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All Things Considered Home Page30th Anniversary of ATC
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All Things Considered

1971

  • For the debut program's coverage of anti-war demonstrations, NPR's Jeff Kamen takes to the Washington streets with microphone in hand. "Today in the nation's capital," he reports, "it is a crime to be young and have long hair. . ."
  • After a bumpy first few months, Jim Russell and Mike Waters become ATC co-hosts. Also on the team: director Wertheimer, and a tape editor named Susan Stamberg. The fledgling National Public Radio has 90 member stations.
  • On the May 3 show, host Robert Conley described "the crush, catcalls, flux and flow of the demonstrations in Washington":

    "For many demonstrators, the mobile street tactics, the civil disobedience, are an expected spring event. But before today, many other young people have not been willing to oppose the state with their bodies. For these young Americans, today was a major test of their commitment to the ethical code of the young and the angry. It was their freedom ride, their Selma march, their May Day."

    Hear the debut ATC broadcast.