CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil starts Great Question podcast today
Great Question with Tony Dokoupil, a new twice-weekly podcast from the anchor of the CBS Evening News, publishes its first episode today, Monday, October 26. New episodes land on Mondays and Wednesdays, in video on YouTube and the other podcast platforms and in audio, and the show is already listed under CBS News on Apple Podcasts with its trailer.
The format is in the name. Each episode takes one question and brings in a journalist or an expert to answer it. Dokoupil told The Hollywood Reporter, which had the launch interview on Friday, that after each 30-minute broadcast there are still things the team could not get to the bottom of, so every day starts with new questions, and that the podcast is where those go: “the biggest, most urgent, most pressing, most important, or just most interesting question, and then you try to match that to a guest.”
Guests announced so far include the author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell, on whether America needs more police, and the 60 Minutes contributor Gianna Toboni, on the death penalty. Planned episodes ask why American kids seem so bad at math and whether gambling apps are designed to hook their users.
The video version is shot in Dokoupil’s office, which viewers will get a good look at: his father’s 1992 mugshot, old Newsweek covers and a Rolodex he says he rescued from the dump when the magazine was close to folding. That is aimed at viewers who do not watch the broadcast. Dokoupil describes a group of more online viewers who “genuinely believe that people on TV are just getting things fed into their earpiece,” and the office is where he wants to meet them.
The timing fits where CBS News is. Dokoupil is almost 11 months into the Evening News chair, says the show has found a mix beyond politics, and told THR the team “had the resources and the space to fit a podcast in.” He also co-anchors next month’s midterm election coverage with Norah O’Donnell, so the first weeks of Great Question will overlap with the busiest news stretch of the year.
For listeners, the useful comparison is with the daily news shows that dominate our news chart. The Daily is No. 1 in our Top 100 and Up First is No. 8, and both are built for the morning commute. Great Question is a different shape: two conversations a week, each on a single subject, in the mold of an interview show. We think that is the right call for an anchor who already does the daily rundown on television.
The first episode is out today, the second follows on Wednesday, October 28, and the trailer is on Apple Podcasts now.
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