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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NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko about his memoir of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, "I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv."
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What is so dangerous about the song, "Glory to Hong Kong"? NPR's Scott Simon explains that the Chinese government is cracking down on any singing, quoting, or use of the song.
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Michelle T. King's new book is about a pioneering cook who brought Chinese food to the world, Fu Pei-mei. NPR's Scott Simon talks with King about her and about the book, "Chop Fry Watch Learn."
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Eden Golan, Israel's representative for this year's Eurovision contest is not having an easy time because of the war in Gaza. She will compete in the finals on Saturday.
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NPR's Scott Simon asks DJ and musician Samantha Poulter, who performs as Logic1000, about her new album of house music. It's titled "Mother."
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The White House says it will withhold military aid if Israel conducts a major ground operation in Rafah. Red lines are often set for enemies, but how do they work with one of America's closest allies?
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President Biden says he could hold back more weapons if Israel launches a full assault on Rafah, details from the criminal trial of former President Trump, and we have to talk about the brain worm.
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A group of House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden urging him to take action on the US southern border. NPR's Scott Simon talks with one of the signatories, Rep. Mike Levin of California.
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NPR's Scott Simon and ESPN's Michele Smith discuss the NBA and NHL playoffs, and baseball's hottest new pitching prospect.
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An extreme geomagnetic storm reached Earth yesterday, with the northern lights dancing across the skies in places they're normally not seen. It's the most powerful solar storm in decades.