Programming changes begin this weekend on MPR News
Update (Sept. 19, 2020): Some of the programming changes outlined below will be affected by today’s special coverage following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Starting this weekend, MPR News is introducing a new weekend programming schedule that gives listeners more hours of live news and a refreshed lineup of public radio’s best weekly shows.
With so many important news stories converging this fall, we are renewing our emphasis on live news programming by extending Weekend Edition by one hour on both Saturdays and Sundays and adding an hour of BBC NewsHour on Saturdays right before All Things Considered. This gives listeners more chances to hear up-to-the minute reporting and critical news analysis from our news partners around the globe.
But weekends are also a time to take a break from the headlines. Here are more details about the changes:
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Saturdays
Planet Money and How I Built This will shift to an evening timeslot to make time for an extended Weekend Edition. BBC NewsHour will air in the 3 p.m. hour, right before All Things Considered.
This summer, American Public Media Group CEO Jon McTaggart announced the decision to end national production of Live from Here due to the unprecedented financial challenges presented by COVID-19 and the uncertainty for live events.
The 5 p.m. hour on Saturdays previously held by Live from Here will now include It’s Been a Minute, hosted by Sam Sanders, which previously aired Saturdays at 3 p.m. Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam will follow at 6 p.m.
Saturday evenings will include Planet Money and How I Built This at 7 p.m., with Live Wire at 9 p.m. and BBC Arts Hour airing at 10 p.m.
Sundays
The Splendid Table will shift to the afternoon to make time for an extended Weekend Edition and The New Yorker Radio Hour will replace rebroadcasts of Live from Here at 11 a.m.
Sundays at noon, MPR News will introduce a new program to its airwaves: Freakonomics Radio, which “tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do).” The hourlong program is hosted by “Freakonomics” co-author Stephen J. Dubner.
Listeners can spend their Sunday afternoons with The Splendid Table, hosted by Francis Lam, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., replacing Ask Me Another. The Sunday rebroadcast of The Moth Radio Hour moves to Sundays at 6 p.m.
Shows leaving the weekend schedule
Only a Game (previously aired 9-10 p.m. Saturdays)
Live from Here (previously aired 5-7 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays)
Ask Me Another (previously aired 2-3 p.m. Sundays)
Shows new to the weekend schedule
BBC Arts Hour (10-11 p.m. Saturdays)
Freakonomics (Noon-1 p.m. Sundays)