Podcast: Interview with Umberto Eco (1983)

On February 19, author, philosopher and semiotician Umberto Eco passed away at the age of 84.

From 1981 to 1989, I was assistant producer and co-host of the radio show On the Arts, at CJRT-FM (today Jazz 91.1) in Toronto. With the late Tom Fulton, who was the show's prime host and producer, we did a half-hour interview program where we talked to artists from all fields. 

One of those interviews was with Italian novelist, philosopher and semiotician Umberto Eco. On February 19, Eco passed away at age 84. When we sat down together in 1983, his soon-to-be bestselling first novel, The Name of the Rose, had just been translated into English. 

– Kevin Courrier.

Here is the full interview with Umberto Eco as it aired on CJRT-FM in 1983.

Tom Fulton was the host and producer of On the Arts for CJRT-FM in Toronto for 23 years, beginning in 1975. 

Kevin Courrier is a freelance writer/broadcaster, film critic and author (Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa, Randy Newman's American Dreams, 33 1/3 Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, Artificial Paradise: The Dark Side of The Beatles Utopian Dream). Courrier teaches part-time film courses to seniors through the LIFE Institute at Ryerson University in Toronto and other venues. His forthcoming book is Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors: American Movies and the Politics of Idealism.