Tuckman was born in Los Angeles, and earned a master's degree in social anthropology from UCLA in 1967. He has been a KPFK staff member since 1972. His awards include a Major Armstrong Award for the documentary "Upton Sinclair: The Reverent Radical", and an AP Best Spot News Coverage award (shared with Elliot Mintz) for his live, on-air interview with Iranian hostage-takers inside the American embassy in Tehran in November 1979.