Scott Simon hosts Saturday Edition - Saturday Edition Homepage: Click Here
Ayesha Rascoe hosts Sunday Edition - Sunday Edition Homepage: Click Here
Saturday mornings are made for Weekend Edition Saturday, the program wraps up the week's news and offers a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics, including arts, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories. The two-hour program is hosted by NPR's Peabody Award-winning Scott Simon.
Drawing on his experience in covering 10 wars and stories in all 50 states and seven continents, Simon brings a humorous, sophisticated and often moving perspective to each show. He is as comfortable having a conversation with a major world leader as he is talking with a Hollywood celebrity or the guy next door.
Weekend Edition Saturday has a unique and entertaining roster of other regular contributors. Marin Alsop, conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, talks about music. Daniel Pinkwater, one of the biggest names in children's literature, talks about and reads stories with Simon. Financial journalist Joe Nocera follows the economy. Howard Bryant of EPSN.com and NPR's Tom Goldman chime in on sports. Keith Devlin, of Stanford University, unravels the mystery of math, and Will Grozier, a London cabbie, talks about good books that have just been released, and what well-read people leave in the back of his taxi. Simon contributes his own award-winning essays, which are sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant.
Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Weekend Edition Sunday debuted on January 18, 1987, with host Susan Stamberg. Two years later, Liane Hansen took over the host chair, a position she held for 22 years. In that time, Hansen interviewed movers and shakers in politics, science, business and the arts. Her reporting travels took her from the slums of Cairo to the iron mines of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; from the oyster beds on the bayou in Houma, La., to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park; and from the kitchens of Colonial Williamsburg, Va., to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
In 2022, Ayesha Rascoe was named the host of Weekend Edition Sunday. Rascoe was previously a White House correspondent for NPR. Her White House coverage has included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
Prior to joining NPR, Rascoe covered the White House for Reuters, chronicling Obama's final year in office and the early days of the Trump administration. Rascoe began her reporting career at Reuters, covering energy and environmental policy news, such as the 2010 BP oil spill and the U.S. response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. She also spent a year covering energy legal issues and court cases. She graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a B.A. in journalism.
Weekend Edition is heard on NPR Member stations across the United States, and around the globe on NPR Worldwide. The conversation between the audience and the program staff continues throughout the social media world.
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Nearly seven six months into the war between Israel and Hamas, the conflict seems headed for an open-ended Israeli military presence in Gaza.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Sudan-based reporter Zeinab Mohmmad Salih for an update on the violence in Sudan.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Forbes senior healthcare contributor Bruce Japsen about why Walmart is closing 51 health clinics and what this means for the rural populations they served.
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U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas could be a wedge issue in November's elections.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with WAMU listener Joshua Green of Columbia, Maryland and puzzle master Will Shortz.
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For years, Hollywood's behind-the-scenes action heroes have been pushing for an Oscars category to honor their work. Many hope The Fall Guy will make it a reality.
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President Joe Biden speaks about campus protests, Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife are indicted, and there's blowback over how SD Governor Kristi Noem killed her dog.
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India is almost halfway through its six-week-long election season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attempting to win a third consecutive term by promising his brand of Hindu nationalism.
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Forget the saber-toothed tiger steaks: a new study published this week reveals that ancient humans also ate their veggies. NPR's Scott Simon marvels at the menu.
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Closing arguments in the United States v. Google monopoly trial have wrapped up. How the judge decides this case could set a precedent for several other antitrust suits against Big Tech companies.