About the Show

NPR’s On Point is now carried by 230 stations nationwide, with a weekly audience of 1.2 million.

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On Point is simply great radio — topical, compelling, intelligent. Whether it’s as a guest or a listener, I never miss it.”

-Matthew Continetti, opinion editor, The Weekly Standard

“…One of my favorite radio shows: NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.”

-Arianna Huffington, cofounder, Huffington Post

“…Hands down one of the finest interviewers on radio and TV, period.”

-KCLU-California General Manager Mary Olson

Hosted by award-winning journalist Tom Ashbrook, On Point is broadcast for two hours daily across the country on NPR. The show’s lively conversation covers everything from breaking news to ancient poetry, and features writers, politicians, journalists, artists, scientists and ordinary citizens from around the world.

Principals of "The Social Network" film. Left to right: Aaron Sorkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Armie Hammer, Tom Ashbrook, Sept. 22, 2010. (WBUR)

Broadcast live from 10 a.m. to noon ET, with listener call-in, from WBUR in Boston, the show airs again throughout the day and evening on more than 210 NPR stations coast to coast. (To find out what’s on tomorrow, sign-up for WBUR’s free newsletter: WBUR Tomorrow.)

Members of the play "Stick Fly." Left to right: Rosie Benton, Nikkole Salter, playwright Lydia Diamond, and Tom Ashbrook. (WBUR/Jesse Costa)

On Point staff

Tom Ashbrook is On Point’s host and managing editor. Jack Beatty, On Point’s news analyst, appears each Friday on our Week in the News roundtable and on other shows throughout the week.

On Point’s senior producer is Karen Shiffman. Our team of producers includes Julie Diop, Pien Huang, Stefano Kotsonis, Alex Kingsbury, and Sam Gale Rosen.  On Point’s director is Eileen Imada and our technical director is James Ross.

If you are a program director interested in learning more about On Point, please call us at 617-358-1468.

ONPOINT
TODAY
Feb 8, 2012
People wait in line during a job fair for Home Depot at the WorkSource Oregon Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, in Tigard, Ore. (AP)

We are so ready for economic recovery. But doomsayers are still warning of doom, and soon. We’ll get that view, and the sunny side.

Feb 8, 2012
In this 2009 photo provided by the National Park Service, a Burmese python is wrapped around an American alligator in Everglades National Park, Fla. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP)

Burmese pythons, slithering all over the Florida Everglades. We’ll get up close with the cost of the python takeover.

RECENT
SHOWS
Feb 7, 2012
Two children are pulled on a sledge in a park, in Ghent, Belgium, Sunday Feb. 5, 2012. (AP)

No two countries do it alike. The French have their own rules. We’ll look at bringing up baby around the world.

 
Feb 7, 2012
Committees in Syria, anti-Syrian regime protesters, burn tires and wave Syrian revolution flag during a demonstration in the suburb of Daraya, Damascus, Syria, on Saturday Feb. 4, 2012. (AP)

The body count surges in Syria. The US closes its embassy. Russia and China have the West fuming over their UN veto. Where is this headed?

On Point Blog
On Point Blog
Poet Wislawa Szymborska
Friday, Feb 3, 2012

Nobel-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska died Wednesday at the age of 88.

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4 Comments
 
Riffing On Disgust
Wednesday, Feb 1, 2012

We hope that all of our shows make you think. But for one of our listeners named Meg, our hour on the science of disgust with author Rachael Herz proved especially provocative.

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My Kodak Moment
Friday, Jan 20, 2012

The photo won that contest, and then a national one as well. Soon, Diane’s picture popped up in photo frames and on packages of Kodak film.

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3 Comments