PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Radio broadcast

How to Cite a Radio Broadcast in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a radio broadcast names the announcer or host as the author, then gives the full air date in parentheses, the story title in italics and sentence case followed by the label [Radio broadcast], the station or website that published it, and the URL. The in-text citation is the announcer's last name and the year: (Neighmond, 2012).

The format

Announcer, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the story [Radio broadcast]. Station or Site Name. URL

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Podcasts & Radio, then A single podcast or radio episode, and pick A radio broadcast from the menu that asks what kind. Add the announcer or host in the Host box, type the story title in Episode Title in sentence case, and pick the day it aired in Episode Date. If the story aired on a named show, like Fresh Air, type the show in Series Title. Then type the station or website in Production Company and paste the URL.

Citing the whole show instead of one story? Choose An entire podcast or radio series, add the hosts, and type the years it has aired in Years the Series Aired, with "present" if it's still on the air.

Found an old interview in an online radio archive? Choose A radio interview in a digital archive. Add each person interviewed as an Interviewee, then fill in the Interview Title in sentence case, the Episode Date, the Archive Name, the Archive Institution, and the URL. The interviewer can go in the Host or Interviewer box; APA leaves them out of this reference, and so does PERRLA.

Pasting an NPR story link into PERRLA's reference search brings back the written story as a webpage. That's the right reference if you read the story. If you listened to it, build it as a radio broadcast the way described above.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Announcer or host

Credit the person who presents the story on air: the announcer, the host, or the reporter the station names for the piece. Write the last name, a comma, and the initials.

Neighmond, P.

For an interview or segment on a named show, the show's host is the author, and APA's examples for public radio shows, like a segment of All Things Considered, add the role in parentheses after the host's name. The guest isn't the author; name them in your sentence.

Gross, T. (Host).

For an archived radio interview, the roles flip: APA credits the people being interviewed, not the radio host. If no one is named at all, the story title moves into the author position.

2. Air date

Give the full date the story aired: year, month, and day. Use the air date the station lists, not the day you listened.

(2012, May 25).

For a whole radio series, give the years it has aired instead, joined by an en dash. Use "present" if it's still on the air.

(1975–present).

3. Story title and description

Write the story title in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon or a question mark, and proper nouns. In APA's radio broadcast example, the story title is italic and followed by the label [Radio broadcast], which isn't italic.

Need a nurse? You may have to wait [Radio broadcast].

When you cite one segment of a named show, treat it the way APA treats a TV or podcast episode: the segment title in plain type, a bracketed description, then In and the show's name in italics and sentence case.

A nurse reflects on the privilege of caring for dying patients [Radio series episode]. In Fresh air.

4. Station or site

Name the station, network, or website that published the broadcast. For a story on npr.org, that's NPR. For a whole show, it's the station or company that produces it, like WHYY for Fresh Air.

NPR.

An archived interview names the archive and the institution that holds it, separated by a semicolon.

Studs Terkel Radio Archive; The Chicago History Museum.

5. URL

End with the link to the page where the broadcast can be played. Don't put a period after it or write "Retrieved from" in front of it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/05/25/153634317/need-a-nurse-you-may-have-to-wait

If the same page has the audio and the transcript, as many public radio pages do, that one link covers both.

Examples

A news story from a radio broadcast

NPR's Patti Neighmond reporting on why hospital patients wait for nurses, a five-minute story that aired on Morning Edition on May 25, 2012. It's a news story, so it follows APA's radio broadcast format: the reporter who presents it, the air date, the story title, and the site.

  • Parenthetical citation(Neighmond, 2012)
  • Narrative citationNeighmond (2012)

An interview segment from a radio show

Terry Gross's Fresh Air interview with palliative care nurse Theresa Brown about her book The Shift, which aired September 28, 2015. Gross hosts the show, so she's the author; Brown belongs in your sentence. The show's name follows In, like an episode of a TV series.

  • Parenthetical citation(Gross, 2015)
  • Narrative citationGross (2015)

A radio interview in an online archive

A 1987 WFMT broadcast in which Studs Terkel talks medical ethics with physician Quentin Young and theologian Kenneth Vaux, now in the Studs Terkel Radio Archive. For an archived interview, APA credits the people interviewed, so Young and Vaux are the authors and Terkel doesn't appear in the reference.

  • Parenthetical citation(Young & Vaux, 1987)
  • Narrative citationYoung and Vaux (1987)

A whole radio series

Fresh Air as a whole show, for when you discuss the program itself rather than one interview. Terry Gross has hosted it since 1975 and Tonya Mosley became co-host in 2023, so both are listed. The years run to "present," and WHYY, the Philadelphia station that produces it, is the publisher.

  • Parenthetical citation(Gross & Mosley, 1975–present)
  • Narrative citationGross and Mosley (1975–present)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a radio broadcast uses the author from your reference and the year. Leave the month and day in the reference.

  • A news story: (Neighmond, 2012) or Neighmond (2012)
  • A show segment: cite the host, and name the guest in your sentence: Palliative care nurse Theresa Brown described being present for dying patients as a privilege (Gross, 2015).
  • Two people interviewed: both names every time, with & inside parentheses and and in your sentence: (Young & Vaux, 1987) or Young and Vaux (1987)
  • A whole series: the hosts and the year range: (Gross & Mosley, 1975–present)
  • No announcer named: a short form of the story title, in italics and title case, takes the author's place, followed by the year.

A broadcast has no page numbers, so when you quote it, add the time where the quote starts in the recording, as minutes and seconds (or hours, minutes, and seconds for a long program), after the year and a comma. A transcript can help you find the words, but the time comes from the recording.

Common mistakes

  • NPR. (2012, May 25).Neighmond, P. (2012, May 25).When a person presents the story on air, that person is the author. The station or network goes at the end as the site.
  • Neighmond, P. (2012).Neighmond, P. (2012, May 25).A radio broadcast takes the full air date, with the month and day. Only the in-text citation shortens it to the year.
  • Neighmond, P. (2026, October 21).Neighmond, P. (2012, May 25).The date is when the story aired, not when you listened to it. An archived broadcast doesn't take a retrieval date either.
  • Terkel, S. (Host). (1987, April 16).Young, Q., & Vaux, K. (1987, April 16).For an archived radio interview, APA credits the people interviewed. The interviewer, however famous, stays out of the reference.
  • Gross, T., & Mosley, T. (Hosts). (1975). Fresh air [Radio series].Gross, T., & Mosley, T. (Hosts). (1975–present). Fresh air [Radio series].A whole series gets the span of years it has aired, and a show still on the air ends with "present."
  • Gross, T. (Host). (2015, September 28). A nurse reflects on the privilege of caring for dying patients [Radio series episode]. In Fresh Air.Gross, T. (Host). (2015, September 28). A nurse reflects on the privilege of caring for dying patients [Radio series episode]. In Fresh air.In the reference, the show's name takes sentence case, the same as any other title. In your own sentences, write it as the show does: Fresh Air.

Quick checklist

  • The announcer or host as author (the people interviewed, for an archived interview)
  • The full air date: year, month, and day
  • Story title in sentence case, then the description in square brackets
  • The show's name after In when you cite one segment of a named show
  • The station or website, then the URL with no period after it
  • A timestamp in the citation when you quote

Questions students ask

Is it a radio broadcast or a podcast episode?

Cite the version you actually used. If you heard it on the radio or played it from the station's website, cite it as a radio broadcast. If you listened in a podcast app, cite it as a podcast episode, with [Audio podcast episode] and the show's name. Many public radio shows are both, so let your source decide.

Who is the author of a radio broadcast in APA 7?

The person who presents it: the announcer, the host, or the reporter the station names. For an interview on a show, the host is the author and the guest goes in your sentence. For an interview in a radio archive, the people interviewed are the authors.

What if I read the NPR story instead of listening to it?

Then cite what you read. A written story on a radio network's website is a webpage on a news site: the reporter, the date, the story title in italics, NPR as the site, and the URL, with no [Radio broadcast] label. Our online news article guide walks through it.

How do I cite a radio broadcast transcript?

Almost the same way as the broadcast. APA changes only the description in brackets, from [Radio broadcast] to [Radio broadcast transcript]. If the audio and the transcript are on the same page, use that page's URL either way.

How do I quote a radio broadcast without page numbers?

Give the time in the recording where the quote starts, after the year: the minutes and seconds, separated by a colon. Play the audio on the station's page to find it, since most transcripts don't show times.

What if I heard it live and can't find a recording?

Look first: most stations post their stories, with audio, on their websites within a day or so, and that's the version to cite. If no recording or transcript exists anywhere a reader could find it, ask your instructor. APA's usual way to cite a source your reader can't retrieve is a personal communication, in the text only.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.9, 8.14, 8.17, 8.28, 9.8, 9.10, 9.12, 9.14, 9.19, 9.21, 10.12, and 10.13 (Example 95, the archived radio interview), and the APA Style website's radio broadcast, audiovisual transcript, and podcast reference examples. Each broadcast was checked on its own page on October 21, 2026: the NPR story pages for the reporter or host, the program it aired on, the air date, and the audio; the Studs Terkel Radio Archive record for the people interviewed, the broadcast date, and the holding institution; and the Fresh Air Archive's About page and NPR's Fresh Air page for the hosts, the start year, and WHYY as the producer.

Fill in the details from the station's page, and PERRLA builds the radio reference, with the italics and the [Radio broadcast] label, plus its in-text citation.

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