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Guy Raz

Guy Raz is an independent producer who has been described by the New York Times as "one of the most popular podcasters in history."

He's the founder and CEO of Built-It Productions and the creator and the creative force behind How I Built This. He's also the former host and co-creator of TED Radio Hour.

Guy is also the co-founder of Tinkercast, a children's media company that produces audio podcasts and educational content for kids. Guy co-created and hosts one of those programs, Wow in the World—the number one kids podcast in English.

He's also the creator/host of Wisdom from the Top, a podcast about leadership and The Rewind on Spotify, a program about music.

Together, Guy's programs are heard by nearly 19 million listeners a month.

In 2017, Raz became the first person in the history of podcasting to have three shows in the top 20 on the Apple Podcast charts.

He's been a regular guest on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and is a two-time, New York Times bestselling author. His books include How I Built This and Wow in the World: The How and Wow of the Human Body (co-authored with Mindy Thomas.)

Previously, Raz was weekend host of NPR News' signature afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered. During his tenure (2009-2012), he transformed the sound and format of the program, introducing the now-signature "cover story" and creating the popular "Three-Minute Fiction" writing contest.

Raz started his career as an intern on All Things Considered with NPR in 1997. He would go on to work as a production assistant, studio director all the way to foreign correspondent and breaking news host.

His first job in journalism was as assistant to the legendary news reporter Daniel Schorr.

In 2000, at the age of 25, Raz was made NPR's Berlin bureau chief where he covered Eastern Europe and the Balkans. During his six years abroad, Raz covered everything from wars and conflict zones to sports and entertainment. He reported from more than 40 countries including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Macedonia, and the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Raz also served as NPR's bureau chief in London, and between 2004-2006 as CNN's Jerusalem correspondent. During this time, Raz chronicled everything from the rise of Hamas as a political power to the incapacitation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. In 2006, Raz returned to NPR to serve as defense correspondent where he covered the Pentagon and the US military.

For his reporting from Iraq, Raz was awarded both the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Daniel Schorr Journalism prize. His reporting has contributed to two duPont awards and one Peabody awarded to NPR. He's been a finalist for the Livingston Award four times. He's won the National Headliner Award and an NABJ award, in addition to many others. In 2008, he spent a year as a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University where he studied classical history.

As a host and correspondent, Raz has interviewed and profiled more than 10,000 people including Bill Gates, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, General David Petraeus, Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and many, many others.

Raz has anchored live coverage on some of the biggest stories in recent years, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Newtown School Shootings, and the 2012 presidential election.

He has also served as a Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University, a Shapiro fellow at George Washington University, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown.

  • Mikko Hypponen is a "white hat" hacker in Finland who breaks into security systems to test network safety. Hypponen tells NPR's Guy Raz of the TED Radio Hour that Americans may be protected under NSA reforms, but foreigners like himself aren't.
  • For decades, coal represented half of the nation's electricity generation, but it dropped to only 34 percent in March. Technological breakthroughs in fracking have led to a gas boom that's caused prices to plummet, and now hundreds of coal miners are being laid off as the nation shifts away from the oldest and most plentiful source of electricity in the U.S.
  • For decades, coal represented half of the nation's electricity generation, but it dropped to only 34 percent for the month of March. While the decline is partially due to a warmer winter and stricter environmental regulations, the real culprit may be natural gas. Technological breakthroughs in fracking have led to a gas boom that's caused prices to plummet. As a result, power plants are switching from coal to natural gas and mines in Appalachia are shutting down.
  • A line of strong storms moved through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday with a number of tornadoes touching down. Homes and businesses were damaged across the region but there were no fatalities. As a massive storm approached Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, staff told travelers to seek shelter close to the center of the terminal buildings.
  • Bell was the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School. He championed the idea that racism was ordinary, not exceptional, in American life. He died Wednesday in New York of carcinoid cancer.
  • Thousands of Palestinians and their supporters demonstrated Sunday at Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon, and in the West Bank and Gaza, in commemoration of what has been dubbed the "nakba," or catastrophe. The day recalls Israel's creation in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of Palestinians. The annual protest turned violent this year, with at least 16 people killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
  • The singer, as widely known for her eccentric outfits and behavior as she is for her voice, is easily the most famous Icelander in the world. Inspired by childhood adventures walking among lava fields, Bjork's music is full of stories about pitch-dark forests and tiny sparks that live within them. Her music may prove challenging to listen to, but there are always moments of beauty and transcendence.
  • On a single day in Feb. 1991, an American Army squadron defeated an elite Iraqi brigade almost twice as large in what is now regarded as the largest U.S. Army tank battle since World War II. To history buffs, the "Battle of 73 Easting" is legendary. To the man who led the squadron, the battle was a omen of things to come.
  • Sen. Edward Kennedy's body was flown from Boston to Washington, D.C., Saturday afternoon for burial across the Potomac River in Arlington National Cemetery.
  • In 1968, Van Morrison released what would become a seminal recording in the history of popular music: Astral Weeks. It is Van Morrison's most praised album — although it was almost shelved by his record label. This year, he's performing every song from the album in select cities, and host Guy Raz caught up with him during his stop in Washington, D.C.