I had been working at The Planetary Society for 2 years when co-founder and govt director Louis Friedman gave me the thumbs-up. It was only some weeks later that Planetary Radio premiered.
Lou was my first visitor on that November 25, 2002 episode. It additionally featured what would develop into an everyday go to with our former colleague, Emily Lakdawalla. We closed the present as we have now now ended over 1,000 episodes, with What’s Up. My pal Bruce Betts advised us what to search for within the night time sky, regarded again throughout the historical past of area exploration, supplied a reverberating Random House Truth, and provided an entertaining area trivia contest problem.
That present might solely be heard on a single radio station and our primitive web site. The collection has modified little or no since then. Probably the most vital improve was the addition of our month-to-month House Coverage Version six years in the past. So, aside from a brand new theme, listeners who had solely heard that first episode would haven’t any problem recognizing Planetary Radio immediately.
My pleasure on this achievement is much larger than anything in my skilled life. We’re now within the high half-percent of podcasts. The printed model of every episode is aired by about 100 public stations. We now have offered greater than 2,000 area exploration leaders to an keen viewers. We’ve gone on levels all over the world to current Planetary Radio Reside, and I’ve visited a lot of our planet’s most essential and provoking websites the place area science and exploration are superior.
It has been an excellent odyssey. And it’s time to step again. I advised our great Chief Working Officer Jennifer Vaughn many months in the past that twenty years of internet hosting and producing Planetary Radio could be sufficient. I’ll mark the 20th anniversary in November of this yr by handing over the reins to a brand new host. Our seek for this particular person has already begun.
I’m very grateful to know that the Society will nonetheless hold me busy! Jennifer and others have requested me to make use of among the time I’ll reclaim to take part in different essential Society work. And I very a lot hope that my voice will nonetheless be heard on Planetary Radio at times. My biggest pleasure on this job has at all times been the chance to speak with my company. I regard all of them as heroes, and I look ahead to extra conversations.
There can be one other alternative to specific my gratitude to everybody who has made Planetary Radio a hit and a private pleasure. For now, I’ll merely thank all of you who hear and who’ve supported the Society so generously. We are going to hold you knowledgeable of our progress towards this transition. I promise that the perfect is but to come back.
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