Robert Siegel
Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.
In 2010, Siegel was recognized by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with the John Chancellor Award. Siegel has been honored with three Silver Batons from Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University, first in 1984 for All Things Considered's coverage of peace movements in East and West Germany. He shared in NPR's 1996 Silver Baton Award for "The Changing of the Guard: The Republican Revolution," for coverage of the first 100 days of the 104th Congress. He was part of the NPR team that won a Silver Baton for the network's coverage of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.
Other awards Siegel has earned include a 1997 American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for the two-part documentary, "Murder, Punishment, and Parole in Alabama" and the National Mental Health Association's 1991 Mental Health Award for his interviews conducted on the streets of New York in an All Things Considered story, "The Mentally Ill Homeless."
Siegel joined NPR in December 1976 as a newscaster and became an editor the following year. In 1979, Siegel became NPR's first staffer based overseas when he was chosen to open NPR's London bureau, where he worked as senior editor until 1983. After London, Siegel served for four years as director of the News and Information Department, overseeing production of NPR's newsmagazines All Things Considered and Morning Edition, as well as special events and other news programming. During his tenure, NPR launched its popular Saturday and Sunday newsmagazine Weekend Edition. He became host of All Things Considered in 1987.
Before coming to NPR, Siegel worked for WRVR Radio in New York City as a reporter, host and news director. He was part of the WRVR team honored with an Armstrong Award for the series, "Rockefeller's Drug Law." Prior to WRVR, he was morning news reporter and telephone talk show host for WGLI Radio in Babylon, New York.
A graduate of New York's Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University, Siegel began his career in radio at Columbia's radio station, WKCR-FM. As a student he anchored coverage of the 1968 Columbia demonstrations and contributed to the work that earned the station an award from the Writers Guild of America East.
Siegel was the editor of The NPR Interviews 1994, The NPR Interviews 1995 and The NPR Interviews 1996, compilations of NPR's most popular radio conversations from each year.
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The results of the government's stress tests on the nation's 19 biggest banks will be made public Thursday. The tests are aimed at determining whether the banks are healthy enough to weather a recession.
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The Obama administration releases more Bush administration memos on the use of torture against terrorism suspects. The Justice Dept. is expected to announce that it will not prosecute CIA officials who approved harsh interrogation procedures.
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President Barack Obama said Tuesday the stimulus plan was showing signs of progress, but that patience was needed as the government revived the economy. The comments came in a prime-time news conference at the White House.
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The Treasury Department calls its long-awaited plan to deal with so-called toxic assets a public-private partnership. The plan depends on private investors to supply much of the capital that will be needed to eliminate bad loans and toxic securities from the financial system.
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Former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret "Peggy" Hamburg is expected to be President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration. Hamburg is currently with the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington.
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Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff was in court Tuesday for a hearing on whether he is aware his lawyer has potential conflicts of interest. Madoff is expected to waive his right to a trial and plead guilty at a hearing Thursday.
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Author and humorist Sholem Aleichem was a champion of the Yiddish language; his work inspired the Broadway musical Fiddler On The Roof. Now, 150 years after his birth, a new translation offers the first complete English version of his novel Wandering Stars. -
President Obama embarked on his first foreign tour as head of state today, traveling north of the border to visit Canada. Talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper focused on the economy, trade, energy and Afghanistan.
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As cleanup continues on the giant sludge spill from a Tennessee coal plant, government officials are trying to figure out how much of a disaster it is. It could pose a hazard to people and the environment.
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Playwright Harold Pinter came into prominence at a time when Tennessee Williams' and Arthur Miller's plays were being performed in the U.S. and Bernard Shaw and the Boulevard Comedies dominated London's West End. In contrast to the work at the time, Pinter's plays dealt with the theater of menace.
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Five Muslim immigrants have been convicted of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. The verdict came after the jury deliberated for about 38 hours over six days. The men face up to life in prison when they are sentenced in April.
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President-elect Barack Obama has picked California Congresswoman Hilda Solis as his labor secretary. The Democrat, a daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants, has worked closely with immigration and environmental issues.
