Radio Open Source
Hosted by Radio Open Source
A long-form interview show where veteran journalist Christopher Lydon explores history, politics, and culture with authors and intellectuals.
This is an intellectual's public affairs program, rooted in the traditions of public radio. Host Christopher Lydon uses a guest's new book or area of expertise as the starting point for a wide-ranging, historically-grounded conversation about politics, art, and ideas. The show's tone is academic but engaging, like a university seminar where Lydon, armed with decades of journalistic experience, connects his guest's work to a vast web of literary, cultural, and political history.
“The show's primary distinction is the host himself; Christopher Lydon's extensive background as a political reporter allows him to frame conversations with a rare depth of historical context. Its claim as the world's first podcast gives it a unique legacy in the digital audio landscape.”
Who hosts this show
Hosted by veteran journalist Christopher Lydon, Radio Open Source is an independent radio show and podcast about ideas. Lydon, a former New York Times reporter and WGBH anchor, began the project in 2003 while a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The show is widely credited with being the first podcast, starting when Lydon and Dave Winer began posting downloadable audio interviews to Lydon's blog via a new RSS enclosure feed. Now produced in partnership with WBUR, the show features deep, long-form conversations that place contemporary books and ideas in a broad historical and political context.
Credentials & credits
- Host, Radio Open Source
- Former Reporter, The New York Times
- Former Host, The Ten O’Clock News, WGBH
- Former Host, The Connection, WBUR/NPR
- Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
- Graduate, Yale University
Other ventures
- Hub & Spoke (founding member of the audio collective)
When new episodes drop
- 01The Boston Watch PartyJun 19, 2026 · 34 min
- 02America’s OrwellJun 12, 2026 · 50 min
- 03Here Where We Live Is Our CountryMay 29, 2026 · 45 min
- 04Muskism: A Guide for the PerplexedMay 14, 2026 · 55 min
- 05The Pope and the PresidentApr 23, 2026 · 41 min
- 06Kings and PawnsApr 16, 2026 · 47 min
Notable episodes
- 01America’s Orwell
A quintessential episode where Lydon and an expert editor explore the life and work of a major 20th-century intellectual, connecting his ideas to the present day.
- 02Here Where We Live Is Our Country
Demonstrates the show's engagement with complex, contemporary political issues through a historical lens, discussing the Jewish Labor Bund and its relevance to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- 03The Boston Watch Party
Highlights the show's ability to find deep cultural, social, and even transcendent meaning in an accessible topic like sports, using Boston's history as a case study.
What you'll be asked on this show
Each episode is a one-on-one interview, framed by Lydon's carefully crafted, literary introductions. He frequently reads passages from the guest's work and occasionally uses historical audio clips to illustrate points. The production is clean and straightforward, focusing entirely on the substance of the conversation in a classic public radio style.
Questions Radio Open Source keeps coming back to
- “Can you sketch out [this person or topic] for us?”
- “Where can we hear or see the influence of [this idea] today?”
- “What is the hope of [this movement or idea] for a world that needs it?”
- “What happens to us in the world of [a specific field, e.g., sports] that's more than just excitement?”
- “Is it your theory that [X] is a gateway to [Y]?”
- “Did you know what you were getting into?”
- “How does it end? Do you want to make a prediction?”
Signature segments
- · Host's introduction: "I'm Christopher Lydon and this is Open Source."
- · Direct appeals for listener donations to radioopensource.org
- · Mention of being a founding member of the Hub & Spoke audio collective
Topics covered repeatedly
Who gets booked here
Guests are almost exclusively authors, academics, artists, and journalists with a newly published, often scholarly, work on a significant historical, political, or cultural topic. The show books experts like Richard Johnson (curator of the New England Sports Museum), Molly Crabapple (artist and author), and John Summers (editor and historian).
- Richard Johnsonon The Boston Watch Party
- John Summerson America’s Orwell
- Molly Crabappleon Here Where We Live Is Our Country
- Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoffon Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed
- Paul Elieon The Pope and the President
- Howard Bryanton Kings and Pawns
Where to find this show
Audience & reach
The show is listener-funded and a member of the non-profit Hub & Spoke collective. Given its highly educated and intellectually curious audience, potential sponsors could include book publishers, universities, cultural institutions, and brands targeting a demographic interested in arts, letters, and public affairs.
Subscriber and view counts are pulled live from YouTube and re-verified on a 30-day cycle. Listener estimates for the RSS feed aren't published here unless they're host-verified.
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People also ask
- Who is the host of Radio Open Source?
- The host is Christopher Lydon, a veteran journalist formerly of The New York Times, WGBH, and NPR's 'The Connection'.
- Is this really the first podcast?
- The show is widely credited as being the first podcast. In 2003, host Christopher Lydon, then a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center, began posting audio interviews to his blog using an RSS feed with enclosures created by Dave Winer, which became the foundational technology of podcasting.
- Is the podcast still active?
- Yes, it is an active podcast and also airs as a weekly radio show on WBUR in Boston.
- What is the show's format?
- Each episode is a long-form, in-depth interview with a single guest, typically an author, academic, or artist, focusing on a specific idea, book, or historical event.
- Where can I listen to the show?
- You can listen on the official website, radioopensource.org, and on all major podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
- What is the Hub & Spoke collective?
- Hub & Spoke is a non-profit collective of independent, idea-driven podcasts based in Boston and beyond. Radio Open Source is a founding member.
Built from the show's public RSS feed, YouTube, the host's own websites, and the cited sources below. Computed and AI-extracted fields are labelled. Facts only — no private info, no fabrication, no transcripts republished.
Sources & how this page was built
This page is AI-assisted, grounded in the public sources cited below, and host-verifiable. We publish facts only; we do not republish transcripts. If anything here is wrong, the host can claim and correct the page above.Model: gemini-2.5-pro · high confidence
- [01]About Open Source - Open Source with Christopher Lydonradioopensource.org
- [02]Christopher Lydon - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- [03]Open Source (radio show) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- [04]Hub & Spoke Audio Collectivehubspokeaudio.org
- [05]Christopher Lydon | Nantucket Book Festivalnantucketbookfestival.org
- [06]Chris Lydon - The First Podcastdvgroup.com
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