Beginning this week, KCUR will no longer broadcast the newsmagazine KC Currents on Thursday mornings at 10 a.m., Sundays at 5 p.m. or Mondays at 8 p.m. But this isn’t the end for the nine-year-old weekly program and its community-focused content.
We’re moving forward with a plan to merge KC Currents and our daily talk show Central Standard into a daily talk/magazine show airing at the 10 a.m. hour. The new program will be fully launched in the middle of 2014, with a new host and possibly a new name. The format – which we’ve been experimenting with since September — combines reports on local issues, people and places from KC Currents with Central Standard’s call-in forum.
Our goal is to bring KC Currents’ stories from Kansas City’s diverse communities to a larger audience and use them to foster discussion. KC Currents’ Sylvia Maria Gross and Central Standard’s Matthew Long-Middleton will produce the new show. Susan Wilson will be a regular contributor, as well as the rest of the news team at KCUR. (Alex Smith, former assistant producer of KC Currents, has become KCUR’s new health reporter.)
In upcoming months, we will debut a new host and continue developing the format to launch in May or June. We’re eager to hear your feedback as we move forward with the new program.
Taking the place of KC Currents Sunday at 5 p.m. and Mondays at 8 p.m. will be TED Radio Hour.
