Wisconsin Public Radio’s announcement that it is realigning into two new networks means a large number of changes to its programming. While the network stressed that no hosts will lose their jobs, most will be heard in new timeslots. Here’s a look at how hosts and programs are changing:
WPR’s current Classical hosts will expand their on-air time on the new WPR Music, with Stephanie Elkins covering 6 to 10 a.m. followed by Norman Gilliland from 10 to 1 and Lori Skelton from 1 to 4 p.m. A yet-to-be-announced new host will air from 4 to 7 p.m. from WPR’s Milwaukee studio.
Classical programming will be moved to smaller signals in Madison and Wausau but will air for the first time in Milwaukee and Rhinelander and move to a larger signal in Superior.
Current Ideas Network hosts Kate Archer Kent (“The Morning Show”) and Rob Ferrett (“Central Time”) will co-host an hour called “Wisconsin Today” at 9 a.m. on WPR News. The show will repeat at 7 p.m. The network says the show will focus on the “latest news and culture.” It’s separate from an existing WPR podcast of the same name.
NPR’s “1A” will be cut back to one hour, airing at 10 a.m. on WPR News.
Longtime host Larry Meiller, who has been with WPR since before the Ideas Network was formed, will stay in his midday timeslot and expand to full two hours from 11 to 1 on WPR News.
With WPR News airing on most of the network’s larger signals, the previous Ideas Network hosts will have wider reach everywhere except Milwaukee and Rhinelander, where only WPR Music will be available over the air.
“Chapter A Day,” believed to be the third-longest-running radio program in the world, will no longer air in its longtime 12:30 p.m. Ideas Network timeslot. Instead, it will be heard on both of the new networks, airing at 7 p.m. on WPR Music and 9:30 p.m. on WPR News. WPR says it will also make a podcast of the show available earlier in the day for those who wish to continue listening at midday.
NPR’s “All Things Considered” will begin airing at 3 p.m., an hour earlier than the current schedule, replacing BBC’s “Newshour.” WPR News will also air fewer early morning hours from the BBC World Service, which currently airs until 7 a.m. on the Ideas Network but will end at 5 a.m. on the new WPR News.
“Fresh Air” will move back an hour from its current airing on the News & Music network to 8 p.m. on the new WPR News.
Vox Media’s “Today, Explained” will be added at 9 p.m. on WPR News.
The Ideas Network’s current evening lineup of NPR’s “1A Plus,” CBC’s “Q” and “As It Happens,” and BBC’s “Newsday” will be dropped.
All told, the amount of BBC programming on WPR will be reduced by three-and-a-half hours each weekday.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the new WPR News network will adopt most of the current Ideas Network weekend lineup. Some programs will move to make way for “Weekend Edition” from 7 to 9 a.m. and “Weekend All Things Considered” at 4 p.m. Long-running “University of the Air” will move back an hour to 5 p.m. Sundays. “Milk Street Radio” will be dropped.
“Simply Folk,” which runs on Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m., will air on WPR Music. The show is currently simulcast on both networks.
As noted in the main article on the program changes, WPR is discontinuing weekly regional programs in Green Bay, La Crosse, Superior, and Wausau.