History on the radio: Ayers and colleagues provide backstory on new program

BY REBECCA ARRINGTON

Take a headline from today’s news, add three prominent American historians, give them each a microphone, and listen to their lively conversation as they provide the context that helps you understand just how we got from there to here.

That’s the premise of a new public radio show from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. It’s called BackStory with the American History Guys, and it began airing June 1.

When Andrew Wyndham first conceived of a history-based radio show, he knew its success would depend on who hosted it, and he knew just whom he wanted—American historians Ed Ayers, Peter Onuf and Brian Balogh.

When those three came together in the studio, BackStory with the American History Guys was born. “It was like electricity,” said Wyndham, media program director for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

“Sometimes academics can come across as ivory tower-type presences,” he said. “But these guys are approachable and have a really good vibe because they are friends. The show is basically three guys sitting around the kitchen table, talking. It’s an invitation to pull up a chair and join in the conversation. They may know a lot, but they come across as real people who have a lot to share with you and hope you will share with them.”

In each hour-long episode, the program explores the historical context of current events. The hosts take an issue and explore the connections between past and present through interviews with historians and newsmakers and call-ins from listeners.

Twelve episodes of the program began airing weekly on some Virginia public radio stations in June, with 12 additional episodes airing in the fall—and public radio content providers are reviewing the show for national distribution. Among the first topics covered by the program were newcomers in American politics, environmental crises, debt, the American family and controversial wars.

The hosts provide a comprehensive and passionate understanding of American history. Ayers, a scholar of 19th-century U.S. history, has written and edited 10 books, including The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation professor of history at the University of Virginia, is an expert on the federal period. Balogh, associate professor of history at U.Va., studies the 20th-century experience in America and is co-chairman of the Governing America in a Global Era Program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Despite the hosts’ distinguished academic credentials, the radio show is more a conversation with friends than a lecture. The BackStory guys approach the study of history with intelligence, but also a refreshing amount of irreverence.

Improvisation is a common theme in the studio, as the American History Guys resist their scripts and, on occasion, direction from the show’s producers.

“What I love most is I never know what is going to happen, aside from some technical problems which are becoming pretty predictable,” Balogh joked during a break in recording.

“The camaraderie and opportunity to question easy assumptions about history, in a public context, really drew me to this project,” said Onuf.

Ayers stressed the importance of exploring the present through the perspective of the past.

“If you only know what’s on the front page today—if you have no idea what the backstory is—you’re like flotsam, just pushed by whatever currents come along. You don’t have any perspective, any farther point on the horizon to triangulate your position. You’re lost. This is really a way of giving depth to the things we are dealing with today,” said Ayers.

While BackStory producer Tony Field and associate producer Rachel Quimby often end up the targets of the History Guys’ banter, they also bring considerable radio experience to the program and have turned the idea of a history-themed radio show into a reality.

According to Field, BackStory brings something new to public radio content due to its unique premise.

“Public radio and television have good historical specials, but there isn’t really any regular space in the programming lineup to pause, look backward and ask, ‘How did we get to this point?’” Field said.

BackStory airs at 3 p.m. on Sundays on Radio IQ and at 3 p.m. on Saturdays on WMRA, public radio station groups owned by Virginia Tech and James Madison University, respectively. By the end of the year, the show will be aired nationally on a number of NPR stations, according to Fields.

Although BackStory will not be broadcast live, the producers encourage listeners to participate as callers. Upcoming topics and audio clips are posted on the show’s Web site (www.BackStoryradio.org) or on the Web site of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (www.virginiafoundation.org/vfhradio/backstory/wordpress/). Listeners can also subscribe to the show’s weekly podcast.

“It is going to be pretty heavily Web-based,” Quimby said of the show. “We are developing interesting ways to engage the public online.”

Individuals who e-mail the show’s producers with reactions, observations and questions on the issues may be invited to share their comments on the air.

Major production support for BackStory with the American History Guys was provided by the David A. Harrison Fund for the President’s Initiatives at the University of Virginia, the Perry Foundation Inc., Cary Brown-Epstein and the W.L. Lyons Brown Jr. Charitable Foundation, Caroleen Feeney, Marcus and Carole Weinstein, Trish and David Crowe, Jay M. Weinberg, Anna Magee and an anonymous donor.