Robert Krulwich Announces Retirement From WNYC/New York's 'Radiolab'

Krulwich (and Abumrad) (Photo: WNYC)

ROBERT KRULWICH is retiring from his co-hosting duties for NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO News-Talk WNYC-A-F/NEW YORK and WNYC STUDIOS' "RADIOLAB." KRULWICH, the former science and business correspondent for NPR, ABC NEWS, and CBS and ROLLING STONE WASHINGTON Bureau Chief, has officially co-hosted the show and podcast with JAD ABUMRAD since 2005 and "guest-hosted" the show in its earliest incarnation before that.

In a letter to listeners, KRULWICH said, "I've decided it's time for me to retire from RADIOLAB. Not because anything bad has happened, more like the opposite." He said that at an editorial meeting a year ago, he felt "that I was no longer crucial to what was going on," and that "if I had tiptoed out, the place would be every bit as vivid as if I'd stayed.... There comes a time -- and I think it has come -- when you get out of the way and let the future come flooding in."

KRULWICH added that he is "not leaving immediately," and will be working on a show for next week and a "world population puzzle I'm trying to unravel with JAD once he finishes with DOLLY PARTON, after which, I will start hanging out with new folks doing new projects, a documentary, a global warming interactive, and more grandpa duty with WESLEY, 3 and ZACHARY, 3 months, who will need me to blow bubbles at pigeons and teach them secret greetings for shrubs."

ABUMRAD responded with a letter expressing "sadness" at KRULWICH's departure "because ROBERT has been my collaborator and co-host slash soul-mate slash play-mate slash studio-mate for 17 years." He noted that KRULWICH will still be heard on the show "from time to time" and his influence will be heard in every RADIOLAB story to come.

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