NPR’s morning news podcast Up First is expanding to six days a week.
Weekend Edition hosts Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Scott Simon will host the Saturday edition of the 10-minute morning podcast. Saturday episodes begin this week.
“We’re delighted that Up First has become an essential part of the morning for so many people,” said Sarah Gilbert, VP for news programming, in the release. “Those listeners, many of them new to the NPR brand, have been asking us for Up First on the weekend — and we’re pleased to start publishing it.”
According to an audience survey, the median age of Up First listeners is 32, and 15% of its listeners have not previously listened to NPR programming.
Morning Edition hosts Rachel Martin, Noel King, David Greene and Steve Inskeep host the weekday version of the podcast.
The change is part of NPR’s “commitment to providing short-form audio that listeners can easily fit into their daily routines,” according to the release.
Up First was fourth in September Podtrac rankings based on U.S. audience. The New York Times’ The Daily topped the ratings.