Neal Conan
Award winning journalist Neal Conan was the final host of Talk of the Nation, which broadcast its final show on June 27, 2013.
Conan brought decades of news and radio experience to the program, which reached over 3.5 million listeners per week on more than 400 NPR member stations. The program featured the popular Political Junkie segment on Wednesdays, with the irrepressible Ken Rudin.
A familiar voice, Conan joined NPR in 1977, and worked as a reporter based in New York, Washington and London. He served as NPR's Bureau Chief in both New York and London and anchored live coverage of many live events, including national political conventions, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees and a presidential impeachment. For five years, he hosted Weekly Edition: The Best of NPR News. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Conan played a major role as an anchor of NPR's continuous live coverage, a role he reprised during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, he hosted the first radio-only presidential candidates' debate since 1948.
On the other side of the microphone, Conan has also served as editor, producer, and executive producer of NPR's flagship evening newsmagazine, All Things Considered and, at various times, acted as NPR's foreign editor, managing editor, and news director.
Conan's awards include a Major Armstrong award for his coverage of the Iran-Iraq War, a prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award as part of NPR's coverage of the Gulf War, another duPont and a George Foster Peabody Award for his part in NPR's Coverage of Sept. 11 and yet another duPont for NPR's coverage of the war in Iraq. During his time at All Things Considered, the program won numerous awards, including the Washington Journalism Review's Best in the Business award.
During the 2000 baseball season, Conan took a leave of absence from NPR News to work as the play-by-play announcer for the Aberdeen Arsenal of the independent Atlantic League. He filed a series of commentaries about life on the fringe of professional sports for Morning Edition and later wrote a book about his experiences, Play By Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League.
Conan tours nationally with Ensemble Galilei as the narrator and host of A Universe of Dreams, which features images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and First Person: Seeing America, which features selected images from the photography collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Conan was born in Beirut, Lebanon.
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"I still feel a special bond with those listeners, as we reached out to each other across the loneliness of the night and the open spaces of a world remade." -
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota has died at age 89. His surprising showing in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary helped end President Lyndon Johnson's political career. McCarthy's fresh approach to national issues stirred a small army of volunteers. -
President Bush sends 7,000 active duty troops to the Gulf Coast region, and the Pentagon will deploy another 10,000 National Guard members in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The president will return to the region on Monday.
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Sen. John Kerry concedes the state of Ohio's 20 electoral votes, solidifying President Bush's victory in the election. Kerry and his running-mate, Sen. John Edwards, had been reluctant to bow out of the race. Hear NPR's Ron Elving and NPR's Neal Conan.
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President Ronald Reagan has died at 93 of pneumonia after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He gained the White House after defeating President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 general election. Reagan ushered in a Republican conservative political revolution that insisted, in his words: "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." He survived an assassination attempt and the Iran-Contra scandal to serve two terms as president. He virtually disappeared from public life after revealing his illness in 1994. Hear NPR's Neal Conan.
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Explosions rock Baghdad as a U.S. and British aerial attack gets under way with a heavy barrage. B-52 bombers leave their bases in Britain on their way to join the air assault on Iraq. Hear NPR's Neal Conan and NPR's Ivan Watson.
