American author and radio host
John Calvin Batchelor
(born April 29, 1948) is an American author and the host of
Eye on the World
on the
CBS Audio Network
. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR.
[1]
The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world history, global politics and natural sciences.
For five years, from early 2001 to September 2006, based at
AM 770
WABC
radio in New York, his radio program
The John Batchelor Show
was
syndicated
nationally on the
ABC
radio network. On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC, and later to other large
market
stations on a weekly basis. As of November 30, 2009, Batchelor was once again hosting a nightly show on WABC, from 9 p.m. to 1
a.m.
Eastern Time
and heard in many major markets across the country through what eventually became the
Westwood One
network.
The program for a time was heard seven nights a week, using prerecorded material on weekends. Later, it aired Monday through Friday on WABC and many Westwood One
network affiliates
. Batchelor describes the show as a "
news magazine
" since he does not take phone calls from listeners but does a series of interviews with guests and reporters. The show's run on Westwood One ended in March 2021 as part of a reorganization at WABC, after which Batchelor almost immediately began his current show with CBS.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Batchelor was born in
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
, to an
Assyrian
mother from
Iran
and a Midwestern American father.
[2]
He was raised primarily in the Lower Merion Township of
Montgomery County
in
Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district
. His mother and father both served in the
United States Army
during
World War II
; his father also served in the
Korean War
. Batchelor is the eldest of five brothers. He is a 1970 graduate of
Princeton University
. He briefly studied at the
University of Edinburgh
and is also a graduate of
Union Theological Seminary
in New York.
[3]
Broadcasting
[
edit
]
Batchelor and Alexander
[
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]
John Batchelor co-hosted
Batchelor and Alexander
with writer Paul Alexander on WABC in New York for over two years. They focused on international issues with special attention to Middle East-based
terrorism
. Batchelor described their approach: "Our model is the
BBC World Service
, with music and live interviews, but without English accents." Alexander quipped: "We're not
NPR
, where they do setups to things on tape. Well, we could be NPR on drugs."
[3]
Three days before the
September 11 attacks
, they presented a four-hour WABC show on the
USS
Cole
bombing
, interviewing several guests.
[4]
Alexander left the show in December 2003 to pursue work as a playwright
[5]
and biographer.
The John Batchelor Show
[
edit
]
The John Batchelor Show
began its national syndication in April 2003. The program airs 20 hours a week on roughly 200 stations. Its focus is geopolitics, economics, war, history, hard sciences, literature, private space, whimsy, etc. Historically, it carried nightly (Mon-Fri) the "Loftus Report" featuring the intelligence commentator
John Loftus
on current, war-related,
open-source intelligence
.
Aaron Klein
, at the time Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily, was also a regular and served as a co-host. Other regular contributors included
Malcolm Hoenlein
, the executive vice president of the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
;
[6]
the New York attorney and taste-maker Ed Hayes;
Larry Kudlow
of CNBC's
Kudlow & Company
;
Bill Whelan
of the
Hoover Institution
; John Fund, Bret Stephens, Dan Henninger, Rob Pollock and Kim Strassel of the
Wall Street Journal
; Jim McTague of
Barron's Magazine
;
Chuck Todd
, then of
The Hotline
, now NBC Political Director; Fiona Harvey and Martin Wolf of the
Financial Times
; Jodi Schneider of the
Congressional Quarterly
;
Matt Bai
and
A. O. Scott
of the
New York Times
;
Katrina vanden Heuvel
and
Stephen F. Cohen
of
The Nation
; Victor Davis Hanson, Henry Miller, and Larry Diamond of the Hoover Institution; Adrian Wooldridge, Robert Guest, and John Parker of
the Economist
;
Monica Crowley
; David Grinspoon,
[7]
resident expert on the planet Mars and outer space, and Robert Zimmerman, award-winning
NASA
observer. The program daily featured reports from journalists who filed with the world's most respected press outlets, and the show was reliably a few days ahead of the news cycle.
When John Batchelor occasionally took a break for several evenings, the show was often hosted by
Jed Babbin
, editor of
Human Events
in Washington, D.C.; sometimes by the former BBC journalist John Terrett, who now works for
Al Jazeera
; and by
Larry Kudlow
of CNBC's
Kudlow & Company
and WABC's
Larry Kudlow Show
. In 2012, Simon Constable of Dow Jones; Chris Riback, author and researcher, and Francis Rose of
Federal News Radio
in Washington, D.C., became primary fill-ins.
Batchelor's show featured multiple guests, and shows were preceded by and interspersed with news clips and music. The show focused on myriad topics, including politics, the
war on terror
,
nuclear proliferation
, the UN, African civil wars,
American history
,
space exploration
and even Hollywood scandals. The
Jerusalem Post
has an audio archive of
Batchelor and Alexander
segments from 2002 and 2003 that deal with Israel and the Middle East.
[8]
To report on breaking news, Batchelor and his executive producer have travelled domestically to hotspots, and to Azerbaijan, Qatar, Israel, Jordan,
Kazakhstan
, Uzbekistan, France, Poland and Taiwan. They landed in Taipei to broadcast for the week leading up to the 2004 elections when, on the last day of electioneering, both the president and the vice-president were shot and wounded by an unknown assailant.
First cancellation and subsequent return
[
edit
]
In 2006, Batchelor announced that his ABC show would be canceled, beginning with the show scheduled for Monday, September 4.
[9]
Batchelor returned on
WABC
as the host of a weekly version of the previous show on October 7, 2007, from 7?10
pm Eastern Time. He then hosted a second show as a guest host on
KFI
in Los Angeles, filling the vacancy caused by the departure of
Matt Drudge
, in the next three hours from 7?10
pm Pacific time. His first program featured an interview with
Nick Grace
of
ClandestineRadio.com
that broke the name of
al Qaeda
's extranet, Obelisk, and the news that the extranet's security tightened following a press leak in September 2007.
[10]
In 2009, Batchelor expanded his show to Saturday and Sunday nights, from 9
pm to 1
am, on most of his affiliates. The Saturday show focused more on authors of history books, while the Sunday show focused on breaking news and a wider range of topics.
On November 24, 2009, WABC announced that the Batchelor show would be also airing weeknights from 9
pm to 1
am, effective November 30.
[11]
Batchelor was a frequent guest on the
Gene Countryman Show
, KNSS, Wichita, Kansas, Sundays at 8
pm Eastern. Batchelor on Tuesdays formerly featured an hour with
Larry Kudlow
on finance (until Kudlow became an advisor to President Trump), and then an hour with professor Stephen Cohen on Russia. Professor Cohen elected to take a break for a while and the Tuesday guest as of early 2020 is Gregory R. Copley, publisher of Defense and Foreign Affairs. On Wednesdays: an hour-plus with
Gordon Chang
on China and East Asia, and one or two segments on private exploration of space with Dr. David Livingston; on Thursdays: an hour with
Mary Kissel
on domestic U.S. politics, foreign policy, and matters Australian (until Kissel became a senior advisor to Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo
), then an hour and a half with
Malcolm Hoenlein
on the Middle East.
CBS Eye on the World
[
edit
]
On March 5, 2021, Batchelor hosted his last episode of
The John Batchelor Show
on WABC and Westwood One, as WABC shuffled its format
[12]
and the show ended its affiliation with Westwood One in favor of syndication by CBS News.
[13]
Batchelor continued to produce show segments during March, styled as "The New John Batchelor Show". He noted during the segments that the show is "represented by CBS Audio Network." In April 2021, the show returned to stations across the country. The material is streamed on
AudioBoom
, linked from Batchelor's website;
[14]
specific segments are announced on
Twitter
as they are available. In May 2021, Batchelor began identifying the show as
CBS Eye on the World.
On Monday, November 1, 2021, the program debuted on
WOR
in New York, airing from 9 PM to midnight, Monday through Friday.
[15]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Writing as
John Calvin Batchelor
- The Further Adventures of Halley's Comet
(1980) (novel)
[16]
- The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica
,
Dial Press
(1983) (novel)
[17]
- American Falls
(1985) (novel)
[18]
- Thunder in the Dust: Classic Images of Western Movies
(1987) (with John R. Hamilton)
[19]
- Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing
(1993) (novel)
[20]
- Father's Day
, (1994) (novel)
[21]
- "Ain't You Glad You Joined the Republicans?": A Short History of the GOP
(May 1996) (nonfiction)
[22]
Writing as
Tommy "Tip" Paine
- Gordon Liddy Is My Muse
(1990) (novel)
[23]
- Walking the Cat
(1991) (novel)
[24]
Frequent guests
[
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]
- John Avlon
,
Daily Beast
; progressive commentator, author of
Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America
- Jeff Bliss
, The Bliss Index
[25]
- John R. Bolton
, former
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
;
American Enterprise Institute
; National Security Advisor of the United States.
- Lara M. Brown
, political historian and author
- Gordon G. Chang
,
Daily Beast
; noted anti-Communist Chinese commentator
- Stephen F. Cohen
, Russian studies scholar at Princeton University
- Simon Constable
,
MarketWatch
- Gregory R Copley
, editor and publisher of
Defense & Foreign Affairs
- Christopher Nixon Cox
, Liechtenstein Institute at Princeton University
- Monica Crowley
,
Washington Times
and Fox News
- Judy Dempsey
- David Drucker
,
Washington Examiner
senior Congressional correspondent
- John Fund
,
NRO
- Richard Epstein
- Charlie Gasparino
- Taegan Goddard
,
Political Wire
- Lou Ann Hammond, CEO of www.carlist.com; CEO of www.drivingthenation.com
- Victor Davis Hanson
,
The Hoover Institution
- Malcolm Hoenlein
,
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
- Larry Johnson
,
No Quarter
blog
- Mary Kissel
, formerly of
The Wall Street Journal
- Larry Kudlow
, formerly of CNBC and late
Reagan administration
; Director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump
- Thaddeus McCotter
, Republican U.S. representative from Michigan's 11th congressional district from 2003 to 2012
- Marc Morano
,
Climate Depot
- Devin Nunes
,
CA-21; R
- Arif Rafiq
, Pakistan Policy Blog
- Bill Roggio
,
Long War Journal
- John Tamny
,
RealClearPolitics
- Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran
,
The Economist
- Adrian Wooldridge
,
The Economist
- Bob Zimmerman, author of
Leaving Earth
- Salena Zito
,
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
,
New York Post
Regular segments include "Hotel California" (introduced by an instrumental version of the
Eagles song
), which was a discussion of California's former fiscal discombobulation and its political environment, including the gubernatorial and Senatorial races.
Devin Nunes
generally is included in the roundtable; also, Hotel Mars, episode
n.
Robert Zimmerman of behindtheblack frequently comes on to talk about
NASA
and the
space program
, preceded by the music from the
Star Trek
end credits. The show's last segment (c.12:55 AM EST) invariably features
Al Bowlly
's "
Midnight, the Stars and You
", ending in a brief (<30sec) valediction/good-night, sometimes with a few moments with a guest (time for one question). The singer is sometimes mistaken for
Al Jolson
, as Batchelor introduces the singer simply with "here's Al," and the song dates from the time of Bowlly's late career. From 2001 to 2006, Batchelor ended his show with
Kate Smith
singing "
God Bless America
."
John Avlon
, Jeff Bliss,
Gordon Chang
,
Simon Constable
,
Taegan Goddard
,
Malcolm Hoenlein
,
Mary Kissel
,
Larry Kudlow
, Francis Rose, and Chris Riback have frequently
guest-hosted
or co-hosted.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
O'Connor, Anahad
(February 19, 2006).
"He Takes the Shout Out of Talk Radio"
.
The New York Times
. pp. 14WC.1.
- ^
"John Batchelor, Novelist & Radio Talk Show Host"
.
Q&A.org
. Retrieved
November 30,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Collins, Glenn (November 21, 2001).
"PUBLIC LIVES; Like the BBC Without Accents, or 'NPR on Drugs'
"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
May 6,
2010
.
- ^
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on October 25, 2006
. Retrieved
March 15,
2007
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
"Boston.com / A&E / Books / The death, and rebirth, of Sylvia Plath"
.
www.boston.com
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
.
- ^
"Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations"
.
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
.
- ^
". . : : Lonely Planets : David Grinspoon : : . "
.
lonelyplanets.net
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
.
- ^
"America's Voices - Broadcasting the Real Story from Israel to America"
. Archived from
the original
on September 3, 2006
. Retrieved
September 1,
2006
.
- ^
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on November 1, 2006
. Retrieved
September 1,
2006
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
"Pundita: Back With a Bang: Bicoastal Batchelor Broadcasts"
.
pundita.blogspot.com
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
.
- ^
"Curtis Sliwa is leaving WABC 770 AM"
.
Daily News
. New York. November 25, 2009. Archived from
the original
on September 6, 2012.
- ^
Lance Venta (March 9, 2021).
"WABC Adds Greg Kelly, Ends John Batchelor Show & Takes Curtis Sliwa Off During Mayoral Run"
. RadioInsight.
- ^
"Talkers Magazine"
. March 10, 2021. Archived from
the original
on March 18, 2021
. Retrieved
March 16,
2021
.
See
News Notes
.
- ^
"John Batchelor Show"
.
- ^
"John Batchelor Joins WOR Lineup"
. October 28, 2021.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (April 15, 1980).
"The Further Adventures of Halley's Comet"
. New York Congdon & Lattes 1980
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
– via Amazon.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (April 15, 1983).
"The Birth of the People's Republic of Antartica"
. Dial
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
– via Amazon.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (July 1, 1996).
American Falls: A Novel
. Henry Holt & Co.
ISBN
080503787X
.
- ^
Hamilton, John R.; Batchelor, John Calvin (September 1, 1987).
Thunder in the Dust: Classic Images of Western Movies
. Stewart Tabori & Chang.
ISBN
1556700067
.
- ^
results, search (April 15, 2018).
"Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing"
. Henry Holt
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
– via Amazon.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (May 1, 1996).
Father's Day: A Novel
. St Martins Pr.
ISBN
0312958587
.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (May 1, 1996).
Ain't You Glad You Joined the Republicans?: A Short History of the Gop
. Henry Holt & Co.
ISBN
0805032673
.
- ^
results, search (October 1, 1995).
Gordon Liddy Is My Muse: By Tommy "Tip" Paine : A Novel
. Henry Holt & Co.
ISBN
080503790X
.
- ^
Batchelor, John Calvin (October 1, 1995).
Walking the Cat, by Tommy "Tip" Paine: Gordon Libby Is My Muse 2 : A Novel
. Henry Holt & Co.
ISBN
0805037896
.
- ^
"THE BLISS INDEX"
.
theblissindex.blogspot.com
. Retrieved
April 15,
2018
.
External links
[
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