Here & Now Expands to Two Hours on WAMU, Washington, D.C.

Here & Now, the national midday news magazine produced by NPR and WBUR Boston, will expand to two hours on WAMU 88.5 in Washington D.C., one of public radio’s most important markets.

Co-hosted by award-winning journalists Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson, the expanded program will provide an update to the news around the nation and the world and feature interviews with NPR reporters, editors and blogger as well as leading newsmakers, innovators and artists.

“We are thrilled to welcome this expanded program, which has become extremely popular among Washingtonians. The additional hour of Here & Now will strengthen WAMU’s weekday news coverage by providing a go-to news team for national breaking-news in the middle of the afternoon,” said WAMU General Manager J.J. Yore.

Here & Now currently airs on WAMU at 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Starting today, the program will begin at 1 p.m. and extend until 3 p.m. WAMU is also adding an hour of Here & Now on Fridays at 1 p.m.

"At a time when audiences have more options than ever, we are excited that WAMU has extended its live broadcast of Here & Now,” said Here & Now executive producer Kathleen McKenna. “We are committed to delivering the highest level of journalism to our listeners and NPR stations."

Here & Now began at WBUR in 1997, and expanded to two hours in a groundbreaking partnership with NPR in July 2013. At that time, more than 100 stations picked up the show with the option of running anywhere between one and four hours of the program. In Spring 2015, the show had 406 stations and saw a 6% jump in listeners year over year (current station count is 424). The numbers indicated stations opting to run the program for two hours Monday through Friday experienced the strongest increase in average quarter hour listeners.

Beyond the radio broadcast, Here & Now offers audiences multiple ways to connect with its content online at www.hereandnow.org. The Here & Now podcast is available on iTunes and Stitcher, and you can follow the program on Facebook and Twitter, @HereandNow.