The New Yorker Radio Hour, the podcast and syndicated public radio series, is spinning out its Political Scene feature into a full-fledged podcast. The magazine is working with WNYC Studios to relaunch The Political Scene podcast. It will be released three times a week and will have its first dedicated host with Senior Editor Tyler Foggatt taking on the role.
“One of my favorite things about working at the magazine, specifically as an editor, which is what I do most of the time when I'm not hosting this podcast, is being able to have frank conversations with writers about their pieces. I get to hear them talk about the things that they've been experiencing when they're reporting on the ground,” Foggatt said. In a preview of the new series, she said she plans to bring those newsroom conversations to listeners on the podcast. “Being able to let listeners sort of get a taste of that. Hopefully, it'll enable them to sort of understand the weird stuff that's going on in our politics today,” Foggatt said.
Under the new three-times-a-week schedule, The Political Scene’s Monday episode will feature a segment from the previous weekend’s New Yorker Radio Hour episode. The Wednesday episode will be hosted by Foggatt that will go deep on a political story featuring the magazine’s writers and outside experts. And the new Friday episode will be a roundtable with New Yorker writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos who will discuss the latest developments in Washington and beyond.
“It's like the ultimate Washington bureau meeting,” said Mayer. “I hope the show's going to show what's really going on behind the scenes and what is behind the headlines. Just like the New Yorker itself. It's a deeply reported publication with fabulous writing, a lot of wit. We hope to be like that -- but no cartoons.”
The New Yorker has been releasing episodes of The Political Scene since May 2021. For the past eight months, it has featured several different hosts covering everything from the war in Ukraine to the January 6 hearings. Editor-in-Chief David Remnick says the expanded show will “showcase the great political journalists in the New Yorker.” Remnick remains host of The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast and radio show.