Christopher Lydon

Last updated
Christopher Lydon
Christopher Lydon (1).jpg
Christopher Lydon
Born1940 (age 83–84)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Education Roxbury Latin School
Alma mater Yale University
Occupation(s)journalist, author, broadcaster

Christopher Lydon (born 1940 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American media personality and author. He was the original host of The Connection , produced by WBUR and syndicated to other NPR stations, and created Open Source , a weekly radio program on WBUR.

Contents

Song: "Christopher Lyden" written and recorded by Amanda Palmer.

Education

Lydon is a graduate of Boston's Roxbury Latin School and Yale University.

Journalistic history

Lydon is a former journalist with The New York Times , and anchored The Ten-O'Clock News on WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. After WGBH cancelled its nightly news program, he moved to WBUR, where in 1994 he became host of The Connection. In 2001, he and his longtime producer Mary McGrath were fired after a high-profile contract dispute with WBUR. McGrath's and Lydon's claim, rejected by the station, was that they, not WBUR, were the true creators of The Connection - moving it far beyond the initial WBUR template to become the successful, widely syndicated program. [1]

During his tenure on The Connection, Lydon frequently discussed Internet topics, and his Radio Open Source blog [2] became a launchpad for international broadcasts and other activities. While a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in 2003, Lydon began recording in-depth interviews focused on blogging and politics, posting the downloadable audio files as part of his blog. Dave Winer, also a Berkman Fellow, created an RSS enclosure feed for Lydon's MP3 interview files, an event credited with sparking the growth of podcasting. [3] [4]

Lydon is credited with creating the first podcast ever recorded in July 2003. [5]

He also launched the political site Bopnews (for "Blogging of the President") during the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. [6] [7]

On May 30, 2005, Lydon returned to the air on University of Massachusetts Lowell's radio station WUML and Boston's WGBH with a new show called Open Source, syndicated through Public Radio International. Including a blog and podcast, the program promised to "use blogs to be a show about the world." On October 16, 2006, the Lowell, Massachusetts newspaper The Sun announced that "Radio personality Christopher Lydon's lucrative and controversial contract with UMass Lowell to broadcast an hourlong radio show will not be renewed when it expires in December." [8] Upon notice of the UMass Lowell discontinuance, Lydon began actively seeking new funders for the program. In November 2007, Lydon partnered with Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies to continue producing Radio Open Source. [9]

In 2013, Lydon was often a guest commentator on Thursdays on WGBH Radio's "Boston Public Radio" show. [10] In 2014, Lydon returned to WBUR with a weekly radio program, Open Source. [11]

Politics

Lydon was a candidate for mayor of Boston in 1993. He finished sixth out of eight candidates in the nonpartisan primary. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Massachusetts Boston</span> Public research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The University of Massachusetts Boston is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. UMass Boston is the third most diverse university in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Massachusetts</span> Public university system in Massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses, a satellite campus in Springfield and also 25 campuses throughout California and Washington with the University of Massachusetts Global.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Massachusetts Lowell</span> Public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Massachusetts public university system and has been accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) since 1975. With 1,110 faculty members and over 18,000 students, it is the largest university in the Merrimack Valley and the second-largest public institution in the state. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Kimball</span> American chef, editor, publisher, and radio/TV personality

Christopher Kimball is an American editor, publisher, and radio and TV personality. He is notable as one of the founders of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country and as the creator of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marty Meehan</span> American politician (born 1956)

Martin Thomas Meehan is an American academic administrator, politician, and attorney. Since July 2015, Meehan has served as the President of the University of Massachusetts after serving as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell since September 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WGBH-TV</span> PBS member station in Boston

WGBH-TV, branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WUML</span> Radio station in Lowell, Massachusetts

WUML is a non-commercial college radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The transmitter is atop Fox Hall on Pawtucket Street in Lowell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBUR-FM</span> Public radio station in Boston

WBUR-FM is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Boston University. Its programming is also known as WBUR News. The station is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed programs, including On Point, Here and Now and Open Source. WBUR previously produced Car Talk, Only a Game, and The Connection. RadioBoston, launched in 2007, is its only purely local show. WBUR's positioning statement is "Boston's NPR News Station".

The Connection was a public radio call-in program from WBUR that ran from 1994 to 2005. Originally hosted by Christopher Lydon (1994–2001), and followed by Canadian Dick Gordon (2001–2005), it was syndicated to as many as 66 public radio stations in the United States.

<i>On Point</i> American public radio new show

On Point is a radio show produced by WBUR-FM in Boston, Massachusetts, and syndicated by American Public Media (APM). The show addresses a wide range of issues from news, politics, arts and culture, health, technology, environmental, and business topics, to many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WUMB-FM</span> Public radio station in Boston

WUMB-FM in Boston, Massachusetts, is the radio station of the University of Massachusetts Boston. It broadcasts an Americana/Blues/Roots/Folk mix hosted by its staff weekdays. On weekends the station concentrates on traditional folk, Celtic, blues, and world music including syndicated programs. Overnight programming starting at midnight and usually through 5am is a repeat of a portion of the previous day's programming; an announcement of this fact is made at midnight. The station has received many awards for its folk music programming.

Open Source is an American public radio show hosted by Christopher Lydon, former New York Times journalist and original host of The Connection. The show focuses on the arts, literature, and foreign affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WGBH Educational Foundation</span> Public broadcasting organization in Boston

The WGBH Educational Foundation is an American public broadcasting group based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1951, it holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations in Massachusetts, and operates its flagship station WGBH-TV, sister station WGBX-TV, and a group of NPR member stations in the state. It also owns WGBY-TV in Springfield, which is operated by New England Public Media under a program service agreement.

Podcasts, previously known as "audioblogs", have roots dating back to the 1980s. With the advent of broadband Internet access and portable digital audio playback devices such as the iPod, podcasting began to catch hold in late 2004. Today there are more than 115,000 English-language podcasts available on the Internet, and dozens of websites available for distribution at little or no cost to the producer or listener.

Thomas E. Ashbrook is an American journalist and radio broadcaster. He was formerly the host of the nationally syndicated, public radio call-in program On Point, from which he was dismissed after an investigation concluded he had created a hostile work environment. Prior to working with On Point, he was a foreign correspondent in Asia, and foreign editor of The Boston Globe. He currently hosts a podcast, Tom Ashbrook—Conversations .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Public's Radio</span> Public radio network serving Rhode Island

Rhode Island Public Radio, doing business as The Public's Radio, is the NPR member radio network for the state of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Its studios are in the historic Union Station in downtown Providence. The network airs a format of news and talk from NPR, APM, PRX and other sources, such as Morning Edition, On Point, KERA's Think and All Things Considered, as well as extensive local news coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WGBH (FM)</span> Public radio station in Boston

WGBH is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts. WGBH is a member station of National Public Radio (NPR) and affiliate of Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and American Public Media (APM). The license-holder is WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns company flagship WGBH-TV and WGBX-TV, along with WGBY-TV in Springfield.

While the term "blog" was not coined until the late 1990s, the history of blogging starts with several digital precursors to it. Before "blogging" became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail lists and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). In the 1990s, Internet forum software, such as WebEx, created running conversations with "threads". Threads are topical connections between messages on a metaphorical "corkboard". Some have likened blogging to the Mass-Observation project of the mid-20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audie Cornish</span> American journalist

Audie N. Cornish is an American journalist and a former co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. She is an anchor and correspondent for CNN and the host of The Assignment, a CNN Audio podcast. She was previously the host of Profile by BuzzFeed News, a web-only interview show that lasted one season, as well as NPR Presents, a long-form conversation series with creatives about their projects, processes, and shaping culture in America.

Bill Marx is a theater critic based in Boston, Massachusetts. Marx served as theater and arts critic for WBUR from 1982 to 2006 and as the host of a podcast dedicated to books in translation for WGBH (FM) and Public Radio International's The World from 2007 to 2011.

References

  1. ↑ Dan Kennedy (2009-03-06). "RADIO DRAMAS: Can this marriage be saved?". The Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2006-06-29.
  2. ↑ "Radio Open Source with Christopher Lydon".
  3. ↑ Walsh, Colleen (2011-10-27). "The podcast revolution: Two Berkman fellows helped to make it happen". Harvard Gazette . Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  4. ↑ Doyle, Bob. "Chris Lydon - The First Podcast" . Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  5. ↑ "Web 2.0: First Show!". Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  6. ↑ "The Blogging of the President". Archived from the original on August 10, 2006. Retrieved 2005-03-29.
  7. ↑ "The Blogging of the President: 2004". Minnesota Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22.
  8. ↑ Robert Mills, Sun Staff (2006-10-16). "U-Mass Lowell drops Lydon". The Sun (Lowell). Archived from the original on 2006-10-26.
  9. ↑ "Launching 'Open Source at the Watson Institute'". Watson Institute for International Studies. 2007-11-19. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  10. ↑ "Boston Public Radio - WGBH News". Archived from the original on 2013-08-06.
  11. ↑ Ed Siegel (2013-10-20). "Open Source".
  12. ↑ "Annual Report of the Election Department". Boston (MA) Election Department. 1994-07-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.