- Robert Krulwich
Robert Krulwich is an American radio and television
journalist whose specialty is explaining complex topics in depth. He has worked as a full-time employee of ABC, CBS, National Public Radio, and Pacifica. He has done assignment pieces for ABC's "Nightline" and "World News Tonight", as well as PBS's "Frontline", "NOVA ", and "NOW with Bill Moyers ". "TV Guide " called him "the most inventive network reporter in television", and "New York Magazine " wrote that he's "the man who simplifies without being simple".Background
Krulwich received his bachelor's degree in U.S. history from
Oberlin College in 1969, and hisJuris Doctor degree fromColumbia Law School in 1974. Just two months later, he abandoned his pursuit of a law career to cover theWatergate hearings forPacifica Radio . In 1976, he became Washington bureau chief for "Rolling Stone ".From 1978 to 1985, he was the
business andeconomics correspondent for NPR. Among other creative efforts, he recorded an opera called "Rato Interesso" to explain interest rates. He went on to host the PBS arts series, "The Edge".In 1984, he joined CBS and appeared regularly on "
This Morning ", "48 Hours", and "Nightwatch with Charlie Rose". During the first Gulf War, he co-anchored the CBS program, "America Tonight ". In 1994, he joined ABC.Annually, he hosts a semi-fictional year-in-review program called "Backfire" for NPR. In 1995, at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton, the group who collaborates with Krulwich to produce Backfire performed at the White House.
In 1999 he hosted an eight-part primetime series for ABC "Nightline" called "Brave New World" (which frequently featured his friends,
They Might Be Giants , as musical guests).Krulwich, in 2004, became the host and managing editor of the innovative PBS science program, "
NOVA scienceNOW ". The show often tackled science stories considered too complex for television, sometimes using cartoons and musical production numbers to illustrate abstract concepts. In 2005, Krulwich re-established a relationship with NPR, where he made regular contributions to several programs on science topics, while continuing to produce occasional segments for ABC News. By early 2006, with several projects going at once, Krulwich decided to end his work on NOVA scienceNOW after only five episodes.Krulwich regularly moderates discussions on scientific topics at the
92nd Street Y in New York City. (He is an alumnus of their nursery school.) His presentations at the YMHA have featured such prominent scientists asBrian Greene andJames D. Watson .He is a regular correspondent on the PBS investigative series, "Frontline". Krulwich substitutes for the hosts of NPR's magazine shows, and he co-hosts the
Radio Lab program withJad Abumrad .Awards and honors
In his Frontline role, he has won a
duPont Award fromColumbia University for his coverage ofcampaign finance in the1992 U.S. Presidential campaign ; a nationalEmmy Award for his investigation ofprivacy on theInternet , "High Stakes in Cyberspace"; and aGeorge Polk Award for an hour on thesavings and loan scandal. His ABC special onBarbie also won an Emmy.He has received a multitude of other awards for his reporting, including the
Extraordinary Communicator Award from theNational Cancer Institute in 2000, four consecutiveGainsbrugh Award s from theEconomics Broadcasting Association , theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science Excellence in Television Award in 2001 for a "NOVA " special on the human genome. He also won the 2001AAAS Science Journalism Award for his NOVA special, "Cracking the Code of Life"."TV Guide" named Krulwich to its "all-star reporting team". He was included in "Esquire"'s "Registry of Outstanding Men and Women" in 1989.
Personal life
He lives in
New York City and Shelter Island, NY with his wife,Tamar Lewin , a national reporter for the "New York Times ". They have two children, Jesse and Nora Ann. The couple was featured in Act 2 of Episode 226 ("Reruns") of the Chicago Public Radio programThis American Life recounting their separate (and divergent) accounts of an event in their lives.External links
* [http://www.transom.org/guests/specialguests/robertkrulwich_audio.html Krulwich radio archive]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/ NOVA Science NOW]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=127128 ABC News Bio]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5194672 NPR Bio]
* [http://www.radiolab.org Radiolab]
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