1988

Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Libyan terrorists are suspected of planting the bomb that caused the explosion.

For the second straight year, readers of the Washington Journalism Review vote ATC the best network radio program. With microphone in hand, intrepid ATC producer Peter Breslow joins an American team to scale the snow and ice up 23,000 feet on Mount Everest. The reporting expedition takes three months, and includes an overland trek across Tibet -- through an earthquake, landslides and a bridge collapse.

On the Feb. 12 ATC, in honor of Valentine's Day, commentator and cartoonist Lynda Barry offered thoughts on finding true love:

"I think the most promising kind of date would be the one that parallels the situation in that one movie where Sidney Poitier is handcuffed to this white bigot and they're prisoners and they escape from this prison and they have to go handcuffed together through the swamps of Louisiana. I mean, I think going through some kind of grueling, wet, muddy event that's inescapable and you're handcuffed together would let you know right away if the relationship is going to work. And you wouldn't have to make small talk. And I think they should create facilities like this, like health clubs, that you go to on your first date and you spend two days fighting off nature together and then you can know by the end whether this is the person you want to stay with or not."

Hear the broadcast.

Contents Copyright 2001, National Public Radio