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A deserved award to the producer of Radiolab on New York Public Radio, WNYC

If you are like me, you are a die hard public radio fan. If you are like me, one of your favorite public radio productions is Radiolab, produced, and written by Jad Abumrad, with Robert Krulwich.

If you haven’t listened to Radiolab, it is a program that explores everything, from the far-reaching effects of choosing which side of your head you part your hair on, to profound insights on the nature of everything and a thing called Cosmic Habituation.

There is scarce an airing of Radiolab where I don’t have at least one wow moment. By wow, I mean when some piece of information pulls together a whole web of other pieces of information, and synthesizes into a mental meta vista, and you, the listener, have no choice but to say, “wow!” A wow moment is always involuntary.

Here’s another, unintended wow moment from the guy behind Radiolab, Jad Abumrad. He won $500k, and, wether he agrees or not, is an anointed genius–a McArthur genius, to be specific.

Twenty-two people received great news from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation over the past week — they were named as recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, otherwise known as the Genius Award.

It starts with a phone call out of the blue. That’s how each recipient learns they will receive $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years. The award comes without stipulations or reporting requirements, offering Fellows unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create and explore.

This year’s recipients include Radiolab host and producer Jad Abumrad. He was notified about the award last week when he received a cryptic email from Daniel J. Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program.

“I was like, is this some Nigerian scam or something?” Abumrad recalled. Over the phone, Socolow proceeded to tease the unwitting Abumrad, asking the producer if he knew anyone who had ever won the award.

“Okay, I’ll give you a hint,” Socolow said, by Abumrad’s account. “Their name starts with an A. The next letter is a B. And the next letter is a U,” at which point Abumrad said he burst out “Are you kidding me?” with a choice expletive excluded.

Abumrad said the intervening week has felt surreal, as he’s leaked the news to a few family members and co-workers while trying desperately to abide by the Foundation’s confidentiality agreement.

Thanks to the folks at New York Public Radio, WNYC, for reporting Abumrad’s wow moment.