Jad Abumrad is a composer, storyteller, writer and teacher. The radio shows and podcasts he has created - most notably Radiolab - have been downloaded more than a billion times. Radiolab continues to be broadcast on over 600 public radio stations around the country.
Abumrad also created More Perfect, a series about the Supreme Court, which the New York Times called “possibly the most mesmerizing podcast.” Other projects include: the Vanishing of Harry Pace, Unerased, and Dolly Parton’s America a 9-part series that explores a divided America through the life and music of one of its greatest icons. His podcast Fela Kuti, Fear No Man, about the Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti was chosen the Best Podcast of 2025 by the New Yorker, the New York Times and the Guardian. His new podcast is The Obit Project hosted by Jad Abumrad and Jule Banville working with the Montana Media Lab and the University of Montana School of Journalism.
Abumrad employs his dual backgrounds as composer and journalist to create what’s been called “a new aesthetic” in broadcast journalism. He orchestrates dialogue, music, interviews and sounds into compelling documentaries that draw listeners into investigations of otherwise intimidating topics, such as the origin of numbers, the evolution of altruism, or the legal foundation for the war on terror.
He’s won four George Foster Peabody Awards, and in 2011 he was honored as a MacArthur Fellow (also known as the Genius Grant). The MacArthur Foundation website says: “Abumrad is inspiring boundless curiosity within a new generation of listeners and experimenting with sound to find ever more effective and entertaining ways to explain ideas and tell a story.”
In April 2022 Abumrad began a joint appointment at Vanderbilt University as a Distinguished Research Professor of Cinema and Media Arts and of Communication of Science and Technology at the College of Arts and Science. Both Radiolab and More Perfect are on Time magazine’s list of the 100 Best Podcasts of All Time.
Abumrad continues to mix music and spoken word in new ways, composing story/music hybrids for live orchestra and chamber ensemble.
Jad Abumrad website
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