NPR newsroom was awash in ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n' roll' — complete with staff cocaine dealer, tell-all claims

Yahoo

11-06-2025

Long before it became the target of the Trump administration, which wants to defund the news organization over claims of left-wing bias, NPR was a product of the counterculture and seemed to embrace the mantra of 'sex, drugs and rock & roll,' a new tell-all book reveals.
In fact, according to veteran journalist Steve Oney, the news network – which was founded in 1970 – once had its own cocaine dealer on staff, who helped fuel the newsroom through late-night sessions.
Promoting his recent book On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR, Oney spoke to Mediaite editor Aidan McLaughlin this week on the SiriusXM program Press Club. While much of the conversation centered on the current fraught situation the public broadcaster finds itself in with President Donald Trump, Oney also spent much of his time detailing the 'culture of openness and experimentation' that marked the outlet's early years.
Discussing how employees in the 1970s saw themselves as 'radio revolutionaries,' Oney talked about how the staff was full of young and ambitious reporters at the time. This also resulted in many of these journalists 'frequently sleeping with each other' and taking part in the illicit drug scene.
'It was the counterculture,' he said. 'People were using [cocaine] for recreational purposes. Other times, they'd have an all-night edit session and snort a couple lines and then just work.'
With the staff fully engaged in the 'sex, drugs, and rock & roll' lifestyle, Oney stated that one of the employees at NPR even served as the in-house supplier.
'There was a cocaine dealer at NPR in the late '70s, early '80s,' he told McLaughlin. 'He worked there. He was a staffer, and he had a side business as the in-house dealer. You could page him over the NPR intercom system, and he would come to your studio or your cubicle with cocaine that he would sell.'
The book, which Oney said took 14 years to complete, dives into the decades-long history of the broadcaster and the many other controversies and accomplishments NPR has experienced along the way.
'It depicts how NPR created a medium for extraordinary journalism—in which reporters and producers use microphones as paintbrushes and the voices of people around the world as the soundtrack of stories both global and local,' Amazon notes in its synopsis. 'Featuring details on the controversial firing of Juan Williams, the sloppy dismissal of Bob Edwards, and a $235 million bequest by Joan B. Kroc, widow of the founder of McDonald's, On Air also chronicles NPR's daring shift into the digital world and its early embrace of podcasting formats, establishing the network as a formidable media empire.'
Meanwhile, Oney was also asked by McLaughlin about the president's accusations about NPR being biased against conservatives, which has been the central reason behind the White House calling for the network to lose its federal funding.
NPR has since fired back, suing the administration over its 'textbook retaliation' while claiming Trump's order to cut the network's funding 'is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press.'
'I don't think it's consciously left-wing. Sometimes it's too damn cute. There's a kind of know-it-all quality,' Oney said, claiming that NPR is essentially a 'collective of college stations at its roots' and not intended to be a bastion for liberals.
'In the end, this is going to be settled not so much by government, but by reinforcing the idea that NPR provides a quality product,' he added. 'NPR needs some good PR from people who are planning to win.'