Freakonomics co-author Stephen Dubner has entered into a production deal with American Public Media (APM) and New York Public Radio (NYPR) to launch Freakonomics Radio, announced Dean Cappello, Chief Content Officer and SVP, NYPR, and Judy McAlpine, SVP of APM’s National Content Division.
Freakonomics Radio will include radio, podcast, web and live event programming imbued with the best-selling book’s iconoclastic approach to everyday economics – an approach that has found new ways to catch terrorists (hint: they don’t buy life insurance), and found the answers to questions such as, “Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool?”
Launching this fall, the project will include exclusive biweekly features for APM’s weekday business program, Marketplace, and a new podcast exploring “what the hidden side of everything sounds like,” released initially as a biweekly offering, then as a weekly offering in early 2011. The audio content will be available on-demand at the project’s website, www.freakonomicsradio.com, and on iTunes. Dubner will continue to maintain, with co-author Steven Levitt, the Freakonomics blog on NYT.com, and Levitt will appear as an occasional guest on the podcast.
Additionally, APM and NYPR will work with Dubner to produce and distribute five hour-long radio specials over the next year and present special live events in markets across the country.
Freakonomics Radio is a great addition to the portfolio of WNYC productions,” said Cappello. “Stephen’s approach to such a timely and urgent topic joins Radiolab, On the Media, Studio 360, and The Takeaway in bringing audiences smart and provocative ideas in a high-personality form. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with him and the Marketplace team to extend his work to public radio and podcast audiences.”
