WNYC's Leonard Lopate Celebrates 25th Anniversary - Thursday, March 25th at 7pm

What:  ’ÄúMusic, Memories and Mockery: A Leonard Lopate 25^th Anniversary Roast’Äù       

"To stay on the air for 25 years, either the audience loves you or you're sleeping with the management,’Äù said Andy Borowitz. ’ÄúIn Leonard's case, to my knowledge only the former is true."

Who:    Andy Borowitz ’Äì Emcee

Roasters: Chuck Close, Rosie Perez, Martha Plimpton, Michael Lomonaco, Phillip Lopate

Plus: Ruth Reichl, Art Spiegelman, WQXR’Äôs Elliott Forrest, and more!

               Guest of Honor: Leonard!

When:    Thursday, March 25^th at 7pm

Where:  The Cooper Union Great Hall

   7 East 7^th Street (at 3^rd Avenue)

Tickets: $25. Can be purchased at http://www.wnyc.org/events/149770

For more information: WNYC Listener Services (646) 829-4000

WNYC Presents

Music, Memories and Mockery:

A Leonard Lopate 25^th Anniversary Roast

Andy Borowitz to Emcee

Limited Edition Anniversary T-Shirt Designed by Art Spiegelman

Thursday, March 25^th at 7pm

At Cooper Union

(February 16, 2010) - For 25 years, The Leonard Lopate Show has served as New York City's salon of arts and ideas, featuring in-depth and insightful interviews with a range of luminaries, from newsmakers, tastemakers, and filmmakers to artists, authors, and actors.  From Francis Ford Coppola to Norman Mailer, Barack Obama to Meryl Streep, Henry Kissinger to Toni Morrison, a visit to the Lopate studio has been an essential stop in the New York cultural scene.

On Thursday, March 25^th at 7pm, WNYC will celebrate Leonard with ’ÄúMusic, Memories and Mockery: A Leonard Lopate 25th Anniversary Roast.’Äù The toasters and roasters all have long associations with the show:

• CHUCK CLOSE, painter and photographer
• MARTHA PLIMPTON, stage and screen actress
• MICHAEL LOMONACO, Executive Chef and partner, Porter House New York
• ROSIE PEREZ, actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist
• PHILLIP LOPATE, essayist, novelist, poet (and brother of Leonard!)

Humorist ANDY BOROWITZ will emcee, and put Leonard in the hot seat by turning the tables and interviewing the man himself.  Jazz pianist JASON MORAN will provide musical entertainment.

"To stay on the air for 25 years, either the audience loves you or you're sleeping with the management,’Äù said BOROWITZ. ’ÄúIn Leonard's case, to my knowledge only the former is true."

A special edition T-shirt, designed by longtime listener and Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book author ART SPIEGELMAN will be available on-site. 

Tickets are $25 and are available at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7959435.

In addition, on March 5^th during Leonard’Äôs regularly scheduled program, an audio documentary narrated by On the Media’Äôs BROOKE GLADSTONE will present highlights from his 25 years on the air. The show will also air celebrity tributes throughout the week of March 1^st-5^th.

*  *  *

During his time on WNYC, Leonard Lopate has welcomed an impressive range of guests ’Äì poets, painters, politicians, novelists, dancers, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, filmmakers, scientists and chefs ’Äì to talk about their work, their process, and their passions. Leonard is renowned for an interview style that sounds less like traditional talk radio and more like eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation. He engages his guests in complex, illuminating talks that delve deeply into each guest’Äôs experiences, thoughts, and feelings. He can be skeptical or enthusiastic, as needed, but his conversational mode favors dialogue over debate.

The Leonard Lopate Show has been recognized with three Associated Press Awards for ’ÄúBest Interview’Äù for interviews with President Jimmy Carter, Tony Bennett and Yoko Ono. Additionally, the show has received three James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards in the ’ÄúRadio Food Show’Äù category, including a win for his ’ÄúHoliday Recipe Swap’Äù segment with Chef Michael Lomonaco, who will be on hand to celebrate Leonard’Äôs 25^th anniversary.

The Leonard Lopate Show airs weekdays from 12noon-2pm on WNYC 93.9 FM, AM 820 and via live webstream at www.wnyc.org, where all interviews are also available on-demand.

WNYC Radio is New York's premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC-FM, WNYC-AM, and WQXR, as well as www.wnyc.org and www.wqxr.org. As America's most listened-to AM/FM public radio stations, reaching more than one million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City's cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WNYC 93.9 FM broadcasts a wide range of daily news, talk, cultural and music programming, while WNYC AM 820 maintains a stronger focus on breaking news and international news reporting. Classical 105.9 WQXR is New York City’Äôs sole 24/7 classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings, as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city’Äôs rich musical life. In addition to its audio content, WNYC produces content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’Äôs street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. For more information about WNYC, visit www.wnyc.org.