Weekend Edition Saturday on WUTC

Saturdays, 8am - 10am
Hosted By: Scott Simon

From civil wars in Bosnia and El Salvador, to hospital rooms, police stations, and America's backyards, National Public Radio's Peabody Award-winning correspondent Scott Simon brings a well-traveled perspective to his role as host of Weekend Edition/Saturday.

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8:03am

Sat May 18, 2013
Media

Local Story Shows 'Plain Dealer' Prowess, But Future's Murky

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Cleveland story. The escape of three women who were kidnapped and held captive for 10 years has attracted notice around the world. Of course, it's also an all-consuming local story. And the Cleveland Plain Dealer provided coverage along with in-depth profiles of the three women, the neighborhood where they were held captive and the man who allegedly kidnapped them.

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7:23am

Sat May 18, 2013
Music

After Health Issues, Influential Conductor Back At Met Opera

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This weekend at Carnegie Hall, a giant returns to the podium. James Levine will lead the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for the first time in two years after a string of health challenges from shoulder injuries to spinal problems. He's considered by at least one critic to be the most influential American conductor since Leonard Bernstein. That critic is Anthony Tommasini, lead classical musical critic for the New York Times.

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7:23am

Sat May 18, 2013
U.S.

Prime Challenge Sends Mathematicians On Infinite Search

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The University of New Hampshire professor announced this week he's come close to solving a centuries-old problem proving something called the twin prime conjecture. We asked our math guy, Keith Devlin, of Stanford University, to join us as he does now from their studios. Keith, thanks very much for being with us.

KEITH DEVLIN: Thank, Scott. Nice to be with you again.

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5:13am

Sat May 18, 2013
U.S.

When Alcohol Takes The Wheel: What's Your Limit?

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:23 am

This week, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol content for drivers to .05 or even lower. Currently, it's illegal to drive in all states with a BAC of .08 or higher. Host Scott Simon speaks with Dr. Anthony Liguori of Wake Forest School of Medicine about alcohol's impact on driving ability.

5:13am

Sat May 18, 2013
Sports

Sports: Playoffs, Hard Hits, Soccer Kicks

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:23 am

Host Scott Simon talks to ESPN's Howard Bryant about the NBA playoffs, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper's collision with a wall, and David Beckham's retirement from soccer.

5:13am

Sat May 18, 2013
Politics

What A Week: White House Rattled By Controversy

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:23 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. There are three simultaneous controversies rattling the Obama administration this week: the IRS, the phone records of the AP reporters, and Benghazi. NPR's White House correspondent Ari Shapiro joins us. Ari, thanks for being with us.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: My pleasure, Scott.

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5:13am

Sat May 18, 2013
Media

Media Covers Itself In Privacy Debacles

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:23 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Pair of unrelated stories this week, both involving the news media, served to remind a lot of Americans of how little information that we may assume to be private, really is private. One story involves the U.S. Justice Department's efforts to find out who reporters are talking to; the other, reporters secretly monitoring their sources' activities.

We're joined now by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, from New York. David, thanks for being with us.

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2:03am

Sat May 18, 2013
Music Interviews

Audra McDonald, A Broadway Star Gone Roaming, Comes Home

Originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 9:24 am

Credit Autumn de Wilde / Courtesy of the artist

In the seven years since her last album, Audra McDonald has kept busy. She spent several years in Hollywood, filming the television series Private Practice. She's gotten divorced and remarried, absorbed the shock of losing her father in a plane crash and watched her daughter, Zoe, grow up from a kindergartener to a middle-schooler.

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9:47am

Sat May 11, 2013
The Two-Way

Pakistanis 'Defy Violence' To Vote In Landmark Election

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 11:17 pm

Credit T. Mughal / EPA /LANDOV

Despite attacks in the days and weeks leading up to Saturday's voting — and deadly bombings and other attacks on the very day they're going to the polls — Pakistanis are showing they're willing to "defy the violence," NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Lahore.

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9:22am

Sat May 11, 2013
The Two-Way

Schools? How About A Science Laureate At The Super Bowl?

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 10:11 am

Credit Michael DeMocker / The Times-Picayune /Landov

The same scientist who famously "killed Pluto" (as a planet, that is) says it's "brilliant" that there's an effort underway in Congress to name a science laureate.

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8:54am

Sat May 11, 2013
Simon Says

The X-ray Vision Of Mothers

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 2:10 pm

Credit iStockphoto.com

Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. They may not show up on X-rays, but they're there.

Like a lot of youngsters, I used to get my mother to turn her head so I could search through her hair for the eyeballs she claimed to have back there, telling her, "No you don't! No you don't!" But when I'd scamper off to another part of the apartment and pick up an ashtray or fiddle with the window blinds, I'd hear my mother's voice ring out, "I can see you! I know what you're up to!"

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5:21am

Sat May 11, 2013
NPR Story

Ala. Juke Joint Shuttered After More Than 50 Years

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 10:11 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And this final note on the blues. Two years ago on this show, we profiled Gip's Place, a real juke joint nestled in a residential neighborhood in Bessemer, Alabama.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: It's not like going to a bar. It's not like going to a club. It's like going to your best friend's house and putting on just the newest record and sitting there and enjoying it together. Literally, there is truly a mix between the musicians and the audience.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Welcome again. Y'all ready to get started?

CROWD: Yeah!

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5:21am

Sat May 11, 2013
NPR Story

Kerry's Agenda: Priorities Emerge With Travel

Originally published on Sun May 12, 2013 8:29 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been in the Middle East, Rome and Russia this week trying to find some kind of diplomatic end to Syria's civil war. He's also been trying to revive Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. Mr. Kerry has been the U.S. Secretary of State for just over 100 days, spending more than a third of that time overseas.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on how his tenure at the State Department seems to be shaping up.

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5:21am

Sat May 11, 2013
NPR Story

The Philosophy, Economics Behind Sourcing Retail

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 10:11 am

Host Scott Simon talks to Michael Preysman, founder and CEO of Everlane, an online clothing retailer based in San Francisco that provides information to consumers about where its products are made.

2:03am

Sat May 11, 2013
Author Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen: 'I've Always Been A Little Bit Of An Extremist'

Originally published on Sat May 11, 2013 10:11 am

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Yngwie Malmsteen is the king of the neoclassical shred guitar. Since 1984's Rising Force, the Swedish musician and composer has somehow bridged centuries, from Paganini to his own arpeggiated acrobatics.

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