WYPR Programming Changes

As the days begin to shorten, and the temperatures finally begin to cool, WYPR heads into autumn on a very high note. Thank you to everyone who participated in our fall membership campaign, and to the many thousands of WYPR sustainers!  Your support means the world to us! And our membership growth is paced by our audience growth – WYPR now has more listeners than at any time in our history.

This coming weekend, we’re changing a few things on weekends. We are welcoming two exciting new shows, and some old friends will be moving to new locations.

First, the new: Sam Sanders was one of the breakout stars of the 2016 election, first as part of the NPR Politics Podcast and then as the host of his own podcast, It’s Been a Minute, which becomes a weekly radio show this week. Listen for It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders on Sunday afternoons at three.

Shankar Vedantam's Hidden Brain is a long-time and beloved feature on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as a popular podcast. It becomes a radio program this week, and you can tune to Hidden Brain Saturday afternoon at three, where it follows Radiolab and The TED Radio Hour for three scary-smart hours of radio. Bullseye with Jesse Thorn moves to Sunday afternoon at four. Sam and Jesse will give us two great hours of conversation on Sunday afternoon.

Now, the old friends: as many of you know, the folks at Car Talk Plaza have stopped doing their augmented repeat programs, and The Best of Car Talk will become conventional re-runs. Many stations are dropping the show, but we can’t imagine a world without Car Talk, so you’ll still be able to hear it on WYPR.  However, it is time to move it from its long-time Saturday morning home. Starting this week, you can hear The Best of Car Talk on Monday evenings at nine. I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

One thing to make a note of, and to tell your friends: we are moving Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me to Saturday morning at ten, right after Weekend Edition. I know that's a big change that will take some getting used to. The Sunday repeat will stay at its same time. NPR’s other quiz show, Ask Me Another, will move to Saturday at eleven.

Next weekend also marks the start of a new season of A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile. Chris' first season only had 13 episodes and yes, we’re all a bit tired of the repeats – but the new season will be much longer. This week will feature Chris Stapleton, next week will feature George Saunders and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the week after that will have Randy Newman as guest. If you’ve never heard Chris Thile’s A Prairie Home Companion I urge you to check it out – it’s a very fine re-invention.

Oh, and if you still miss Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, here’s some good news: we’re bringing it back! Every Monday night at ten, right after Car Talk, you can hear classic episodes with Garrison. It's Public Radio Classics – nostalgia, public radio style.

I know these are a lot of changes. To make it simpler, just follow this link to our new weekend program schedule.  And make a note that Wait Wait  is moving!

All the best,

Andy