Taking their love of American history to the airwaves, History Profs. Peter Onuf and Brian Balogh and former History Prof. Edward Ayers will premiere their history-themed radio show, "Backstory with the American History Guys," this May and may move to the national airwaves by the end of 2008, according to the show's producer Tony Field.
The show, Field said, will be part of the University's Virginia Foundation for Humanities, an "organization that tries to get humanities out into the public sphere."
"Backstory," as the name might suggest, tries to look at the historical perspective behind many modern-day issues.
"The general format of the show is to start with something in the headlines, but we very we quickly move back to the very historical context and not just the immediate historical context," Balogh said.
According to Field, the show was inspired in part by the friendship shared by the three professors involved as well as by their extensive knowledge of history.
"Our executive producer at VFH recognized that there was a great energy there between the three of them, but also that they were brilliant guys," he said.
Balogh credited his participation in the show to the three's friendship.
"I love working with the other two hosts, in fact it's why I'm doing the radio show," Balogh said. "I really enjoy talking to them about history."
Besides the show's entertainment value, Field noted that the show has great educational value.
"What public radio and the media in general could benefit from [is] more history," he said. "We feel that historians have a lot to bring to the world that is happening around us every day. Every week we pick a topic from the news and spend an hour exploring the historical context and giving listeners what they need to know to better understand what is happening now."
Onuf said although he, Balogh and Ayers all specialize in American history, each of the hosts brings a unique perspective and area of expertise to the show.
"I'm the Thomas Jefferson Foundation professor, I teach the Age of Jefferson," he said. "I'm a scholar who works on Jeffersonian topics. I'm the first in the lineup, then Ed Ayers has moved his work into the Civil War era and then Brian Balogh is the 20th-century historian. That's the lineup; we cover it all."
According to Field, the producers of the show will try to pick topics that will lend themselves to each of these three periods in American history.
Field noted, for example, the hosts would not produce a story on the automobile, but might do one on transportation, so all three professors would be able to respond and comment on the issue at hand.
Some other examples of possible show topics -- that have already been recorded -- include "Newcomers to Politics," "Controversial Wars" and "The Disappearing Environment," Onuf said, adding that the chosen topics are broad enough to make all the shows interesting.
"What's fun and surprising about this is that we are all talking with ... each other and we get very excited about it," Onuf said. "Who knew we had so much to say?"
According to Field, about half to three-quarters of the show will focus on listener calls. "Backstory" hopes to attract both those who are knowledgeable on the discussion topics and those who are not experts, he noted.
"We are trying to make history fun for a range of listeners," he said.
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