2013 will bring some changes to the St. Louis Public Radio program schedule beginning this weekend with the permanent return of some familiar programs plus a new NPR show to test your knowledge. Then, on Monday you’ll get more things to consider with an additional hour of All Things Considered each weekday.
The new friend joining our schedule on Saturday at noon is Ask Me Another, a lively hour of puzzles, word games, and trivia played in front of (and with) a live audience. Ask Me Another‘s entertaining melange of brainteasers and fun is a descendant of Weekend Edition Sunday‘s Puzzle Segment with Will Shortz, but infused with the vibrancy and quick wit of Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Listeners can play along, testing their knowledge of history, geography, literature, grammar, spelling, pop culture, and even mathematics, with the competitors called up to the stage.
Ask Me Another host, noted comedian, and storyteller Ophira Eisenberg, guides listeners with her witty banter aided by the comedic riffs and songs of house musician Jonathan Coulton. Each episode features an interview with a Mystery Guest (noteable actors, comedians, and authors whose identities are revealed via puzzle clues throughout the show), who then takes a turn in the contestant’s chair facing trivia games written especially for him or her.
This American Life, which has been airing at noon on Saturday, will move one hour later to 1 p.m. with its Sunday broadcast remaining at 6:00 p.m.
Also joining our weekly line-up is Radiolab, which will air each Saturday at 3 p.m. Listeners have been able to hear the program in short runs on the station so we’re excited to have the series on each week beginning in 2013. Hosted by Jad Abumrad with co-host Robert Krulwich, Radiolab is designed for listeners who demand skepticism but appreciate wonder; who are curious about the world, but also want to be moved and surprised. Radiolab won a Peabody Award in 2011.
Another program that you may have heard in short runs is The Moth Radio Hour, which will be heard weekly beginning this Sunday at 7 p.m.
Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating.
Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then re-created in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theaters and clubs around New York City and later around the country.
The final major change in the schedule begins next Monday with an expanded version of All Things Considered. ATC will begin at 3 p.m. each weekday beginning on January 7, 2013, running until 7 p.m., with Marketplace still at 6 p.m. We’ll also bring you expanded news coverage from the St. Louis Public Radio newsroom with news updates from Maria Altman beginning at 3:04 p.m.
The move to start All Things Considered at 3 p.m. means that we will end our broadcasts of PRI’s The World as of this Friday. We had a long run with the program, but in looking at how we could better serve our audience we believe this is the best choice for listeners to St. Louis Public Radio.
With the new programs on the weekends, there are also new times for Snap Judgment and Marketplace Money, plus the Sunday airing of Car Talk will be leaving the schedule. For the complete schedule see our Program Grid on the website.
