From the newsroom: Reflecting on 'Songs of the Humpback Whale,' 5 decades later

Team Common is taking some time off to rest and recover over the holidays. In the meantime, we’re sharing some of our favorite stories from WBUR’s newsroom in 2022.

When the album “Songs of the Humpback Whale” hit record stores five decades ago, the haunting sounds of whales were introduced to popular culture for the first time.

Produced by biologist Roger Payne and recorded with his then-wife, Katharine Payne, and engineer Frank Watlington, the album was a surprise hit, eventually becoming the bestselling environmental album in history. It energized the nascent "Save the Whales" movement, leading to a 10-year moratorium on whaling worldwide, and pushed Congress to pass the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

To mark the 50th anniversary of that landmark act, WBUR’s Barbara Moran sat down with Payne earlier this year at his home in Vermont to talk about how the album came to be. Their conversation — interspersed with whale song — is one of our favorites from 2022.

Hear the original piece here.