Genre Comedy Country Canada Home station CBC Radio One | Running time ca. 27 min. Language(s) English | |
Syndicates Public Radio International, NPR | ||
WireTap was a half-hour-long radio show which aired on CBC Radio One Saturday afternoons at 3:30 pm, and Thursday evenings at 11:30 pm. An hour-long version of WireTap is distributed in the United States by Public Radio International and is heard on multiple public radio stations. Hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, former producer of Public Radio International's This American Life, the show featured stories that were told as if over the phone with Goldstein.
The show fell into what had traditionally been CBC Radio One's comedy slot on Sunday afternoons, replacing Madly Off in All Directions which moved to a different time slot, though the show itself does not fit easily into the comedy category. The show has been described as "a weekly half-hour of conversation, storytelling and introspection, culled from equal parts real-world experience and the warp of Goldstein's imagination." Each show tends to have followed a particular investigative theme; past show titles include: "Life Lessons", "Reach for the Top", "Prized Possessions" and "Our Fathers".
The series began in the summer of 2004 as a 10-episode experiment, after which it succeeded to its own regular timeslot. It was recorded out of CBC's Montreal studios.
As of 2008, WireTap had a weekly listenership of 350000. In 2009 the show became available as a podcast, greatly increasing access.
On August 19, 2015, Goldstein announced that the show was ending after an 11-year run.