NPR 'Talk Of The Nation' To End 21-Year Run In June

[Sherman A1]

The afternoon call-in show "Talk of the Nation" will end its 21-year run on NPR June 30.

The network made the programming announcement on Friday. It's encouraging stations to replace the show with "Here and Now," a news magazine produced at WBUR in Boston.

"NPR has concluded that it can best serve public radio by concentrating its resources on produced news programming with reported stories and hosted interviews that appeal to listeners on radio and emerging digital platforms," NPR programming executives said in an email. The network will continue to produce "Science Friday."

"Here and Now" is currently an hour long. NPR will be partnering with WBUR to expand it to two hours, and will bring on Jeremy Hobson, currently with the Marketplace Morning Report, as a co-host for Robin Young. The New York Times says it's the first time the network and a member station have partnered in this fashion.

http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org/post/talk-nation-end-21-year-run-june

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Hastening the death of call-in talk radio

which the implosion of Rush initiated.

[Sherman A1]

2. Looks to be all about cutting costs

from what I can gather. That said, I believe you have a valid point.

[Mika]

3. Gotta serve the new ADD America.

[olddots]

4. It was a good public service

for as long as it could be .

[Sherman A1]

7. Agreed

It will be a shame to see this program go away. There were people and topics that were not what I considered the best, however there was no screaming guests (Fox), moderators who talked over the guests because they liked the sound of their own voice (Tweety and others) or an endless stream of commercials (all of the others).

The discussion will be less for it's disappearance.

[alp227]

5. Been listening nearly 3 years. Great alternative to commercial talk radio.

At least my local public station KQED also has a local call in show "Forum". Since Thom Hartmann moved to 3pm eastern, the second hour of Talk of the Nation, I have listened less often.

[HereSince1628]

6. The crappy pocket radio my granddaughter gave doesn't get NPR,

it's stuck on something called MP3, dagnabbit!

I had no idea that show was still on the air.