Neal Conan, a radio virtuoso who as a rigorous journalist and congenial raconteur anchored NPR’s flagship call-in program, “Talk of the Nation,” for 12 years, died on Tuesday at his farm in Hawi, Hawaii. His wife, the travel writer, poet and essayist Gretel Ehrlich, said the cause was brain cancer. In a broadcasting career that began when he was 17 and lasted five decades, Mr. Conan worked for NPR in New York, London and Washington as an executive producer, foreign editor, managing editor and news director. “Neal was old school,” Mr. Hedges said by email. He held himself to the highest standards.

Source: New York Times August 11, 2021 17:55 UTC