Live Wire Radio is a radio variety show that was launched in 2004 in Portland, Oregon, United States. Live Wire was initially hosted by Rob Sample, followed by Courtenay Hameister, with current hosting duties covered by Luke Burbank. Burbank has a podcast called Too Beautiful to Live and is an occasional guest-host on the nationally syndicated NPR quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Live Wire is built on various elements such as standup comedy, guest interviews, and musical performances. Its emphasis is on the quirky local character of Portland. Each show is recorded in front of a live audience, every other week, which is then edited into material for two weekly shows.
History
In February 2003, Kate Sokoloff approached Robyn Tenenbaum with the idea for Live Wire, a younger, "hipper" version of Prairie Home Companion, in a format similar to West Coast Live. Tenenbaum had worked on rock concerts with Bill Graham Presents, and for four years had helped produce West Coast Live for NPR in San Francisco. Sokoloff was producing local theatre. The two women started a production company called Moxiefish, and put together a demo of Live Wirein September 2003, which they shopped to Oregon Public Broadcasting. About 150 people watched the first taping in March 2004 at the Hollywood Theatre, hosted by Rob Sample. The first broadcast was at 7 pm on Saturday, March 27, 2004, over the OPB network. At first, the show was produced monthly. By 2005, the taping was held primarily at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, with 350 to 500 in the audience. One show was taped at the Mission Theatre & Pub in October 2005. The Gerding Theatre in the First Regiment Armory Annex was used for a summer show in 2013. Because of Sample's other commitments, head writer Courtenay Hameister replaced him as host after four shows. Hameister was working as an advertising copy writer, and she had helped to produce the sketch comedy showThe State which aired on MTV in the early 1990s. Live Wire consulted with Bill Oakley, known for his writing credits on the television shows The Simpsons and Portlandia. Live Wire started airing weekly in Autumn 2010, taping four shows in two live recording sessions every month except January and July at Portland's Alberta Rose Theatre. In March 2012 the show reached its 100th episode. In September 2013, Luke Burbank became the show's official host, after filling in as guest host after Hameister stepped down in March of that year. With his podcast audience and appearances on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, producers hoped Burbank would bring Live Wire a higher national profile. Hameister stayed with the show as head writer.
Broadcast coverage
Live Wire first aired on OPB in 2004. In early 2009 it was beginning to have a national audience. The show uses Public Radio Exchange for delivery to markets outside of Oregon. It airs on a delayed/recorded basis on six National Public Radio stations outside of Portland, including Spokane and Indianapolis, and seven volunteer-run community radio stations. According to the Portland Monthly, by January 2014 it was carried by 40 US stations and one in England, with some 80,000 listeners each week. It is also available as a podcast. As of February 2014 the show's website listed only 14 stations on which it aired and explained that its airing in England was limited to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, an acute care facility. In 2014, Live Wire was picked up by Public Radio International.
