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.
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.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Jamie McGoldrick, the former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, about what he's seen unfold in Gaza since Oct. 7.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Jennifer Erickson, senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists, about the organ transplant system and how eligible donated organs wind up in the trash.
-
An art gallery worker lost his job in February after hanging up his own art. NPR's Scott Simon thinks an Open Wall night might be a good way to give artists who are not huge names a chance to shine.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with UNICEF's Tess Ingram about surviving the gunfire that struck an aid convoy in Gaza and the effort to deliver food and water to the warzone.
-
Argentines elected a political outsider and populist as president in 2023. Now, thousands are taking to the streets in protest. NPR's Scott Simon talks with reporter Daniel Politi from Buenos Aires.
-
In north Florida, an activist provides services for transgender people as the state passes laws limiting transgender rights.
-
Half of the Great Salt Lake in Utah has now dried up but scientists say there's still some time left to reverse its decline.
-
U.S. stamps are heading for their sixth price hike since 2021. In raw numbers, only four countries in a recent study of 31 developed nations had cheaper stamps than the U.S.
-
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill making Pluto the official state planet. It was discovered at an observatory in Arizona, but was downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006.
-
Three NPR correspondents look at how the Israel-Hamas war is reshaping the region, and what might come next.