Dick Gordon interviews William Ferris on The Story

The Story of "The Story"

The Story has many 'parents'. They are the listeners to North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, who seized the opportunity to help make this program happen.

Our listeners knew Dick Gordon from The Connection out of WBUR in Boston, a program he'd been hosting since 2001. But when the station canceled production of the show in 2005, many listeners were upset -- especially here in the Triangle. Many of them called or sent e-mail messages to the Chapel Hill station urging WUNC to bring Dick Gordon to North Carolina and to continue the program from here.

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At the same time, several members of the Volunteer Leadership of the station, including members of the Community Advisory Board and the Capital Campaign Steering Committee, contacted WUNC management soon after they heard the news out of Boston and urged them to do what listeners were already suggesting: namely, get Dick Gordon here and start a new show.

With financial support and encouragement from its supporters, WUNC invited Dick down to North Carolina to discuss the possibility of doing a new national radio program from Chapel Hill. Shortly afterwards, American Public Media - the national program distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio, joined in the conversations.

	Dick Gordon outside North Carolina Public Radio's studios

Planning for the new radio program was guided by a series of conversations with public radio programmers around the country, who were getting as tired as their listeners were to call-in shows, and the recycling of experts appearing on many of the same programs. They wanted a new midday program, one that would feature compelling conversations about people whose lives embodied what was happening in the news. Both they and the nascent production team of what would become The Story wanted listeners to understand events through the experiences of real people. The program was to speak to the heart as well as to the head.

In February, 2006, The Story with Dick Gordon made its broadcast debut. Gradually, it grew from a weekly program to twice a week then three days a week. Then on July 31, 2006, it became a daily program at 1 p.m. on WUNC.

Within a matter of months, the program was also airing on Minnesota Public Radio - American Public Media's home base - and efforts began to sell the program nationally. The first major markets to sign up were in Chicago and Milwaukee. Since then it has grown to more than 100 stations in such cities as Dallas,, Washington, Los Angeles and Miami, as well as on regional networks in Iowa, upstate New York, South Carolina and Mississippi.

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The Story with Dick Gordon has taken us around the country and around the world, discussing political issues, family issues, health, science, the arts and the environment - what's in the news as well as what's in the air. From the beginning it has sought out first-person experiences from real people, not experts, to help us understand what's happening in the world. Responses from listeners in every market where The Story airs tells us that the program is making its mark. And the regular feature, Ahmed's Diary, has won three major international awards.

The creation of The Story underlines the idea that public radio in the United States can be compared to a family. It's a relatively small group of stations serving an audience made up of life-long learners who develop a relationship with the people they hear on the air each day and each week. Just as public radio feel they know those mechanic brothers from Boston, their friends in Lake Wobegon, and Ira Glass, they also feel they've gotten to know both Dick and the people he talks to every day. People living out the news: that's what The Story is all about, and it took listeners and supporters of North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC to help make the idea behind the show into a reality.