The public radio show and podcast The United States of Anxiety gets a facelift this weekend as producer WNYC Studios relaunches the New York Public Radio show as a nationally syndicated program for public radio stations nationwide. What is now called Notes from America will debut Sunday (September 25) on more than 40 public radio stations.
The name filler is designed to reflect its new national audience as well as attract a wider audience for the call-in show, says WNYC Studios. What won’t change, he says, is the show’s commitment to dealing with the unfinished business of American history and its grip on our future — but with a new focus on finding solutions.
“We launched Kai’s WNYC call show in 2020 amid a pandemic and a reckoning with structural racism that has dramatically changed our lives and livelihoods, our culture and our discourse, as well than our sense of personal identity and our understanding of shared history,” said Kenya Young, senior vice president at WNYC Studios. “As the pandemic wanes, what hasn’t changed is the desire, in an often distressing media environment, to go beyond the headlines and process the news together.”
Host Kai Wright will remain in front of the microphone for Notes from America. He has previously hosted several national radio specials, including a June 19, 2022 celebration produced in partnership with Texas public radio stations. In 2017, Wright was one of the hosts of “Indivisible,” a national pop-up show produced by WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio and The Economist that aired for the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. Previously, he worked in print and digital media, including editorial roles at ColorLines, TheRoot and The Nation.
There aren’t many live call-out contests on Sundays — it airs live at 6 p.m. ET — and that likely helped WNYC Studios get the show cleared on more than 40 radio stations. public, including the flagships WNYC and New Jersey Public Radio, as well as Minnesota Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, WUIS Springfield, IL; WJFF Catskill, NY; and WSKG Binghamton, NY; among others.
“We think of Notes from America like a Sunday night dinner, where you stumble upon a conversation that stays with you for the rest of the week,” Wright said. “We invite listeners to take a chair at our table, bring only their open ears and open hearts, and join us in an honest, intimate, and always good-faith discussion about the kind of society we want to create. together.”