NPR's ‘It’s Been a Minute’ and ‘Wild Card’ join forces in new Saturday broadcast

Caption

"It’s Been a Minute," hosted by Brittany Luse, and "Wild Card," hosted by Rachel Martin, will now air together as a one-hour program, bringing listeners a fresh way to explore culture and human connection.

Starting this weekend, NPR and GPB are shaking up the weekend lineup with a new back-to-back offering that blends cultural analysis and deep, personal conversations. It’s Been a Minute, hosted by Brittany Luse, and Wild Card, hosted by Rachel Martin, will now air together as a 1-hour program, bringing listeners a fresh way to explore culture and human connection.

Luse describes It’s Been a Minute as diving into "The Conversation" — the cultural moments and shifts shaping our daily lives.

"We’re talking about the way we interact with each other, the way that we all live today," she told GPB’s Pamela Kirkland.

Meanwhile, Wild Card offers an intimate look at the creators shaping culture, bringing audiences revealing and unexpected insights from actors, authors, musicians, and more.

Martin says the goal is to create a space where audiences can truly see themselves in the conversations. "These are questions each and every one of us can answer for ourselves," she said. "We want people to be able to see themselves in these conversations in a way they don't necessarily see themselves in the news stories."

Listeners can hear in to It’s Been a Minute / Wild Saturdays at 2 p.m. on GPB.

TRANSCRIPT

Pamela Kirkland: It's Morning Edition. I'm Pamela Kirkland. NPR and GPB are shaking up the weekend lineup. Starting this weekend, you'll be able to hear It's Been a Minute (IBAM) with Brittany Luse and Wild Card, which you may already know as Rachel Martin's podcast dedicated to getting guests to answer some of life's deeper questions. Together, they're diving into the culture, and Rachel and Brittany join me now. Thank you so much for being here.

Rachel Martin: Of course.

Brittany Luse: Thanks for having us.

Pamela Kirkland: First, I just want to say both of you are incredible and I cannot wait to hear your shows together. Brittany, I want to start with you. Your show is always been about breaking down cultural shifts and trends. How do you see these two shows complementing each other in a way that enhances the listener experience?

Brittany Luse: Oh, that's such a great question and thank you so much for the kind words. I think that these shows — Rachel has said in the past that that these two shows fit together like hand in glove. And I completely agree. I mean, what we've got in the entire radio hour is two great segments of IBAM. The first one is like, the conversation. The Conversation. Capital T, capital C: The thing that everyone's talking about this week or the thing that I think that everyone should be talking about this week. We get really deep on that. We play a game. And the second segment is really all about going really deep on something that is cresting really big in culture right now, that's deeply affecting the way that we live every single day. And we're — we're talking about, you know, of course, like the machinations beneath these big cultural shifts, but really we're talking about the way we interact with each other, the way that we all live today. And with Wild Card, I think that what Rachel and her team do such a great job of — and Rachel said this in the past — is really getting that individual look at really, you know, at some of the greatest minds and thinkers that that really create so much culture. Really getting a great look at how they feel, how they think, you know, their personal experiences. It gets really down to the individual. So we kind of spend a lot of time asking these big questions on IBAM and thinking about, you know, the world and how, you know, the world is changing all around all of us. And — and with Wild Card, we're really getting into sort of how the world has affected and shaped this one specific person.

Pamela Kirkland: Rachel, you've already spoken with so many amazing actors and comedians and musicians on the Wild Card podcast. Who can we expect to hear from on the show?

Rachel Martin: Well, I mean, I think first and foremost, we — you know, there's there's so many people we could talk to, right? But we really make sure that every single person we bring on has, has demonstrated a level of, of introspective-ness, of reflectiveness, thoughtfulness. And so anyone who comes on is game. Like they know what this show is going to be about and they are ready to go there. So it's not like pulling teeth. So you know that when you tune in you're going to hear — you're going to get to understand someone you might think you know. Because you — whatever, you've followed their career and you've seen them and you know the choices that they make as a — as an artist. But we're going to reveal something completely new and unexpected. And hopefully you see yourself reflected back through these questions and maybe even some of the answers. But we're going to continue to bring you — if you're not familiar with the podcast, I mean, as as you noted, Pamela, we talk with actors and directors and and authors and musicians and poets, and we try to, to cast a wide net when it comes to the the people who, as Brittany said, are creating the culture that we live in. So we're going to continue to bring you conversations that — that inspire and that really drill down on some of the issues that Brittany will talk about on It's Been a Minute in the first half an hour. So she's setting the table, and then we get to come in and bring you a conversation that will illustrate what just happened on — on. It's Been a Minute.

Pamela Kirkland: And what I love about both of their shows is that they they both have that gamified aspect, in a way. You can kind of decide if you're going to play along on It's Been a Minute. You can play along with Wild Card and some of the questions that you're asking the guest and, you know, ask other people in your lives those same questions. In — in this time, it's been a very, I think "heavy" is an OK keyword to characterize the news cycle —

Brittany Luse and Rachel Martin: Sure! Yeah. Yeah.

Pamela Kirkland: Just being able to bring people in that way. What does that mean to have more of an interactive show, I guess is what I'm trying to ask.

Rachel Martin: Well, I would — I would say, first of all, just with our show, with Wild Card, it was designed for every person. So I intentionally, after working so many years in news and just feeling these divides in our culture so profoundly, I was personally desperate to create a space where that that could be minimized, at least, you know? So the questions are not for any kind of human who has XYZ political views or looks at the world from, from — from this corner and not that corner. They are designed so that these are questions each and every one of us can answer for ourselves. And — and you know, we want people to be able to to see themselves in these conversations in a way they don't see themselves in the news stories necessarily, right? Like the news is coming at you like a firehose and you're just like, "What?" You're just trying to keep up, let alone like understand your own story through the news stories that — like, that's impossible! And so I, you know, with both of these shows, it —  we open a door to the to the audience. And so they — they are part of it. And there's the show that you hear, but then you take what you've learned or what you felt through either one of our programs, and then you bring it out into your own life. "Hey, loved one! Here's what I — Brittany was just talking on IBAM, and it was so amazing. And it's got my brain on fire." And like, "Here, dear friend, this is what Rachel was talking about on Wild Card. And it made me openly weep because I felt that same sense of grief when I lost, you know, my loved one." And so, you know, I think it's a part of — of both of these shows is, is bringing the listener in. You're a part of these things.

Pamela Kirkland: And Brittany, what about you?

Brittany Luse: I think one of the things that — that really is a thread connecting these two shows is that, to Rachel's point, they allow the listener to hear themselves and to see themselves through each show. On IBAM, that looks like — that looks like feeling personally connected to the things that we're talking about. So for instance, right now we have a series going on in our show about loneliness. And perhaps by the time this airs, we will — we will have finished, just finished a series about loneliness. Because, you know, a former surgeon general of the United States said that we are in a loneliness epidemic, in that, you know, that Americans are feeling lonelier than ever in so many ways. And we look at that specific issue from a bunch of different angles. But that's something that everybody can relate to. That's something that everyone has experienced before. And the way things go? You know, life, there's ups and downs, we're probably likely to experience it again if we're not experiencing it right now. The way that we try to craft our conversations and think about what we're going to cover is really coming from a perspective of: What's affecting our lives? What's affecting the people that we care about? When we read the newspaper and we're reading about a school closing, or we're reading about, you know, a new person being elected to, you know, a new government seat, what are — how does that actually affect people's everyday lives? What are the feelings that come up there? And what are the what are the — what cultural shifts is that speaking to? Or what cultural shifts does that, does that, you know, I guess enable? And — and that, of course, you know, feels very connected to how Rachel and the team at Wild Card craft their conversations, which are very much about, you know, how these culture creators, how they have been shaped, how they see the world, how their experiences have helped or hindered them on their journey. And really, I think that's what makes these such a great combination together: that we are really thinking a lot about people's lived experiences —

Rachel Martin: Totally.

Brittany Luse: and —and the ways that, you know, that facet shows up in the news. .

Rachel Martin: And I'll say: Both these shows are a little empathy engines. You know, that's what we're we're spinning up.

Brittany Luse: Oh, I like that. I like that, Rachel. That's good.

Rachel Martin: Thank you. You can use it. Both of us are — are committed to the idea that you need to understand how another person's walking through the world, in or— in order to, to build community. To, like, be a better human being. And so both of these shows, in different ways, help us access our own empathy.

Pamela Kirkland: I love that, and I think empathy engines are exactly what everyone could use right now. That was Brittany Luse, host of It's Been a Minute, and Rachel Martin, host of Wild Card. You can hear them both starting Saturday at 2 p.m. right here on GPB. Thank you both so much for joining us.

Rachel Martin: Oh, thank you so much.

Brittany Luse: Thank you, Pamela.