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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President Obama continues Thursday to try to heave his health care plan over the finish line, meeting with moderate Democrats, most of whom are seen as skeptical of his overhaul effort. Seventeen senators will talk to Obama about the blueprint he laid out Wednesday.
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The title track of Kim Kashkashian's new CD, Neharot, Neharot, is a dark, impressionistic portrait of war and mourning by Israeli composer Betty Olivero. All Things Considered host Robert Siegel was "blown away."
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President Obama takes his health care message to a rare joint session of Congress next week. The address is an indication of the high stakes of the debate surrounding a health care overhaul.
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A massive fire in the Angeles National Forest nearly doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes in the Los Angeles area. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued emergency declarations for four counties.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is on a short swing through the Middle East, was in Iraq on Tuesday. On his agenda: a visit to a command post in southern Iraq where U.S. troops serve in an advisory capacity; a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a visit to Kurdistan.
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The federal minimum wage will rise Friday 70 cents to $7.25. Conservative economists say it will kill jobs; liberals say it will boost consumer spending, which will help the economy.
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Judge Sonia Sotomayor gave as little away as she possibly could while still answering senators' questions at her confirmation hearing Tuesday. Her comments on the right to privacy echoed the remarks of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito at their confirmation hearings.
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Thousands of Marines have descended upon the Helmand River valley in Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold that is known for poppy growing. The Marines plan to stay, one of the first concrete examples of the Obama administration's new strategy for Afghanistan.
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Al Franken's victory in the long-running battle for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat gives Democrats the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster. But it may not be that easy. There are a dozen Democrats who may not toe the party line.
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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted he had been having an affair with a woman from Argentina and resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. What is the political fallout from the revelation?
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The 2009 Social Security and Medicare Trustees report released Tuesday showed the funds will be exhausted a couple of years sooner than was reported last year. That's largely because high unemployment rates mean a lower level of payroll tax receipts being paid in to both programs. On the other hand, compared to what's happened to many private retirement accounts, Social Security is looking pretty healthy.
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Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and others short on capital, according to the results of the government's stress tests issued Thursday. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and American Express are among the banks regulators say don't need an added cushion against losses.