Ken Rudin offers public radio a new weekly dose of “Political Junkie”

The demise of NPR’s Talk of the Nation ended Ken Rudin’s regular appearances on many public radio stations, but the “Political Junkie” is aiming to reengage his devoted audience with a weekly radio segment that launched yesterday. The 8-minute Political Junkie segments, distributed by Public Radio Exchange, reprise many of the features Rudin wove into his TOTN appearances. The first installment features Rudin and NPR Senior Political Editor Ron Elving discussing the aftermath of the government shutdown. Rudin also plans to offer Political Junkie in extended form as a podcast. Since TOTN wound down in June and Rudin departed from NPR, thousands of listeners emailed the commentator to ask for his return to the Web and to radio.

NPR’s Rudin hopes to launch new show after leaving network

Shutdowns of a show and a reporting project at NPR have prompted the departure of “Political Junkie” Ken Rudin, who has worked at the network since 1991. Rudin appears weekly on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, which is ending production this month. He also served recently as editorial coordinator for StateImpact, a collaborative reporting project with stations that NPR is exiting. “With the combination of Talk of the Nation and StateImpact ending, there wasn’t really a place for me,” Rudin says. “It didn’t come as a surprise.” He will leave NPR at the end of September.