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.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks to actor Chris O'Dowd about the second season of the comedy series "The Big Door Prize," and what first drew him to the project.
-
NPR's Scott Simon talks with composer Jeff Beal about his new collection of solo piano works, "The New York Etudes," and about living and working with multiple sclerosis.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Alberto Minetti of the University of Milan about his research on how astronauts on the moon could keep fit by running around the inside of a cylindrical "Wall of Death."
-
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.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Gregory Rosston of Stanford University about the FCC's decision to reinstate net neutrality policies and what the last 6 years on the internet has been like without them.
-
More states than ever are gearing up to vote on abortion rights this fall, including Republican-led Missouri. There, voters could show the issue isn't a down-ballot Democratic dream everywhere.
-
Missouri Republicans are campaigning to make sure voters know they don't have to split their conscience on the abortion issue this November.
-
We look at how one town in Colombia pays homage to the donkey at one of the country's most popular annual festivals.
-
New Mexico is the twelfth state to require a waiting period for gun purchases. Safety experts say waiting periods can help reduce gun related suicides, but advocates say more needs to be done.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Bruce Japsen, senior healthcare contributor at Forbes, about a major healthcare provider getting hacked and what that means for patients.