Paul Tough

Writer & Speaker

Posts Tagged ‘interviews’


Friday, December 18th, 2009

Australian Radio

Last week, the Australian public-radio network, ABC Radio National, broadcast the radio documentary I did for This American Life about Baby College, the Harlem Children’s Zone’s parenting program. It ran on the network’s morning show, “Life Matters,” and was bookended by a conversation between me and the show’s host, Richard Aedy. There’s a description of the episode here, and audio here.


Monday, October 12th, 2009

KWMU Radio

I spent an hour this morning on “St. Louis on Air,” on KWMU Radio, speaking with the host, Don Marsh, and taking calls from listeners about Whatever It Takes. You can stream the audio here. Or download it here.

I’m in St. Louis for the reading tonight at Left Bank Books, at 7 p.m.


Monday, July 20th, 2009

Los Angeles Radio

On Saturday, I was interviewed on the John and Ken Show on KFI Radio in Los Angeles about “Whatever It Takes” and the Harlem Children’s Zone. Click here for audio. Added bonus: From about 2:30 to about 2:50 on this audio file, you can hear nine-day-old E.M. Tough crying in the background of the phone interview. Sorry about that, John and Ken.


Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Dispatches audio

Audio of my interview with the CBC Radio program “Dispatches” is now posted on the show’s website. Right-click here to download the podcast version (my interview starts at about 30 minutes in, after the story on the cheese bank), or click here and scroll down to listen to the interview alone. The “Dispatches” site summarizes the interview, conducted by host Rick MacInnes-Rae:

What’s the story on this Harlem Children’s Zone that’s captured the imagination of a president?

After all, for the longest time, the corner of 125th and Madison in Harlem was the intersection of poverty and failure.

But these days, for 97 blocks around, you’re in The Zone, a great big social experiment in education and hope.

More than 7,000 kids and their parents are being taught that just because they’re broke or living in public housing, it doesn’t mean they can’t succeed.

The program isn’t just trying to solve problems in education. It’s trying to bust poverty in America, according to journalist Paul Tough.

He’s the author of the new book Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest To Change Harlem And America.


Thursday, March 5th, 2009

CBC Radio

Attention Canadians: Next Monday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m., I’ll be on “Dispatches,” on CBC Radio One, talking with the host, Rick MacInnes-Rae, about Whatever It Takes and the Harlem Children’s Zone. A few days after that, audio should be posted here.


Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Wine Country radio

Earlier this week, I did an interview with Jeff Schechtman on KVON radio in Napa, California. Audio is now online. Here’s Jeff’s blog post about our talk:

The President said last night that when kids, especially inner city kids, drop out of school they are not only letting themselves down, but they are letting down their country. A noble thought, but what does it take to get these often poor children to to compete with their middle-class peers? Geoffrey Canada, asked himself that question, and proceeded to found the Harlem Children’s Zone, where he is testing ideas about education, poverty and parenting and trying to turn around the lives of Harlem’s children.


Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Santa Fe radio

Earlier this week, I spent a half-hour on the air with Diego Mulligan, host of the “Journey Home” program on Santa Fe Public Radio, talking about Whatever It Takes and the Harlem Children’s Zone.

Audio of our interview is here.


Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Dallas radio

This afternoon I was interviewed for an hour on “Think,” with Krys Byrd, on KERA radio in Dallas.

Audio is here, but it will only be available for the next five days, they tell me.


Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Tumblon interview

Here’s an interview I did recently with Graham Scharf, one of the founders of a new parenting web site called Tumblon. We talked mostly about the parenting research I wrote about in chapter two of Whatever It Takes.


Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

WAMU audio

is now up. My interview starts at about 30:00.