For immediate release
April 2, 1998


NPR's Jazz From Lincoln Center Wins Peabody


WASHINGTON, DC - NPR®'s Jazz From Lincoln Center® has earned the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for broadcast and cable excellence. This is the 30th Peabody awarded to NPR since 1973. The awards will be presented May 11 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

The Peabody committee commended Jazz From Lincoln Center for being "a celebration of the most American musical art form marked by spectacular studio sound technique and informative interviews." The weekly series captures live performances from Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC), the renowned jazz and music education component of America's premier performing arts organization. Heard on nearly 200 NPR stations nationwide, the program is hosted by CBS News' 60 Minutes Correspondent Ed Bradley, and produced by Steve Rathe for Jazz J@LC and Murray Street Enterprise. J@LC concerts are coordinated by Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and Executive Producer and Director Rob Gibson.

"We're delighted that the Peabody Committee has recognized the great musicianship, writing, editing and engineering that goes into Jazz From Lincoln Center," said Rathe. Rathe and Murray Street received a 1990 Peabody Award for NPR's HEAT with John Hockenberry. Rathe also created NPR's Peabody Award-winning series Jazz Alive! in 1977.

NPR also distributes several other acclaimed jazz programs including: Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music (Peabody winner in 1996), Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz (a 1984 Peabody Award-winner), JazzSet® with Branford Marsalis, Jazz Profiles® and Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center®.

Jazz From Lincoln Center is funded by Discover Card®, The Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts and National Public Radio.

National Public Radio® is a membership organization of 600 public radio stations worldwide, and is radio's leading provider of high-quality news, information, and cultural programming. NPR is the producer and distributor of such programs as Morning Edition®, All Things Considered®, NPR's Performance Today®, and Car Talk®. Information on these programs can be found at www.npr.org.