Siegel Signing Off From ‘All Things Considered’
After a stellar 40+ years with NPR, the last 30 as the co-host of the benchmark program All Things Considered, broadcasting legend Robert Siegel announced he will step down in January 2018. “This is a decision long in the making and not an easy one,” said Siegel, who hosts NPR’s signature show alongside Audie Cornish, Kelly McEvers and Ari Shapiro. “I’ve had the greatest job I can think of, working with the finest colleagues anyone could ask for, for as long a stretch as I could imagine. But, looking ahead to my seventies (which start all too soon), I feel that it is time for me to begin a new phase of life. Over the next few months, I hope to figure out what that will be.”
Siegel joined NPR in 1976 as a newscaster, and later moved into an editor role. He also opened NPR’s London bureau and ran the newsroom as chief of NPR News — accomplishing all of that before he assumed his role on All Things Considered in 1987. Siegel’s presence became so iconic he was even immortalized in a cameo appearance on The Simpsons.
In joint statement, Michael Oreskes, SVP of News and Editorial Director, Christopher Turpin, VP of News Programming and Operations and Carline Watson, Executive Producer of All Things Considered, said of Siegel, “As anyone who has worked with Robert can attest, he is an extraordinary reporter and an even better broadcaster. After 30 years in the role, he comes to work every day with ceaseless curiosity, enthusiasm, and a profound passion for the work and the medium. He is the consummate student, a person whose quest for the answers has benefited millions upon millions of listeners over the years. He is, for all of us, a model of how to be fully engaged in the world, our work, and with his colleagues.”
The statement continued, “We’ll be planning ways to celebrate and thank Robert for all his contributions at ATC in the coming months. He’s giving us plenty of notice, and we’re grateful for that. Finding his successor will not be easy. We will conduct a national search — looking inside NPR and across the media landscape — for the next voice of All Things Considered.” [Photo: Stephen Voss / NPR]
