media Program, under the leadership of Brian O'Doherty with David Wolfe, made its largest radio grant that year toward production of HEAT. Additional fundraising brought the total to just over half the annual budget and with Wes Horner's encouragement and Peter Pennekamp's activism, NPR committed to providing the balance with the support of the John D and Katherine T. Macarthur Foundation and others..

In February, 1990, HEAT with John Hockenberry -- the largest independently produced program in public radio, was premiered on NPR. The producer for the pilots was Ira Glass. Series producer RJ Cutler joined in March

The series ran from March through October 1990 * (see station list in the Broadcast History section). It received a George Foster Peabody Award in 1991.

Our amazing staff included:

Ted Bonnitt (producer)
Eileen Delahunty (director/ producer)
Ellen Dennis (spoken word producer)
Angela Dryden (broadcast engineer)
Donna Gallers (producer)
Nick Hill (music producer)
Jana Jevnikar (company manager)
Loren Kelly (broadcast engineer)
Brad Klein (producer)
Doug Kolmar (company manager)
Susanna Nicholson (producer)
Marika Partridge (director/ music director)
Steve Rathe (exec. producer)
Joe Richman (producer)
Bob Telson (music director)
Dean Uetake (administrator)
Doris Ung (producer)
Derek Vaillant (producer)

In approximate chronological order these are some of the people who believed in HEAT and made it possible between 1986 and 1990.

D Bradford Spear
Ellen Kraft
Carol Pierson
Marty Goldensohn
Carol Borthwick
David LeValle
David Wolfe
Brian O Doherty
Wesley Horner
Jan Albert
Peter Pennekamp
Douglas Bennet
Ira Glass
Noah Andre Trudeau
Lynda Barry
David Glasser
Michael Schweppe

Thanks to so many artists, writers, actors, politicians, listeners and
participants from across the country who brought their light to HEAT.

The original resources for HEAT provided by Murray Street and WGBH. KQED joined us soon after the pilots and has remained in support of the project to this day.

Brian Doherty and the National Endowment for the Arts made the series of HEAT possible with individual production grants from public radio stations including WBUR, KCRW, WGBH, WBEZ, and KQED.

Additional support from the John D and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation and NPR Cultural Programs.

In April of 1991, six months after the program left the air for lack of funds, HEAT was the recipient of a George Foster Peabody Award "for establishing a benchmark which would be difficult to approach, much less surpass."

Following PRX's initial funds for this repackaging, WNYC (through the efforts of Dean Cappello) has made a mighty contribution in the work of producer Eileen Delahunty - without whom these programs would still be just drying tapes in the New York Public Library and the Museum of TV and Radio. Thank you Eileen.

Thanks to John Barth and Matthew Payne for putting us on the path to revival and thanks to all the staff and interns at Murray Street, and especially to the listeners who let us know we were on the right path.

 -Steve Rathe


I'm sure I've left out a lot of folks in this two decade synopsis, so if you would like to suggest additions or other edits, just drop me a line. <steve@murraystreet.com>

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