On May 3, 1971, at 5 p.m., All Things Considered debuted on 90 public radio stations.
In the years since, almost everything about the program has changed, from the hosts, producers, editors and reporters to the length of the program, the equipment used and even the audience.
However there is one thing that remains the same: each show consists of the biggest stories of the day, thoughtful commentaries, insightful features on the quirky and the mainstream in arts and life, music and entertainment, all brought alive through sound.
All Things Considered is the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country. Every weekday the two-hour show is hosted by Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, Mary Louise Kelly and Ailsa Chang. In 1977, ATC expanded to seven days a week with a one-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays. Michel Martin hosts on the weekends.
Audie Cornish | 
Ari Shapiro | 
Mary Louise Kelly |
| 
Ailsa Chang |
Photos by Stephen Voss/NPR
During each broadcast, stories and reports come to listeners from NPR reporters and correspondents based throughout the United States and the world. The hosts interview newsmakers and contribute their own reporting. Rounding out the mix are the disparate voices of a variety of commentators, including Sports Commentator Stefen Fatsis, and Political Columnists David Brooks and E.J. Dionne.
All Things Considered has earned many of journalism's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the Overseas Press Club Award.
-
Strong public backlash has lead dozens of cities to cancel their contracts with Flock Safety, which makes license plate readers for police departments. But what are the alternatives to Flock?
-
NASA's Swift Observatory has orbited the Earth since 2004. It's now falling towards earth, and after a failed mission to save it, NASA is leaving the doomed telescope to its fate.
-
Comedian Alyce Chan explores the hilarity parenthood in her MOM-COM NYC on Instagram. Her video series about the blunt and innocent way children ask questions has gone viral.
-
NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with Jørgen Hollesen, a Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, about how climate change is impacting the study of archaeology.
-
Movies have been exploring what it means to be a man almost as long as there have been movies. But where is the line between critiquing or lionizing the dominant ideas of manhood?
-
In a recent article for Foregin Affairs, Mark Leonard makes that argument that America's leading role in the world order is fading. He discusses his argument with NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben.