WESA adding news explainer show to its evening lineup

Pittsburgh’s local NPR news station has been in a state of flux recently and that continues with a new addition to the station’s evening, weekday programming lineup.

90.5 WESA announced Tuesday it is adding “Today, Explained,” an award-winning daily news explainer show produced by the Vox media company. The show, hosted by Noel King and Sean Rameswaram, will air weekdays at 7:30 p.m. and can be heard on air or at WESA’s website.

“Through on-the-ground reporting, discussions with journalists, academics, policymakers, and more, the ‘Today, Explained’ team will help Western Pennsylvania understand that story and why it matters,” WESA said in a statement.

The new addition comes as WESA recently cut The Confluence program, which aired at 9 a.m. on weekdays and focused on elaborating on local news topics. The station also recently went through a round of buyouts and cut some positions.

“Today, Explained” was created in 2018. Rameswaram co-created the show and before joining the program was a correspondent for WNYC’s Radiolab series “More Perfect,” where he produced deeply reported features on guns in America, gerrymandering, and other urgent constitutional questions, according to a press release.

King is editorial director and host of “Today, Explained.” She joined Vox from NPR, where she was a co-host of “Morning Edition” and “Up First.” A release said she was part of a team of NPR journalists who won an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2020 for their reporting along the U.S./Mexico border on the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.