There is no greater opening to possibility than the birth of an idea, created out of inspired imagination and spread far and wide at the speed of light. It is with total delight that we announce the TED Radio Hour. "Talks" from the legendary TED stage are coming to radio for the first time and in a new format that will intrigue curious listeners and stir the imagination.

Each year, TED hosts the world's most fascinating thinkers - convention-breaking mavericks, icons, and geniuses - who give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less about the best ideas in Technology, Entertainment, Design and much more. Through this exciting co-production between TED and NPR, each episode will focus around a theme (such as "Happiness") and TEDTalks that put ideas about the theme through the paces.

But the TEDTalks are just a launching point. Woven into and around a Talk, we'll layer in innovative soundscapes that bring ideas to life and break-off into conversation with the original speakers to probe why an idea made waves, got inside people's heads, and provoked excitement. Sometimes only portions of the original TEDTalk is played; other times you hear them almost in their entirety. Each approach to every idea is different, yet fascinating listening and great radio.

The TED Radio Hour will offer a fresh step back from the frenetic pace of news. By pulling back from immediate events to explore the ideas underlying them, a whole new, connected picture opens up. And, for the most part, it's hopeful: astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, new ways to teach and learn. Through this series, public radio stations will offer the one gift that you can hang onto even after you've given it away -- the magic of an idea worth spreading.

TED Radio Hour is hosted by the gifted Alison Stewart, and produced by public radio Ace Jeff Rogers (Day To Day and All Things Considered).