"Talk of the Nation" is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues.

The show began broadcasting in November 1991. It has been hosted by Neal Conan since late 2001. Each episode includes special guests involved in the topics discussed on that day. Past regular hosts have included John Hockenberry, Ira Glass, Ray Suarez, and Juan Williams. Each Friday Ira Flatow hosts "Science Friday", with discussion topics from science and technology. The program invites listeners to pose questions for the guest host or hosts by telephone or e-mail.

Format

The show begins with a look ahead to the upcoming topics. Then the regular five-minute NPR newscast occurs. After the newscast, the show generally spends from 30 minutes to the entire show discussing the main topic. If discussion on that topic peters out, or if the guests have to leave, then shorter news interviews similar to those found on the NPR newsmagazines of five to ten minutes air. Sometimes these shorter segments take calls, but often they do not. More controversial issues may have guests and take calls the entire hour.

One hour's topics do not carry into the next hour. This is because many stations carry only one hour of the program. In addition, the host will deliver a concluding "This is Talk of the Nation from NPR News" as a cue to stations that wish to cut away to local programming before the scheduled break.

External links

* [http://www.npr.org NPR web site]
* [http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown_calendar/calendar.jhtml?prgId=5 Index of Talk of the Nation Audio Archives]
* [http://www.npr.org/programs/scifri/ Talk of the Nation - Science Friday]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4986453&ft=1&f=1019 Talk of the Nation - Wikipedia, Open Source and the Future of the Web] , a segment on Wikipedia broadcast on November 2 2005. The segment included an interview with Wikimedia president Jimmy Wales.