Weekend Edition Sunday is NPR's Sunday morning news magazine, carried by 794 public radio stations nationwide. Every week, the show 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 crisis in Ukraine.
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. Recent hosts include Audie Cornish (2011–2012), Rachel Martin (2012–2016) and Lulu Garcia-Navarro (2017–2021.)
In 2022, Ayesha Rascoe was named the host of Weekend Edition Sunday. Previously, Rascoe was a White House correspondent for NPR and covered three presidential administrations. Her White House coverage has included a number of high-profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with actor David Dastmalchian about his starring role as a 1970's late night host in the new movie "Late Night with the Devil."
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The U.S. Coast Guard has developed a new system to try to reduce the number whales hit by vessels. It's trying it out in the waters in and around Seattle.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with David Cohen, politics professor at the University of Akron, about one of the tightest races in the country: the Ohio Senate seat held by Sherrod Brown since 2007.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Sarah McCammon, NPR National Political Correspondent, about her religious upbringing and new book, "The Exvangelicals."
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Jennifer Greene, and Raven Walters about the state of public health four years after COVID-19 became a national emergency.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, about his organization's call for Black student athletes to avoid public colleges and universities in Florida.
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Tom Perriello, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, talks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about his efforts to help broker peace talks in Sudan and the current state of affairs there.
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Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has given its mascot, Phil the Ram, a makeover. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Dave Raymond, the "mascot whisperer," about the revamped Phil.
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Women who do strength training live longer. A study finds resistance training 2-3 days a week cuts the risk of death from heart disease for women by 30%. (Story first aired on ME on March 11, 2024.)
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Ian Milihiser, Senior Correspondent at Vox, about new federal judiciary rules limiting the practice of "judge shopping."