WireTap (radio program)

WireTap is a half-hour-long radio show which aired on CBC Radio One from 2004 until 2015. An hour-long version of WireTap was distributed in the United States by Public Radio International.^[1] The show was hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, former producer of This American Life, and featured stories that were told as if over the phone with Goldstein.

WireTap

Genre	Comedy
Running time	27 minutes
Country of origin	Canada
Language(s)	English
Home station	CBC Radio One
Syndicates	Public Radio International NPR
Hosted by	Jonathan Goldstein
Created by	Jonathan Goldstein
Written by	Tony Asimakopoulos Howard Chackowicz Gregor Ehrlich John Hodgman Joshua Karpati Heather O'Neill David Rakoff Jon Tucker
Produced by	Wendy Dorr Carolyn Warren Mira Burt-Wintonick Cristal Duhaime
Executive producer(s)	Jonathan Goldstein
Recording studio	Montreal, Canada
Original release	July 2004 (2004-07) – August 2015 (2015-08)
Audio format	Monophonic
Website	www.cbc.ca/wiretap

The show fell into what had traditionally been CBC Radio One's comedy slot on Sunday afternoons, replacing Madly Off in All Directions, which moved to a different time slot. WireTap has been described as "a weekly half-hour of conversation, storytelling and introspection, culled from equal parts real-world experience and the warp of Goldstein's imagination."^[2] Each show usually followed a particular investigative theme; show titles include: "Life Lessons", "Reach for the Top", "Prized Possessions" and "Our Fathers".

The series began in the summer of 2004 as a 10-episode experiment, after which it moved to its own regular time slot. It was recorded out of CBC's Montreal studios.

As of 2008, WireTap had a weekly listenership of 350,000.^[3] In 2009, the show became available as a podcast.

On 19 August 2015, Goldstein announced that the show was ending after an 11-year run.^[4]

CBC has announced that during the summer of 2020, "57 selected episodes from WireTap's catalog" would be released as a podcast,^[5] with one episode airing on CBC Radio One each Monday night.^[6]

See also

• List of WireTap episodes

References

1. "'WireTap' from PRI". Public Radio International. 8 January 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
2. Whyte, Murray (18 December 2005). "Tapping into radio's creative potential". The Toronto Star. p. C13. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
3. Collier, Roger (31 May 2008). "CBC host scours his world for topics; WireTap a varied collection of stories, essays and staged chats". Edmonton Journal. p. C2.
4. Goldstein, Jonathan (19 August 2015). "A Farewell Message". CBC.ca. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
5. "Cult classic WireTap is back — as a podcast". CBC Podcasts. 19 June 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
6. "CBC Program Guide: WireTap". Retrieved 2 July 2020.

External links

• Official website (Website as of 2020 for CBC podcast comprising classic episodes of Wiretap)
• WireTap schedule guide
• Official website as of April 2012 (From Internet Archive Wayback Machine)