Though our primary network is NPR, WVPE also brings you live news from several other networks and producers at “sister” public radio stations. One such program has been To the Point from KCRW in Los Angeles. It has been nice to have a news program produced outside the East Coast, but Warren Olney has announced that To the Point will soon become a weekly podcast. To fill that space, Fresh Air will move to fill the Monday - Thursday 2:00 pm hour; PRI's The World will switch from NEWS2 to WVPE's main channel to air at 3:00 pm. While this program is produced by WGBH in Boston, The World aggregates the best features from the BBC for American audiences. Replacing The World on NEWS2 will be the 2nd hour of Here and Now, so that we air a full repeat on our second channel. Science Friday will remain unchanged. It will continue to air on Fridays from 2 to 4 PM on the main channel and rebroadcast on NEWS2 Saturday from 7 to 9 PM.
After 31 years, Car Talk ends national distribution September 30. It's been airing twice per weekend on NEWS2. We will replace it with several new NPR programs that have been available as podcasts. The first two are 30 minutes each, Planet Money, and How I Built This; two 30 minute shows airing together every Saturday morning at 9:00 beginning October 7th. Shankar Vedantam fills the 2ndCar Talk slot Sundays at noon with his podcast turned radio program, Hidden Brain.
We will continue using NEWS2 both as a preview of shows to go on the main channel, and as repeats for some of our programs to be heard at different times.
We welcome your feedback on these changes and thank you for supporting your NPR station, 88.1 WVPE.