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 speaks to Whoopi Goldberg about her new memoir, "Bits and Pieces," and about the influence of Goldberg's family on her.
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Many rural communities lack affordable housing. One university in Alabama is trying to help with some experimental architecture.
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A wave of political assassinations has swept across Mexico during this election season. One candidate was violently killed on her first day of campaigning.
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Mammograms should start at age 40, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce. And a new study finds hormone therapy for menopause symptoms is safe.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California School of Education, about his role leading student protests at UC Berkeley against Apartheid in the 1980s.
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Genetically modified seeds for purple tomatoes hit the market for home gardeners recently. But how did a purple tomato get splashed across the cover of a seed catalog specializing in non-GMO plants?
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Sudan-based reporter Zeinab Mohmmad Salih for an update on the violence in Sudan.
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U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas could be a wedge issue in November's elections.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with director Caitlin Cronenberg about her first full-length feature film, "Humane," about a future where people must sacrifice themselves to make life on earth sustainable.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Forbes senior healthcare contributor Bruce Japsen about why Walmart is closing 51 health clinics and what this means for the rural populations they served.