WNYC Studios Announces Slate of New Podcasts

WNYC Studios Announces Slate of New Podcasts

Highlights include a Creative Partnership with John and Hank Green
and a new Gothamist podcast

(New York – September 6, 2018) – WNYC Studios, home to some of the world’s most acclaimed and influential podcasts including Radiolab, On The Media, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, Death, Sex & Money, Snap Judgment, and The New Yorker Radio Hour, today announced a slate of new projects and partnerships at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual Podcast Upfront.

The new lineup includes a partnership with popular authors and YouTube personalities John Green (The Fault in Our Stars; Looking For Alaska) and Hank Green (An Absolutely Remarkable Thing). As part of the partnership, WNYC Studios will collaborate with the Green brothers to remaster and relaunch two of their current podcasts – Dear Hank and John and The Anthropocene Reviewed – and co-produce a brand new science podcast, SciShow Tangents.

Also premiering later this fall is an original production from WNYC Studios, 10 Things That Scare Me, a tiny podcast about our biggest fears. Gothamist, the highly popular local news site that WNYC acquired and re-launched earlier this year, is developing its first original podcast.

More Perfect, the Radiolab spinoff hailed as “eye-opening” by USA Today and “outstanding” by Mashable, is launching an album of new music inspired by the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Artists include Dolly Parton, Devendra Banhart, They Might Be Giants, and Kash Doll. The album will be released in conjunction with More Perfect’s third season.

New seasons of political podcasts The United States of Anxiety and Trump, Inc. will launch later this month in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections. Rounding out the slate will be fresh seasons of Nancy, WNYC Studios’ beloved podcast about the LGBTQ experience today hailed as a top podcast by Entertainment Weekly; Spooked, a show from the creative team behind Snap Judgment; and Undiscovered, a sister podcast to Science Friday.

“WNYC Studios is a leader in producing audio that informs and touches people deeply,” said Laura Walker, President and CEO of New York Public Radio, which includes WNYC Studios. “In that spirit, we are thrilled to announce exciting new programming that stretches the possibilities of audio and new episodes of several WNYC Studios podcasts that support our democracy at this important time. We are also delighted to welcome John and Hank Green to the WNYC Studios family. They are master storytellers, creative powerhouses, and voices that will no doubt resonate with new audiences.”

“Working with WNYC Studios on podcasts is like working with Charles Darwin on finches: no one knows this field better,” said Hank Green.  Added John Green: “Their podcasts have inspired us for years, helping us to better understand the universe and our place in it."

Below is the full slate of new releases:

Hank and John Green:

  • Dear Hank and John (Fall 2018)

The beloved chat show and comedy podcast in which Hank and John Green answer your questions, give you dubious advice, and bring you all the week’s news from Mars (the planet) and AFC Wimbledon (the third tier English football club).

  • The Anthropocene Reviewed (Fall 2018)

A podcast reviewing different facets of our human-centered planet on a five-star scale. Topics range from the extinction of the now-ubiquitous Canada goose to the history of cholera. Episodes feature personal stories from John, who pays careful attention to subjects that don’t usually receive critical analysis.

  • SciShow Tangents (Fall 2018)

Inspired by the SciShow YouTube channel that reaches millions of people, this new podcast will dive into the scientific subjects that defy expectations. Hosted by Hank, SciShow Tangents will also feature an entertaining panel of science experts and enthusiasts.

 

Additional upcoming releases:

  • 10 Things That Scare Me (Fall 2018)

10 Things That Scare Me will include voices from around the country -- from a fisherman in Biloxi, to an ad executive in New York, from an Emmy-winning comic, to an NFL player who’s taken the knee -- each one revealing the fears that have influenced and informed the course of their lives.

Hosted by Jad Abumrad, the Peabody award-winning creator of Radiolab, More Perfect is the podcast about American Democracy. On September 18, More Perfect will release a compilation album, 27: The Most Perfect Album, featuring new music inspired by each of the 27 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Artists include Dolly Parton, Devendra Banhart, They Might Be Giants, and Kash Doll. The album will be released in conjunction with More Perfect’s third season of podcast episodes, which will serve as ‘audio liner notes’ to the compilation. The episodes will feature narration from Golden Globe, Emmy, and Tony award winning actor Jeffrey Wright (Westworld; The Hunger Games).

  • Nancy, season four (Monday, September 24)

Hosted by Kathy Tu and Tobin Low, Nancy is the podcast featuring stories and conversations about the LGBTQ experience today. New episodes will feature musician Katie Herzig, gun control advocate Emma Gonzalez, and a plunge into one of the most performed plays in America, The Laramie Project.

  • Spooked, season two (Available now)

Hosted by Glynn Washington, this spinoff series from the Snap Judgment team features terrifyingly true tales of the supernatural. Hailed by Vox as “spine-tingling” and by NPR as one of the “best shows for some truly bone-chilling, mind-bending stories,” new episodes from Spooked include a haunting at one of New Jersey’s most notorious asylums, an American soldier’s encounter with an entity in war-torn Baghdad, and a woman who has premonitions of her own death.

The midterm elections are shaping up to be a lot more than a referendum on the Trump presidency. The electorate is calling into question nothing less than who democracy serves. Women are defining this election -- as candidates, organizers and voters. But if Democrats ride this wave of activism and take over the House, will that change anything in a country where power remains concentrated in the hands of white men? Hosted by Kai Wright, The United States of Anxiety will examine these questions through the experiences of women candidates and citizens who are getting involved across the nation. The season will also look back at our nation’s history, examine the role race plays in feminism and politics, and explore how women are rebuilding the actual structures of power.

WNYC Studios’ and ProPublica’s Trump, Inc. podcast returns to look at how the people around the president are profiting off President Trump’s administration. Whether they are business associates, government employees, or campaign contributors, many are finding ways to monetize their connection to the president. Hailed as “audacious” by The New Yorker, Trump, Inc. has also been praised by Business Insider as a podcast “that will make you smarter about politics.”

This spinoff from the acclaimed weekly show Science Friday is about the left turns, missteps, and lucky breaks that make science happen. Hosted by Elah Feder and Annie Minoff, Undiscovered has been praised by Popular Science as a show “you do not want to miss” and by Uproxx as one of “the best science podcasts to listen to right now.”

A podcast in development inspired by the popular local news site about New York City and everything that happens in it. Launching early 2019.

For more information about WNYC Studios, visit wnycstudios.org. All WNYC Studios productions can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Pocket Casts, and wherever podcasts are available.

 

ABOUT WNYC STUDIOS

WNYC Studios is the premier producer of on-demand and broadcast audio, home to some of the most critically acclaimed and popular podcasts of the last decade, including Radiolab, On The Media, Nancy, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Death, Sex & Money, Snap Judgment, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, and 2 Dope Queens. WNYC Studios is leading the new golden age in audio with podcasts and national radio programs that inform, inspire, and delight millions of intellectually curious and highly engaged listeners across digital, mobile, and broadcast platforms. Their programs include personal narratives, deep journalism, interviews that reveal, and smart entertainment as varied and intimate as the human voice itself. For more information, visit wnycstudios.wnyc.org

 

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