Bob Boilen, the NPR host, producer, and director who created All Songs Thought-about and the “Tiny Desk Live performance” sequence, is leaving the broadcaster after 35 years. His colleague Lars Gotrich mentioned Boilen’s final day might be Monday, October 2.
On X, the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter, Boilen wrote:
After 35 years, I’m leaving NPR. I’ve had the fun of making Tiny Desk Concert events, All Songs Thought-about, directing All Issues Thought-about for 18 years and a lot extra. I like the individuals I’ve labored with, but it surely’s time to search out new challenges. thanks for listening/watching.
Boilen first joined NPR in 1988 and shortly turned the director of All Issues Thought-about, the community’s flagship information program. He would direct the present for the subsequent 18 years. In 2000, he based All Songs Thought-about, a music podcast impressed by the songs he would play between segments on the information program.
In 2008, Boilen and his NPR colleague Stephen Thompson based the “Tiny Desk Live performance” sequence, inviting musicians to carry out intimate live shows at Boilen’s desk within the NPR workplaces in Washington, D.C. The present attracts its identify from the lifelong musician’s former band Tiny Desk Unit. Since people singer Laura Gibson performed the primary present in April 2008, Boilen’s desk has performed host to the likes of Mac Miller, Usher, Justin Bieber, Lizzo, Juvenile, Taylor Swift, the Wu-Tang Clan, and lots of, many extra over greater than 800 live shows.
In 2015, NPR hosted its first “Tiny Desk Live performance” contest, inviting musicians to submit their music; The winner, determined by a jury of musicians and NPR employees, is chosen to carry out a “Tiny Desk Live performance.”