Biography
Lopate came to radio relatively late in life. Born in Brooklyn and growing up in Williamsburg, he attended Brooklyn College and later Hunter College, where he trained as a painter (he studied with Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko), and worked in advertising for fifteen years. But when he was given a chance to host his first talk show on WBAI in 1977, he was hooked, and what began as a whim has become his life's work. Arguably, Lopate's background in art and literature (as well as in the commercial world) has been a major factor in his success.
Lopate's longest running program on WBAI was "Round Midnight", a weekly late-night show, which featured interviews and free-form discussion on a variety of topics with listeners who called in to the station. The show ran through the mid-1980s, ending when Lopate moved to WNYC-FM to host a midday talk show with radio veteran Pegeen Fitzgerald, which evolved into his present-day show.
Lopate appears regularly at the 92nd Street Y, where he interviews celebrities and moderates his ongoing panel series "Comparing Notes". He has also appeared in a similar capacity at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Queens College, Brooklyn College, the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Alliance Française, and The New School; and he has created a series of discussions on literature for the international writers’ organization, PEN.
His brother is the writer, Phillip Lopate.
Leonard Lopate lives with his girlfriend, painter and artist Melanie Baker.
Read more about this topic: Leonard Lopate
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