''Bullseye with Jesse Thorn'' (formerly ''The Sound of Young America'') is a

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

program and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and distributed by

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(NPR). The weekly show is currently heard on over 50 public radio stations. The program features host

Jesse Thorn Jesse Thorn (born April 24, 1981) is an American media entrepreneur and public radio and podcast host/creator. He is the owner and founder of the Maximum Fun podcast network, and the host and producer of the podcasts '' Judge John Hodgman'' and ...

interviewing personalities in arts and culture, with a special focus on comedy.

History

''The Sound of Young America'' began in 2000 on the

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station

KZSC KZSC (88.1 FM) is a college radio station broadcasting from the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California. It is a student run, community, non-commercial college radio station that serves as a training ground fo ...

-FM, based at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

. At first, ''The Sound of Young America'' was a variety college radio show featuring Thorn and two other cohosts, Matt Dobbs (who soon dropped out in favor of Jordan Morris) and Gene O'Neill. Initially a morning show, it later ran from 5 to 6 p.m. each Thursday. O'Neill left in 2003, and Brian Lane filled in periodically thereafter. Upon Morris' departure in May 2004, the show began to use rotating co-hosts. That autumn, Thorn went solo. Past contributors to the show include Jordan Morris, "Boy Detective", and "Big Time" Gene O'Neill as co-hosts, and regular appearances from Thorn's joke-telling and sometime rock-and-roller younger brother, the Master of "

Would You Rather "Would you rather" is a conversation or party game that poses a dilemma in the form of a question beginning with "would you rather". The dilemma can be between two supposedly good options such as "Would you rather have the power of flight or the ...

?" Jim Real, Brian "Back in Business" Lane, and artist/musician Dan Grayson. In 2003, the show staged a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

of ''Sad Dad'', an original

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

written by Morris and O'Neill. 2003 also saw the debut of the show's theme song,

Maximum Fun Maximum Fun is an independent podcast and radio show production organization founded and run by Jesse Thorn. The organization originated with Thorn's college radio show '' The Sound of Young America'' which continued in an adapted format and wit ...

, written and performed by Thorn and Grayson. Near the end of 2004 the show became available as a podcast. Thorn and the show were mentioned in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', and ''

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

''. ''Salon.com'' Audiofile wrote, "If you've never heard of ''The Sound of Young America'', ''The Sound of Young America'' is the greatest radio show you've never heard of", and described Thorn's interviewing style as combining "the civility and preparedness of erryGross leavened with the good humor of onanO'Brien." In January 2006, ''Time'' selected the show in a column entitled "Pick of the Podcasts". ''The Wall Street Journal'' "Blog Watch" column described the show as "a popular podcast where Mr. Thorn interviews some of the nation's top talent and comics occasionally perform sketches, and noted that Thorn produced the podcast "from his living room".Alt URL
/ref> During this time, Thorn received a call from the director of programming at

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

, who had heard one of the podcasts and expressed interest in distributing the show. In 2006

WNYC-FM WNYC-FM (93.9 MHz) is a non-profit, non-commercial, public radio station licensed to New York City. It is owned by New York Public Radio along with WNYC (AM), Newark, New Jersey-licensed classical music outlet WQXR-FM (105.9 MHz), New J ...

, a

station in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, picked up the show, and PRI decided to distribute it. As of September 2008 the show was carried on 18 public radio stations, in addition to the podcast. In January 2012, the show was renamed ''Bullseye'', and began featuring

The Go! Team The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of The Go! Team's debut album, '' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'', Parton r ...

's "Huddle Formation" as its theme song. As of April 2013, the show is distributed by

Market availability

In addition to the availability of the show as a podcast, the program is heard on 59 public terrestrial radio stations in 17 states.

Other projects

In April 2006, ''The Sound of Young America'' launched a second podcast, ''The College Years'', chronicling the pre-podcasting history of the show. In December 2006, Thorn and Morris reteamed to launch the podcast-only program ''

Jordan, Jesse, Go! ''Jordan, Jesse, Go!'' (often abbreviated to ''JJGO'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which began airing in 2007. It is hosted by comedian Jordan Morris, a television writer, producer, and actor, and Jesse Thorn, a public radio host. The show ...

'' (The first two episodes were released as "The Untitled Thorn/Morris Project".) The show is a return to the free-form radio that they did in Santa Cruz, before ''The Sound of Young America'' became almost exclusively an interview show. The first episode featured the return of former staple "Hang It Up/Keep It Up". The second episode saw the return of "Would You Rather?" and the introduction of "

Judge John Hodgman ''Judge John Hodgman'' is a weekly, comedy, comedic court show podcast hosted by John Hodgman and Jesse Thorn. The show is distributed online by Maximum Fun. The program features host John Hodgman acting as a judge (with Jesse Thorn as bailiff) ...

" a mock-trial presided over by author/

raconteur A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...

. Later shows often feature guests such as author

Sarah Vowell Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and voice actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. She was a contributing editor for the radio pro ...

, actor

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

, and various contemporary comedians.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullseye With Jesse Thorn American comedy radio programs Audio podcasts Maximum Fun NPR programs 2004 podcast debuts 2000 radio programme debuts Interview podcasts Comedy and humor podcasts American podcasts