Bob Boilen

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Bob Boilen
Bob Boilen 2014.jpg
Bob Boilen (2014)
Born (1953-04-10) April 10, 1953 (age 71)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Career
ShowMy Tiny Morning Show (2021 – present)
Station WOWD-LP
StylePresenter
CountryUnited States
Previous show(s) All Songs Considered (NPR, 2000 – 2023)
Website bobboilen.info

Bob B Boilen (born April 10, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He was the host and creator of NPR's online music show All Songs Considered and the co-creator of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, a series originally conceived of by NPR's Stephen Thompson. He retired from NPR in October 2023 after 35 years.

Contents

Since 2021, Boilen has hosted the weekly show My Tiny Morning Show on WOWD-LP. He will become the station's program director in June 2024.

Career

In 1978, Bob Boilen played synthesizers in the Washington, D.C. band Tiny Desk Unit. They were the first band to ever play the 9:30 Club at the original location at 930 'F' Street. [1] From 1982 to 1986, Boilen filled a variety of roles including composer with Baltimore's Impossible Theater. He also worked as a producer for Channel 50, and produced Science Live for the Discovery Channel. [2] He joined NPR in 1988 and "was hired to work on the flagship news program All Things Considered on a temporary basis. Less than a year later, he became the director of the show". [3] He held that position until 2007. [3] As director, Boilen chose the music between the news stories for that show. Those musical snippets, or "buttons", were the starting point for the creation of the show All Songs Considered in 2000. [4] [3] He then helped create NPR Music in 2007. [3] [5]

Boilen co-created and produced the Tiny Desk Concert series in April 2008 for NPR Music, hosting intimate performances at his desk. The series, curated by Boilen and the team of NPR Music, was inspired by a comment made by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson when he jokingly invited musician Laura Gibson to perform at Bob's desk. The two of them went to see Gibson at a show at South by Southwest in 2008 and the loud crowd made it impossible to hear her. The series is named after the band Boilen played in from 1979 to 1981, Tiny Desk Unit. [6] [1] [7] He retired from NPR on October 2, 2023. [3] [4]

Since August 2021, he has hosted a weekly morning show on WOWD-LP, a low-power FM station in Takoma Park, Maryland. In April 2024, it was announced he would become program director at the station effective June 1, 2024. [8]

Bob Boilen continues to play music with friend Michael Barron; [9] both were founding members of the psychedelic dance band Tiny Desk Unit (1979–1981), for which Boilen played synthesizer. [10] [1] Boilen continues to write music with Barron in a band called Danger Painters and also writes and releases solo music. Boilen also composed the original theme music for Talk of the Nation . [2]

He voiced himself in "Gal of Constant Sorrow", a Season 27 episode of the animated television series The Simpsons . [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>All Songs Considered</i> Music podcast

All Songs Considered is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's All Things Considered director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on All Things Considered. The program has turned into a source of discovery for new music of all genres. In August 2005, the program began podcasting for free. In 2005, it began webcasting and podcasting live concerts from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club, including acts such as Animal Collective, The Decemberists, Neko Case, and Tom Waits.

Stephen Thompson is a host, commentator, writer, and editor for NPR and NPR Music. He is a regular on the NPR podcasts Pop Culture Happy Hour and All Songs Considered, a recurring guest host of NPR's New Music Friday, and also serves as an occasional music commentator for Morning Edition. He created NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts with Bob Boilen in 2008.

Mucca Pazza is an interdisciplinary instrumental music and performance ensemble based in Chicago, USA.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Gibson</span> Musical artist

Laura Anne Gibson is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album Goners was released October 26, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NPR Music</span> American music radio project

NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music discovery. NPR Music offers current and archival podcasts, live concert webcasts, reviews, music lists, news, studio sessions, and interviews to listen to from NPR and partner public radio stations across the country, as well as an index of public radio music stations streaming live on the Internet. There have been two blogs: "Monitor Mix" by Sleater-Kinney musician Carrie Brownstein and the All Songs Considered Blog by Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mdou Moctar</span> Nigerien musician

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Tank and the Bangas is an American musical group based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band won the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest and in November 2019, they were nominated in the Best New Artist category for the 2020 Grammy Awards. They have released three studio albums, Thinktank (2013), Green Balloon (2019), and Red Balloon (2022).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alisa Amador</span> 2022 NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lau Noah</span> Musical artist

Lau Noah is a Spanish self taught multi-instrumentalist and composer. Noah has received international recognition for her way of playing guitar and singing in virtuosic counterpoint, with the Recording Academy describing her as "a musical polymath" She became the first Catalan artist to ever perform on NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Her first LP contains collaborations with artists such as Jacob Collier, Jorge Drexler, Chris Thile, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and many others.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Moore, Marcus J. (April 14, 2016). "How 'All Songs Considered's' Bob Boilen went from Tiny Desk to tastemaker" . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Bob Boilen". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hauser, Christine (2023-09-15). "Bob Boilen, of NPR, to Push Back From His Tiny Desk". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  4. 1 2 Boilen, Bob; Hilton, Robin (October 2, 2023). "Bob Boilen's farewell show: Songs that say 'goodbye'". NPR. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ Bain, Katie (2023-09-13). "'Tiny Desk' Creator Bob Boilen to Leave NPR". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  6. ↑ "Tiny Desk: how NPR's intimate concert series earned a cult following". Vox. 21 November 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020.
  7. ↑ Pinto, Julia (2023-10-02). "'Tiny Desk' Creator Bob Boilen Retires from NPR". SXSW. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  8. ↑ Ross, T. Carter (2024-04-17). "From 'Tiny Desk' to LPFM". Radio World . Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  9. ↑ "home". michaelbarron.info. Michael Barron. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Tiny Desk Unit". lostbands.blogspot.it. June 2006. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ Boilen, Bob (2016-02-18). "So ... I'm Going To Be On 'The Simpsons'". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved 2016-02-18.


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