Complete Story
10/16/2017
‘Thank you for C-SPAN’
That four-word phrase is the mantra of many loyal C-SPAN fans who tune in — and call in — to the public affairs network for its daily talk shows, public forums, analysis and agenda-free coverage of Congress, the White House plus key political and historical fare. The intrepid C-SPAN will celebrate its 40th anniversary before the next presidential election. This week, however, the network is marking the 20th year for C-SPAN Radio, which went on the air Oct. 9, 1997, and continues to provide 24-hour, commercial-free programming.
The radio broadcast is available online via podcasts and a snappy free app — or via Sirius XM, iTunes, Amazon, Google and other sources. For all its modernity, C-SPAN radio — like its televised side — maintains an old school calling to inform the public with facts and context.
“Our mission is so much like it was from Day One: to let people see the process for themselves, from gavel to gavel. It can be not-so-exciting from time to time. But we let them make up their own minds,” says Brian Lamb, who co-founded the network in 1979.
While live TV coverage of President Trump at a rally is hard to beat, C-SPAN Radio has its own cachet.
“Radio is ubiquitous. It’s everywhere, and it’s a perfect medium for the long-form content we do. You form a vision in your mind the second you turn on a radio — what someone looks like, where they’re sitting, what they’re dressed like.
