Saturday mornings are made for Weekend Edition Saturday, the program that 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 Peabody Award winner 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 ESPN.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 Saturday 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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The Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine reopens 6 months after a gunman's rampage.
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NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about the disappointing end to the Milwaukee Bucks season, and the rest of the field in the NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs.
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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.
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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."
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Tom Selleck became a TV star in the 1980s as the Hawaii-based detective of "Magnum, P.I." He talks with NPR's Scott Simon about what it took to get there and his new memoir, "You Never Know."
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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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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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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.
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The children of sex workers rarely see doctors and are often living in brothels. Their deaths frequently go unnoticed and undocumented.
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Paul Auster was many things: novelist, screenwriter, poet, and NPR contributor. He died this week from cancer at the age of 77. Former NPR host Jacki Lyden has a remembrance.