Neal J. Conan
Neal J. Conan was a significant contributor to the creation of the United States’s public radio system, serving as a radio journalist, producer, correspondent and program host at National Public Radio (NPR), as well as Hawaii Public Radio and WNYC, for nearly four decades. During Neal’s long tenure at NPR, he was a producer of “All Things Considered,” a senior host of “Talk of the Nation,” a bureau chief in New York and London, and he also worked at the NPR headquarters as an executive producer, foreign editor, correspondent, managing editor, and news director. Among other honors, Neal won a George Foster Peabody Award and three DuPont-Columbia University Awards over the course of his career.
Neal's Career Journey
Neal’s career as a journalist began at seventeen when he skipped college to take a job as an engineer at WBAI, the public radio station in New York. In 1977, he first arrived at NPR, where his first role would be to help bring to life the NPR news show, “All Things Considered.” Neal would go on to spend thirty-six years at NPR, bringing his commitment to truth and incisive mind to covering some of the most important events in history. While managing NPR’s London desk in the 1980s and early 1990s, he reported on the Troubles from Ireland. While covering the Persian Gulf War, Neal and other journalists were held hostage for a week by the Iraqi Republican Guard. The capstone of his career was his role as a senior host of “Talk of the Nation,” a talk radio program known for intelligent and thought-provoking discussions on the most compelling issues of the day — from breaking news, science, and education to religion and the arts.
When “Talk of the Nation” ended in 2013, Neal moved to Hawaii with his partner Gretel Ehrlich, where
he joined Hawaii Public Radio, became a macadamia nut farmer and pursued his love of diving. He
returned to national airwaves when then-President Donald Trump entered the White House to give
historical and political context to the new political developments with a podcast series called Truth,
Politics and Power on WNYC.
Neal left a tremendous legacy in the field of journalism. When he passed away in 2021, tributes to his
long and impactful career poured in from colleagues and people he had interviewed across the world.
Ted Koppel, the longtime ABC’s “Nightline” anchor, remembered Neal as, “respectful, objective and
superbly grounded,” telling the New York Times, “Neal Conan was exactly the man we could least afford to lose.” The world-renowned author Neil Gaiman reminisced about his conversations with Neal fondly on X/Twitter: “I treasured all the times Neal and I got to talk on NPR. They were the best conversations, with someone I liked and admired, and he was the best of people.” Sue Goodwin, Neal’s producer for NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” recalled for the New York Times how, “[Neal’s] stunning skills as a journalist, combined with his expansive sense of humanity, created a unique moment in public radio.”
Neal's Career
1966
1977
1980
1991
2000
2001
2013
2016
At seventeen Neal skipped college in pursuit of journalism worked as an engineer at WBAI, the public radio station in New York.
Neal first arrived at NPR, where his first role would be to help bring to life the NPR news show, “All Things Considered.” Neal would go on to spend 36 years with NPR.
While managing NPR’s London desk in the 1980s and early 1990s, he reported on the Troubles from Ireland. While covering the Persian Gulf War, Neal and other journalists were held hostage for a week by the Iraqi Republican Guard.
During the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqi Republican Guard detained Conan for a week. He and Chris Hedges of The New York Times were reporting on a Shia rebellion centered in Basra, Iraq.
In 2000, Conan took a break from his work as a broadcaster to serve as the stadium play-by-play baseball announcer for the Aberdeen Arsenal. A year later, he published “Play by Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League,” which described his experience.
The capstone of Neal’s career was his role as a senior host of the talk show “Talk of the Nation,” a role he began on September 10, 2001. Talk of the Nation reached over 3.5 million listeners per week on more than 400 NPR member stations.
When “Talk of the Nation” ended in 2013, Neal moved to Hawaii, where he became a macadamia nut farmer and later joined Hawaii Public Radio where he produced Pacific News Minute which aired from 2015-2019.
He returned to national airwaves when the political forces in the country shifted to give historical and political context to the new administration with a program called Truth, Politics and Power on WNYC. More than 80 stations aired it on occasion, and NPR added the show to its SiriusXM channel.
