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Perhaps the most remarkable moment of a Live Wire Radio show comes when host Luke Burbank asks the buzzing, chattering crowd at the Alberta Rose Theatre for 10 seconds of absolute silence so the editor can collect “room tones.” A hush descends, the packed auditorium working in concert to show off Portland’s finest for a national radio audience.
“It’s amazing that people will come to a show to watch radio being made, when they could listen to it for free at home,” says Heather de Michele, Live Wire’s executive director. “But that’s Portland.” That spirit animates the Live Wire community; the people in the front rows have been coming for 20 years.
Like so many things that make Portland better, Live Wire proves what can happen when luck, talent, and drive mash up.
Inspired by the West Coast Live show in the Bay Area, original founders Robyn Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff came together with Jim Brunberg, Rob Sample, and Courtenay Hameister to create a live variety show in Portland. They launched it from the Hollywood Theatre in 2003. Oregon Public Broadcasting picked it up soon after. Today, Live Wire reaches 300,000 listeners a week on 200 stations across the country.
The show has a dual mission, de Michele says: “to bring the world to Portland, and to bring Portland to the world.”
The audience has always been an essential part of the show, amplifying the energy of the live performance. As the show has grown, it’s featured fewer Portland in-jokes (nobody talks about “putting a bird on it” anymore). Instead, it looks for “stories that resonate with people everywhere.”
But Portland roots are essential to Live Wire’s success. “Someone asked if the show could have happened somewhere else,” de Michele says. “That’s hard to imagine. Portland has so much creative energy. There’s a deep respect for ideas, conversations, and community here. And that’s where Live Wire excels. Our guests spark those conversations, make us more connected, help us explore our common humanity.”
While host Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello draw out the guests onstage, de Michele calls out the contributions of executive producer Laura Hadden who finds the guests. “Laura is a cultural carnivore—literature, music, media, podcasting. She knows how to find people who resonate with the audience. Time and again, people say, ‘I read that book because I saw that author on your show, and it blew me away.’ We help you discover the next thing that’s gonna crack you open creatively.”
Support local radio: Portland has a rich tradition of local listener-supported radio: OPB (1923– ), KBOO (1968– ), KPSU (1994– ), and XRAY.FM (2014– ). And buy tickets to a Live Wire show at the Alberta Rose Theatre. You never know who you’ll see on the radio.
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