All Things Considered

Monday through Friday on News and Talk and News and Classical 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

On May 3, 1971, at 5 p.m., All Things Considered debuted on 90 public radio stations.

In the 40 years since, almost everything about the program has changed, from the hosts, producers, editors and reporters to the length of the program, the equipment used and even the audience.

However there is one thing that remains the same: each show consists of the biggest stories of the day, thoughtful commentaries, insightful features on the quirky and the mainstream in arts and life, music and entertainment, all brought alive through sound.

All Things Considered is the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country. Every weekday the two-hour show is hosted by Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Melissa Block. In 1977, ATC expanded to seven days a week with a one-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays, currently hosted by Guy Raz.

During each broadcast, stories and reports come to listeners from NPR reporters and correspondents based throughout the United States and the world. The hosts interview newsmakers and contribute their own reporting. Rounding out the mix are the disparate voices of a variety of commentators, including Sports Commentator Stefen Fastis, Poet Andrei Codrescu and Political Columnists David Brooks and E.J. Dionne,

All Things Considered has earned many of journalism's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the Overseas Press Club Award.

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Accusations, Investigation Follow Intelligence Leaks

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 3:35 pm

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The Justice Department has launched an investigation to determine the source of a series of leaks about sensitive intelligence matters. President Obama denied his administration authorized the leaks, but some Senate Republicans accused the White House of deliberately leaking the stories in order to boost the president's national security credentials.

Around the Nation

1:43 pm

Sat June 9, 2012

A Damned Dam On The Penobscot River

Credit John Clarke Russ / Bangor Daily News

Next week, the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River in Maine will be removed.

By editor

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 4:41 pm

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Like most members of the Penobscot Nation, Scott Phillips grew up near the Penobscot River and learned to paddle and fish as a young boy. He took to it like a duck to water. He became a competitive racer and eventually opened his own business selling canoes, kayaks and other outdoor gear.

Next week, the first of two dams on the river will be removed, altering the way it's used recreationally. The change could also be a boon to Phillip's business.

1:13 pm

Sat June 9, 2012

Steve Guttenberg Writes His Own 'Bible'

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Credit Warner Bros./Getty Images

Steve Guttenberg (left), Michael Winslow (center) and G.W. Bailey star in 1987's Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, part of the film franchise launched by 1984's Police Academy.

Credit MGM/The Kobal Collection

Steve Guttenberg (left) stars alongside Daniel Stern (center) and Paul Reiser in 1982's Diner, which continues to be one of his most beloved film projects. He sometimes appears as a guest at revival screenings.

By editor

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 4:41 pm

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When Steve Guttenberg was 16, he went to see an agent about starting his acting career.

That agent told him: "You are the last guy I would pick to be a movie star."

Guttenberg decided to become an actor anyway.

The summer before he was supposed to start the University of Albany, he moved from Long Island to Los Angeles to try his luck. Once there, he tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz, he snuck onto the Paramount Studios lot, set up his own office, and started making phone calls to agents and producers.

10:31 am

Sat June 9, 2012

The Movie Jared Harris Has 'Seen A Million Times'

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Credit Columbia / The Kobal Collection / Columbia

Dustin Hoffman in Sydney Pollack's 1982 film, Tootsie.

Credit Frank Ockenfels/AMC / AMC

Jared Harris as Lane Pryce on AMC's "Mad Men"

By editor

Originally published on Sun June 24, 2012 10:28 am

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The Weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

For actor Jared Harris, whose credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and AMC's TV drama Mad Men, the movie he can't get enough of is Sydney Pollack's Tootsie. "It's just so brilliant," says Harris.

9:03 am

Sat June 9, 2012

'Call Me Maybe': Behind The Song Of The Summer

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Carly Rae Jepsen is the 26-year-old singer behind the inescapable pop hit "Call Me Maybe."

By editor

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 8:57 am

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3:14 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

In A Syrian Village, Evidence Of A Slaughter

Credit Edlib News Network / AP

Anti-government protesters in the northern Syrian village of Hass protest on Thursday following the deaths of dozens of civilians a day earlier in the village of Mazraat al-Qubair. The banner reads, "The al-Qubair massacre challenges the world's humanity."

By Deborah Amos

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 7:03 pm

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NPR correspondent Deborah Amos joined U.N. monitors and a small group of journalists Friday who were able to enter the Syrian village of Mazraat al-Qubair, where 78 people, including women and children, were killed on Wednesday by pro-government forces, according to opposition activists.

2:09 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

Disastrous S.D. Flood Caused National Wake Up Call

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Credit Courtesy of Minnelusa Historical Association, Journey Museum

The 1972 flood in Rapid City, S.D., killed 238 people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. The city responded by establishing a no-build zone in the flood plain. Other cities across the country adopted similar policies after the disaster.

Credit Courtesy of Rapid City Public Library/Black Hills Knowledge Network

Two children climb over what remains of a home that has an "All OK" sign in front. The flood caused $165 million of damage to the area.

Credit Courtesy of Rapid City Public Library

This man's jeep was destroyed by the flood. In the bottom photo, he tees off 20 years later on a golf course that was built where his neighborhood used to stand. The city prohibited building in the flood plain after 1972. A gallery of before and after images is here.

By Charles Michael Ray

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 6:57 pm

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Survivors say the wall of water was like a tsunami that destroyed nearly everything in its path as it roared through a Black Hills canyon and into town. The flash flood that hit Rapid City, S.D., on June 9, 1972, was one of the worst floods in U.S. history. It killed 238 people and damaged or washed away more than 1,300 homes.

On Saturday, the city will read the names of those who died and reflect on how the flood changed the way the city and others towns across the country built themselves.

'It Was Hell'

12:41 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

Mexicans Want New Approach To Bloody Drug War

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Credit Christian Palma / AP

A Mexican federal policeman guards the area where dozens of bodies, some of them mutilated, were found on a highway outside the northern Mexican city of Monterrey on May 13. The murders were one of the latest episodes in Mexico's brutal and unrelenting drug war.

Credit Alfredo Estrella / AFP/Getty Images

Mexicans wearing masks of skulls protest against violence in the country, in Mexico City, Nov. 27, 2011. More than 50,000 people have been killed in rising drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006.

By John Burnett

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 3:59 pm

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Second of two parts

Mexicans select a new president on July 1, and they want a leader who can reduce the rampant violence in their country. Warring drug cartels have killed more than 50,000 people in the past 5 1/2 years, while thousands have disappeared and some cities have been turned into lawless zones.

12:30 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

Food Truck Cookbook Tracks Best Meals Served On Wheels

Credit Debbie Elliott / NPR

The crew of Shindigs sets up shop in a parking lot in Birmingham.

By Debbie Elliott

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 3:59 pm

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With recent news that even Paris has one, food trucks are certainly in vogue these days. In the U.S., they're now spreading from the hot scenes in Los Angeles and New York to smaller cities, like Milwaukee and Madison. Even school systems are jumping on the food truck bandwagon.

12:10 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

Is Japanese Dock A Noah's Ark Or A Trojan Horse?

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Credit Jessica Miller / flickr

Among the creatures that survived the trans-Pacific trek aboard the Japanese dock was this sea star, which was found inside the float.

Credit Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation / AP

A large dock washed ashore early Tuesday on Agate Beach in Oregon. The nearly 70-foot-long dock was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean. Marine scientists are worried that invasive species may be among the 100 tons of marine life that traveled aboard the dock.

Credit Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center

Workers from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife remove marine organisms from the dock. Marine biologist John Chapman says the dock may have carried hundreds of species and millions of organisms across the ocean.

Credit Edward Backus / flickr

The dock was encrusted with mussels, barnacles and other marine life from Asia. Marine biologists were surprised to see that coastal creatures survived the trip in the open ocean.

By Christopher Joyce

Originally published on Fri June 8, 2012 3:59 pm

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A bizarre event has drawn scientists to a beach in Oregon — a floating concrete dock from Japan has washed ashore. It had been ripped from its moorings by last year's tsunami and floated across the Pacific.

The dock is encrusted with mussels, barnacles and other marine life from Asia. Scientists are amazed these organisms survived the 14-month voyage, but they're also worried some of these organisms could become pests in U.S. waters.

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2:02 pm

Sat June 9, 2012