Compiled by Janet Hamilton
The National Public Radio Morning Edition on 10/27/03 broadcast a segment called "Computational Origami: Not Just Paper Swans". “MIT professor Erik Demaine created a new field of science by combining his passions for mathematics and origami -- the Japanese art of folding. He calls it computational origami. It helps scientists figure out the best way to fold all kinds of items, including equipment used in space and automotive airbags. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.” http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=27-Oct-2003&prgId=3
The BBC program "The World" interviewed Robert Lang (and Michael LaFosse, Richard Alexander, Erik Demaine, etc.) on Monday 11/24/2003 . http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20031124.shtml
The Prairie Home Companion NPR radio show on 12/13/2003 had mention of a "typical NYC Christmas" with a bonsai Christmas tree displaying origami ornaments.
BBC Radio 4 in the UK broadcasted a 30 minute radio program called "Fold Here First" on Tuesday 13th April. 2004. "The ancient Japanese art of paper folding is being re-born as a powerful tool for researchers, engineers, scientists and Mathematicians..." The producer, Angela Hind, interviewed Robert Lang, Tom Hull, Jan Polish, Nick Robinson, Dave Brill, Emma Jane Griffiths, Susanna Wellenberg, Barbara Pearl and others. It is narrated by mathematician Ian Stewart. It will be available for a short time on the BBC web site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml?focuswin (Scroll down to "Fold here first" and click "listen").
The NPR station
WNYC carried a segment on the Studio 360 show called "How Art Works"
that featured origami (7/25/04). Interviews were done in the Exhibition area of
the OrigamiUSA Convention, and included Dan Robinson, Robert Lang and Jeannine
Mosley. The show description states, "Origami is the Japanese art of
folding paper into shapes without cutting or gluing. Now, this ancient art is
going high-tech. The emerging field of
computational origami uses computers and mathematics to figure out just how much
you can do with a single sheet of paper. Gregory Warner caught up with origami
artists and their fans at a recent convention in New York." http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/show.html
The NPR station WBUR broadcasted an interview with Robert Lang 11/17/2004 as part of the show "The Connection". "You wouldn't expect a scientist to limit his interest to simple paper cranes. And he's not. He's unfolding the mathematical mysteries hidden in the traditional art of paper folding." A recoding of the show and photos can be found here: http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2004/11/20041117_b_main.asp
On WHYY-FM (public radio in Philadelphia), "Radio Times," in a 12/29/2004 discussion about the status of American Sign Language as a language, the actions and "gathering of space" of ASL were compared to the actions of making origami. The host of the show was Marty Moss-Coane, guests were Gallaudet University professors Dirksen Bauman and Ben Bahan, and Prof. Bahan's ASL interpretor, John Marc Ennis. http://www.whyy.org/91FM/RadioTimes.html and http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2004/RT20041229_20.ram
1/2/2005 - Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion," on National Public Radio, had a gloomy "Guy Noir" state that he celebrated New Year's by "making origami birds out of unpaid bills."
3/14/05 on NPR - "Where Science Meets Art - Donald Knuth, Founding Artist of Computer Science" by David Kestenbaum. Donald Knuth is legendary in the computer science world for writing a series of must-have reference books called The Art of Computer Programming. Dr. Knuth mentions that his wife discovered the Betsy Ross 5-point star on the Internet. After tinkering with the recommended dimensions of 8.5 x 10 inches, Dr. Knuth determined that the precise dimensions should be 8.5 x 9.992349 inches. But, he admits that Betsy was pretty darned close. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4532247
8/17/2006 - an ad on Q104.3 for an Allman Brothers ticket giveaway, one of the guys mentions that he can put his leg behind his head. The other guy calls it "human origami".
April 2007 -
Gerwin Sturm created original models for a poster campaign of an Austrian Radio
Station. The poster is here: http://fm4.orf.at/static/misc/plakate2007/Uni_1600x1200.jpg
The simple flower is diagrammed here - http://origami.iap-peacetree.org/simple_flower.php
. The blossoming flower, parrot, chameleon, and Diamondrose Squarejumper are
diagrammed here - http://www.origamiaustria.at/diagrams.php?lang=2
August 27, 2007 "Radio Reader", on NPR, was reading from "The Big Turn Off", by Wilson. The author's 6 year old son and a neighbor girl were making ornaments, including origami ornaments, that included white seals and cranes.
Janeuary 2008 - NPR's "Storycorps: Recording America" related a story from Cynthia Rahn of Durham, NC. She lived in rural Appalachia in 1962 (a very poor region) and went to school in town. The class has an assignment to bring in something to add to a class diorama of life on a farm. She forgot about the assignment until bedtime, and was upset about having to go to school with nothing for the assignment. The next morning she found a barn folded from notebook paper on the table. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17825756
August 2008 - In an interview onWHYY-FM, National Public Radio, John Darnton spoke about his new mystery, Black and White and Dead All Over. The novel takes place in the good old days of newspaper publishing, when the presses rumbled away in the basement and the printers "wore those complicated paper hats that only they could make." http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13
News/Talk 750 WSB
(Atlanta) Money Matters host Mike Kavanagh passed away on December 6, 2008. The
Mike Kavanagh Foundation, launched in his memory, features an origami swan based
on Mike's financial planning recommendation to create your own personal
"SWAN" plan ("Sleep Well at Night"). The idea being
that origami accomplishes art in a few simple steps, a reference to money
management and Mike's message that it doesn't have to be difficult. http://www.mikekavanaghfoundation.com/
March 7, 2009 on National Public Radio - The host interviewed someone from "Creative Paper" in Tasmania their paper they carry made from wombat and kangaroo dung ("Rufu paper"). When asked if they tried making company stationery from it, the response was that no one wanted to lick the envelopes.
December 8, 2009 - The NPR show Here and Now, featured an interview with Michael LaFosse. The site includes a video to fold an X-Wallet. http://www.hereandnow.org/2009/12/origami-masters/