I really love the tone, the pace, the content, the playfulness, the editing, the production, and the banter of Weekend America from American Public Media. Podcast it!
Weekend America is a place where curious, lively hosts spark conversations, share unexpected stories and connect listeners with the most compelling ideas and events of America this weekend.
Each week two hosts invite listeners to a lively conversation about the issues of the week, the arts, and public affairs. Weekend America features material from the best shows and talent from independent producers and public radio stations around the country.
We have some time, on weekends, to see the world through each other’s eyes. To walk in someone else’s shoes a bit, and go to places we wouldn’t otherwise go. Stop by for a weekly visit with 300 million neighbors.
Weekend America is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Minnesota Public Radio.
Bill Radke photo Co-host Bill Radke joined Weekend America in August of 2004. In addition to hosting, he develops stories and serves as a senior editor.
Radke was the creator, writer and host of the National Public Radio show “Rewind,” a weekly news satire program originating from KUOW-FM in Seattle. A winner of the Seattle International Stand-Up Comedy Competition, he also writes a weekly news and humor column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In 2003 Radke added author to his accomplishments with his first book, “Seattle” from Sasquatch Books.
Radke began his radio career at KUOW in 1986, while he was a student at the University of Washington. After graduating, he hosted a newsmagazine at Orlando station WMFE-FM, then drove a creaky old car around the country performing as a stand-up comedian in comedy clubs. “But around the country, it gets cold, and snowy, and also hot,” he said. “And there are tornadoes. And I missed doing radio.”
Radke returned to KUOW in 1992, serving as “Morning Edition” host, news director and reporter.
Alex Cohen photo Guest Host Alex Cohen began her radio career while getting her Masters in Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. From there, she landed a job at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., where she produced and directed programs like “Weekly Edition” and “Weekend All Things Considered.” In 2000, she joined the staff of “The California Report,” a statewide news program produced out of KQED in San Francisco. She produced, edited and directed the show before becoming the program’s Los Angeles Bureau Chief.
As a reporter, Cohen has filed for National Public Radio, “Marketplace” and Voice of America. She has covered wildfires, election nights and transit strikes and she’s done stories about tiki conventions, Mexican wrestling and a children’s musical based on Scientology.
Since Weekend America began in 2004, Cohen has filled in as a co-host and has reported for the show from California and Texas, where she now resides. When not making radio, she enjoys running marathons, skating with a local roller derby league and spending time with her husband and two dogs.
Senior Reporter and Substitute Host John Moe is well known to humor fans as one of the writers of McSweeneys.net. He has been a commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and is a regular contributor to Weekend America when he’s not guest hosting the show. Moe is the author of “Conservatize Me.”
He lives in Seattle, Wa., where he hosts several public radio programs dealing with politics, arts, literature and culture.
Barbara Bogaev, whose experience bridges television and radio, was a founding host of Weekend America. In addition to filling in for Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Bogaev has hosted a weekly radio newsmagazine on health and medicine, and produced sound features and in-depth documentaries on topics as varied as technology in education, riverboat captains and poetry. She also serves as the host of public radio’s longest-running national weekly documentary series, “Soundprint.”
Bogaev has exchanged fashion tips with transvestite-singer RuPaul and designer Isaac Mizrahi, taught listeners how to make fake blood with guidance from B-movie actor Bruce Campbell, and written collaborative short fiction with callers on the air. She lost a mike while climbing the highest billboard in Philadelphia to interview sign painters. Stranded in a freak snowstorm at the pass of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, Bogaev and her distressed travelers ended up inadvertently setting fire to a sheepherder’s hut. And then there’s that police record in Germany… (skinny-dipping).
Bogaev holds a B.A. cum laude in Comparative Literature from Yale University.
