NPR's ‘All Things Considered’ Considered National Treasure

Even as the Donald Trump Administration is trying to eliminate funding for public radio and TV, the first broadcast of NPR's All Things Considered (May 3, 1971) has been added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.  

Each year, the library's National Recording Preservation Board picks 25 recordings—nominated by the board and the public—that represent "the range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage" in an effort for "the long-term preservation of that legacy for future generations." 

"While the inaugural program was broadcast to approximately 90 stations across the nation, reaching only a few hundred thousand listeners, 'All Things Considered' has since become, according to NPR, 'the most listened-to afternoon drive-time news radio program in the country,'" the library said.

Also among the 2016 additions was broadcast great Vin Scully's call of the Dodgers vs. the Giants at the Polo Grounds Sept. 8, 1957, the Dodgers' last game against their rivals in that stadium before moving to San Francisco.

"Scully, then in the early years of his more than six decades at the microphone, called the game in his inimitable style, and wove memories of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry and the many other great sports moments seen at the Polo Grounds seamlessly into his play-by-play," said the library.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.