''Up First'' is a daily news
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
by the American media organization
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, which releases an episode every weekday at 6:30 a.m.
ET, Saturdays at 9 a.m. ET, and Sundays by 8 a.m ET.
''Up First'' gives a brief overview of each news item in its weekday and Saturday episodes, unlike some of NPR's other popular news podcasts which provide a deep exploration of each story.
The Sunday edition of the podcast varies between originally produced content for the feed and showcasing previously published episodes for NPR's various
long-form journalism
Long-form journalism refers to a genre of journalism characterized by in-depth reporting and storytelling that has more substantial content than the average news report. These pieces often explore topics with greater detail, context and narrativ ...
podcasts.
The podcast was launched on April 5, 2017, in order to showcase the most prominent stories of the day in a digestible format, and giving hosts the opportunity to discuss current news items with experts.
The podcast's weekday edition is hosted by ''
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
'' hosts
A Martínez,
Steve Inskeep
Steven Alan Inskeep (; born 1968) is an American journalist who is currently one of the four rotating hosts of ''Morning Edition'' and '' Up First'' on National Public Radio. Prior to being a host of ''Morning Edition'', Inskeep covered the Pentag ...
,
Leila Fadel
Leila Fadel (born 1981) is a Lebanese American journalist and the cohost of National Public Radio's ''Morning Edition,'' a role she assumed in 2022. She was previously the network's Cairo bureau chief.
Fadel has chiefly worked in the Middle East ...
, and
Michel Martin
Michel McQueen Martin is an American journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio and WNET. After ten years in print journalism, Martin has become best known for her radio and television news broadcasting on national topics.
Background ...
. The podcast expanded to a Saturday edition on November 9, 2019, and is hosted by ''
Weekend Edition
''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...
'' Saturday host
Scott Simon
Scott Simon (born March 16, 1952) is an American journalist and the host of '' Weekend Edition Saturday'' on NPR.
Early life
Simon was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of comedian Ernie Simon and actress Patricia Lyons. alongside ''Weekend Edition'' Sunday host
Ayesha Rascoe. Beginning on January 9, 2022, the podcast expanded to a Sunday edition now hosted by
Ayesha Rascoe offering extended content in each episode to provide context behind current headlines.
Format
When ''Up First'' launched, it was intended to be a spin off of the popular NPR show ''Morning Edition,'' a morning news show that runs for several hours each weekday on NPR. For many people, ''Morning Edition'' was inaccessible due to its length or the time in which it aired.
For this reason, ''Up First'' was introduced to cater to the "more than three-fourths of NPR podcast listeners
hosay they are “definitely” interested in short, daily audio news updates."
''Up First'' was NPR's solution to delivering the most broad overview of the show for the day, as many fans of ''Morning Edition'' didn't have the hours to dedicate to listening to the long show. After ''Morning Edition'' first goes live at 5 am ET, NPR takes its first 10 minutes or so with its hosts, and edits that into the show that many know best as ''Up First''. When the ''Morning Edition'' broadcast picks up again at 7 am ET, the first ten minutes of the broadcast are replaced with something new to keep the information fresh and not repetitive.
Competition with ''The Daily''
Though ''Up First'' is often compared to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
daily news podcast ''
The Daily,'' the two podcasts have differences in how they are formatted. ''The Daily,'' a 20-25 minute podcast, favors an in-depth look at a single story. Meanwhile, NPR's ''Up First'' clocks in closer to 15 minutes each day trying to make the day's biggest news stories as accessible and digestible as possible, typically over three to four segments in each episode. That being said, polls and critics have been shown to favor ''The Daily'' over ''Up First.
''
''Up First'' is available to listen to on the NPR website,
NPR One, and anywhere else NPR podcasts are posted.
See also
*
List of daily news podcasts
The following is a list of daily news podcasts, organized by type (original podcast or adapted media) and then by country. It represents a small subset of news podcasts that release an episode every day, sometimes with the exception of weekends or ...
References
{{Podcasting
NPR programs
Audio podcasts
2017 podcast debuts
News podcasts