As It Happens is a Canadian interview show that airs on CBC Radio One in Canada and various public radio stations in the United States through Public Radio Exchange. Its 50th anniversary was celebrated on-air on November 16, 2018. It has been one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on CBC Radio.
The bulk of the program consists of a CBC journalist, currently Nil Köksal since 2022, conducting telephone interviews with newsmakers and other persons of interest. The other co-host, Chris Howden as of January 6, 2020, introduces the interviews and other segments, such as "For the Record" recordings of speeches or press conferences, and musical interludes (or as former co-host Barbara Budd often referred to them, "the dance portion of the program").
Stations and time
The show is broadcast each weekday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. (half an hour later in Newfoundland) throughout Canada. It used to be widely accessible to much of the northern United States, but as the CBC switched its CBC Radio One from powerful AM signals in Eastern Canadian urban centres to FM stations, it became harder to receive CBC content further away from the border.
As It Happens can be heard on CBC Radio One's channel 169 on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (in both Canada and the U.S.), on an increasing number of American public radio stations, especially NPR affiliates with news radio formats, via distribution from CBC's American distribution partner Public Radio Exchange, and on the Internet via streaming audio at the CBC's website. Older broadcasts are available as a stream from the CBC's website, but without the music.
As It Happens is heard on a delayed-broadcast basis in the United States, generally airing in a later-evening slot and often paired with Q; American stations that carry As It Happens do not air the final half-hour (7:30 to 8:00 p.m.) of the program.
In the fall of 2009, the show also added an hour long repeat airing at midnight on weeknights called As It Happens: The Midnight Edition, which features an abbreviated edition of the 6:30 p.m. broadcast. Thanks to shorter run time, many of the less important interviews and stories are cut from the midnight rerun to fit the reduced air time, so the midnight broadcast is virtually identical to the American NPR edit. However, in the summer months of July and August, the program is reduced to an hour in its regular time slot, which means the midnight edition airs all the content during that period.
During the summer, the program ends at 7:30 and is followed by a half-hour program from the network's schedule of short-run summer series. Most summers, one of those summer series is As It Happened: The Archive Edition, a separate program which airs previously broadcast interviews from the main series.
History
The show was introduced in 1968 as a reverse call-in show: rather than having the public call in, the reporters at As It Happens called newsmakers and pundits for their opinions.
During the 1970s, the program produced 54-minute-long segments called "As It Happened, (insert year)", covering the major events of years past, particularly the 1930s and 1940s. During the CBC technicians strike in 1981, after a few weeks of music, the As It Happened segments were played each weeknight in chronological order as repeat filler material until the strike was resolved.
When the interviewer is absent, other CBC journalists typically sit in as substitute interviewers; when the announcer is absent, substitutes may include other CBC personalities, actors such as R. H. Thomson, or program staffers; Howden himself sometimes appeared on the program as a guest announcer before being named co-host effective January 6, 2020.
In January 2022, Off announced her retirement from As It Happens, effective February 25. In July 2022, it was announced that Nil Köksal will debut as Off's successor in September.