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 January 2012, Rachel Martin began hosting the program. Previously she served as NPR National Security Correspondent and was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project. She has also been the NPR religion correspondent and foreign correspondent based in Berlin.
Every week listeners tune in to hear a unique blend of news, features and the regularly scheduled puzzle segment with Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times.
Weekend Edition Sunday is heard on NPR Member stations across the United States and around the globe via NPR Worldwide. The conversation between the audience and the program staff continues throughout the social media world.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with Milo Fett of New Carlisle, Ohio and puzzle master Will Shortz.
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The jury is now selected and oral statements begin Monday in the hush money criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.
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The two major party presidential candidates are very well known, but millions of dollars are still being spent on ads to try to persuade voters. (Story first aired on Morning Edition on April 18.)
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Delays in military aid have cost Ukraine's forces lives, time, and territory. Passage yesterday of nearly 61 billion dollars in US funding has Ukrainians relieved, but uncertain about the future.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to sports columnist Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal about the explosion of sports gambling and all the scandals that come with that growth.
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Marjane Satrapi, author of "Persepolis," collaborates with others on a new graphic novel about Iran's "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement.
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The voluntary industry guidelines come amid a dramatic rise in accidental pediatric ingestions of melatonin. At the same time, more and more kids are using melatonin on purpose as a sleep aid.
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Among the themes of Passover is freedom from captivity. For many Jews this year, the holiday brings up the pain of knowledge that hostages are still captive after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group about Iran's objectives in launching what Tehran said was a retaliatory drone and missile strike against Israel.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with the Brookings Institution's Natan Sachs about how Israel's possible responses to the overnight attack by hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.