Get more out of TED talks with the TED Radio Hour from NPR. Commuters and travellers, rejoice!
Would it be too sacriligeous to say that I sometimes find TED talks boring? Don’t you dare get me wrong, I’ve loved listening to inspiring stories and ideas from interesting speakers like musician Abigail Washburn and chef Dan Barber, but occasionally my mind wanders long before the speaker’s 18 minutes are up. But in a recent exploration of iTunes I stumbled upon the TED Radio Hour from NPR – a podcast that investigates broader themes across years of TED Conferences.
Hosted by American TV and radio journalist (and 90s MTVJ) Alison Stewart, the hour long installment takes an overriding theme, like, where ideas come from, building a better classroom, or the pursuit of happiness for example, and draws on three TED speakers from over a number of years. Stewart interviews the speakers with the conversation interspersed with samples from their talk and other relevant soundscapes. The conversations are low key and Stewart is able to ask further questions and probe premises that might not have been addressed in the original talk, as well as bringing forth new ideas. A favourite of mine is the episode ‘Food Matters’. The hour covers talks from biodiversity expert Cary Fowler, architect Carolyn Steel and most notably a hilarious recount from the aforementined Dan Barber. Barber explains his investigation of sustainable fish farming which is as funny as it is informative.
NPR was founded as a multimedia news and radio producer, but has since grown to become one of the world’s leading online distributors of in-depth, quality news. The podcast is produced in cooperation with TED and can be found in iTunes as a free download. So if you find yourself with an hour long commute each morning, or can’t get to sleep at night, have a listen to any number of TED Radio Hours from NPR.
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