Format On Being is an hour-long radio show and podcast, hosted by Krista Tippett. Tippett has interviewed guests ranging from poets to physicists, doctors to historians, artists to activists. Her guests include the
14th Dalai Lama,
Maya Angelou,
Mohammed Fairouz,
Desmond Tutu,
Thich Nhat Hanh,
Rosanne Cash,
Wangari Maathai,
Yo-Yo Ma,
Paulo Coehlo,
Brian Greene,
John Polkinghorne,
Jean Vanier,
Joanna Macy,
Sylvia Earle, and
Elie Wiesel. In 2006,
On Being became the first national public radio show to offer unedited interviews alongside the produced radio show in their podcast and on their website.
History Krista Tippett pitched a series of pilots on religion, meaning, and ethics to
Bill Buzenberg, then Vice President for News at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, in the late 1990s. The program became
Speaking of Faith, a monthly series in 2001 and a weekly national program distributed by
American Public Media (APM) in 2003. In 2010, the show's name changed to
On Being. In 2013, Tippett left APM to start the non-profit production company, Krista Tippett Public Productions, which she described as "a social enterprise with a radio show at its heart". As of July 2014,
On Being aired on 334 public radio stations across the United States,
On Being was listed in the iTunes top ten podcasts of 2014. In 2016,
On Being changed distributors from APM to the
Public Radio Exchange. In May 2022 it was announced that as of June 2022 the program would be changing from a weekly show to a "seasonal podcast," and the final weekly program aired in late June 2022.
Content The
Columbia Journalism Review said of
On Being and Tippett, "To listen to her show is to hear how intelligent and thoughtful religious people can be when they are allowed to be subjective and not merely regurgitate dogma." In 2008 the show produced a series of programs called "Repossessing Virtue", exploring the spiritual and moral aspects of the economic recession. Other series have included "Revealing Ramadan" and "Living Islam" and "The Civil Conversations Project." In 2014,
On Being produced two radio specials. "Science on Human Frontiers" included interviews with Brian Greene, Natalie Batalha,
S. James Gates, Sylvia Earle, and Esther Sternberg. Most recently
On Being produced a special series on "The American Consciousness," a collection of live interviews at the Chautauqua Institution with
Michel Martin,
Richard Rodriguez,
Imani Perry, and
Nathan Schneider. During part of the program's run, musician
Lizzo rapped in the closing credits. ==Social enterprise==