Thoughtcast

From Podpedia
ThoughtCast
Presentation
Hosted byJenny Attiyeh
GenreTalk, Education
Publication
Websitehttp://www.thoughtcast.org

ThoughtCast is a Podcast and public radio interview program with authors and academics. The interviews are conducted by Jenny Attiyeh,[1] a former public radio and TV reporter from Manhattan and elsewhere whose previous work focused on covering the arts and ideas. ThoughtCast aims to offer a "bridge between the publications and pursuits of the intellectual world and a curious, informed, mainstream audience."[2] ThoughtCast is marked by its pace and focus: its segments consist of detailed, unhurried and personal conversation with current writers and thinkers.

Range of Guests[edit | edit source]

ThoughtCast thus far has a strong New England emphasis, with a majority of the interviewees being Harvard professors. Guests have ranged from Lisa Randall,[3] the Harvard theoretical physicist; to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen,[4] to Alan Dershowitz,[5] who needs no introduction (he speaks on the subject of pre-emption and the Israel-Hezbollah war); to Sam Huntington[6] of Clash of Civilizations fame, to public radio program directors, to biographers Megan Marshall[7] and Carol Bundy,[8] to philosopher Simon Blackburn,[9] author of the recent book Lust, of Cambridge University, England; to David Weinberger and two other netizens on the Web 2.0 who attended a symposium on social architecture that took place at Harvard Law School.[10]

As of the summer of 2008, ThoughtCast introduced video to its lineup.[11] The video includes interviews with Scottish historian Niall Ferguson on the "American Empire,"[12] Internet gurus on neologisms gleaned from life online, and Joshua Micah Marshall,[13] the creator of Talking Points Memo[14] A conversation on Steve Reich's Different Trains with the Borromeo String Quartet was also picked up by New Hampshire Public Radio.[15] The program examines how Reich, in this challenging composition, compares the train trips he took as a child to the very different train trips Jews were forced to take during the Holocaust.[16]

Means of Distribution[edit | edit source]

ThoughtCast is podcast through the program's Web site and iTunes. The program is also available through the Public Radio Exchange,[17] which provides public radio stations throughout the country the means to broadcast ThoughtCast segments. WGBH, an arts and culture public radio station in Boston, has broadcast many ThoughtCast interviews, and has featured the program on its Forum Network.[18]

Media coverage[edit | edit source]

- PRX reviews of ThoughtCast interviews:

External links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "About Jenny Attiyeh". ThoughtCast.
  2. ↑ "About ThoughtCast". 
  3. ↑ "Lisa Randall, Harvard physicist". ThoughtCast. 
  4. ↑ "Amartya Sen talks about identity and violence". ThoughtCast. 
  5. ↑ "Alan Dershowitz on Preemption and the Hezbollah". ThoughtCast. 
  6. ↑ "Sam Huntington discusses immigration and American identity". ThoughtCast. 
  7. ↑ "The Peabody Sisters — with biographer Megan Marshall". ThoughtCast. 
  8. ↑ "Carol Bundy, Civil War biographer". ThoughtCast.
  9. ↑ "Faith and Philosophy with Harvey Cox and Simon Blackburn". ThoughtCast. 
  10. ↑ "The Web 2.0 and beyond — a conversation". ThoughtCast. 
  11. ↑ "ThoughtCast channel on blip.tv". blip.tv. 
  12. ↑ "Our American "Empire" with Niall Ferguson". ThoughtCast. 
  13. ↑ "More Neologisms with TPM's Josh Marshall". ThoughtCast. 
  14. ↑ Talking Points Memo
  15. ↑ "Taking on 'Different Trains'". NHPR.
  16. ↑ "Steve Reich Meets The Borromeo String Quartet". ThoughtCast. 
  17. ↑ "Thoughtcast host Jenny Attiyeh's profile". PRX. 
  18. ↑ "Arts & Ideas archive". WGBH. 
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