WireTap (radio program)

Canadian radio show

Radio show

Tony Asimakopoulos
Howard Chackowicz
Gregor Ehrlich
John Hodgman
Joshua Karpati
Heather O'Neill
David Rakoff
Jon Tucker

Produced by

Wendy Dorr
Carolyn Warren
Mira Burt-Wintonick
Cristal Duhaime

Executive producer(s)Jonathan GoldsteinRecording studioMontreal, CanadaOriginal releaseJuly 2004 (2004-07) –
August 2015 (2015-08)Audio formatMonophonicWebsitewww.cbc.ca/wiretap

WireTap is a half-hour-long radio show which aired on CBC Radio One from 2004 until 2015. An hour-long version of WireTap was distributed in the United States by Public Radio International.^[1] The show was hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, former producer of This American Life, and featured stories that were told as if over the phone with Goldstein.

The show fell into what had traditionally been CBC Radio One's comedy slot on Sunday afternoons, replacing Madly Off in All Directions, which moved to a different time slot. WireTap has been described as "a weekly half-hour of conversation, storytelling and introspection, culled from equal parts real-world experience and the warp of Goldstein's imagination."^[2] Each show usually followed a particular investigative theme; show titles include: "Life Lessons", "Reach for the Top", "Prized Possessions" and "Our Fathers".

The series began in the summer of 2004 as a 10-episode experiment, after which it moved to its own regular time slot. It was recorded out of CBC's Montreal studios.

As of 2008, WireTap had a weekly listenership of 350,000.^[3] In 2009, the show became available as a podcast.

On 19 August 2015, Goldstein announced that the show was ending after an 11-year run.^[4]

CBC has announced that during the summer of 2020, "57 selected episodes from WireTap's catalog" would be released as a podcast,^[5] with one episode airing on CBC Radio One each Monday night.^[6]

References

^ "'WireTap' from PRI". Public Radio International. 8 January 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
^ Whyte, Murray (18 December 2005). "Tapping into radio's creative potential". The Toronto Star. p. C13. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
^ Collier, Roger (31 May 2008). "CBC host scours his world for topics; WireTap a varied collection of stories, essays and staged chats". Edmonton Journal. p. C2.
^ Goldstein, Jonathan (19 August 2015). "A Farewell Message". CBC.ca. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "Cult classic WireTap is back — as a podcast". CBC Podcasts. 19 June 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
^ "CBC Program Guide: WireTap". Retrieved 2 July 2020.

External links

Official website (Website as of 2020 for CBC podcast comprising classic episodes of Wiretap)
WireTap schedule guide
Official website as of April 2012 (From Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

GBH

Television stations