Bob Boilen is leaving NPR. On Wednesday, Boilen, who co-created NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series and created and hosted All Songs Considered, announced his retirement from the broadcaster after 35 years.
“After 35 years, I am leaving NPR,” Boilen wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I’ve had the thrill of creating Tiny Desk Concerts, All Songs Considered, directing All Things Considered for 18 years and so much more. I love the people I’ve worked with, but it’s time to find new challenges. thank you for listening/watching.”
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After first joining NPR in 1988, Boilen became the director of All Things Considered, the network’s flagship news program that he would go on to direct for the next 18 years. According to his NPR bio, “significant listener interest in the music being played on All Things Considered, along with his and NPR’s vast music collections,” eventually sparked the idea for All Songs Considered, which launched in 2000. Just eight years later, Boilen and NPR Music Editor Stephen Thompson created the “Tiny Desk Concert” series, named after Boilen’s former DC band Tiny Desk Unit. The series invites musicians to perform intimate concerts at Boilen’s desk in the NPR offices and has welcomed the likes of Mac Miller, Usher, Justin Bieber, Lizzo, Juvenile, Taylor Swift, the Wu-Tang Clan, and more over the course of more than 800 concerts.
“For over 35 years Bob has been a fixture here, whether as a long-time producer and director on All Things Considered or as a digital pioneer with NPR Music, Bob’s impact has achieved what few can; he has, through his work, changed NPR and changed the world around us,” read an internal memo obtained by Billboard and written by NPR vp of visuals & music strategy Keith Jenkins and outgoing senior vp of programming and audience development Anya Grundmann. In a statement included in the memo, Boilen said, “I leave at a time when new creative folks will hopefully envision exciting new futures for NPR Music.”
According to NPR journalist Lars Gotrich, Boilen’s final day at the media organization will be Monday, Oct. 2. Of Boilen’s exit, Gotrich wrote on X, “I will have more to say soon – probably even on the All Songs Considered podcast, which I’m taping with Bob on Friday if I can get through it without – but without Bob, there’s no Tiny Desk, no NPR Music.”
