In 2019, as impeachment proceedings against President Trump were getting underway, we knew that the events called for daily coverage, and we decided to try an experiment: package one of Brian Lehrer’s daily conversations for a national audience in podcast form on its own independent feed. During those days, my tasks included booking legal analysts, lawmakers, Ukraine experts, diplomats, and other relevant voices; monitoring breaking news, and the moving schedules of the hearings; and cutting a 40-minute conversation down to a tight 20, careful to remove anything that would become outdated between the 10 AM live interview and early afternoon publication.
After the impeachment hearings concluded, we decided to continue the experiment, by pivoting to a daily podcast about national politics in general. To date, it has continued to expand the reach of those conversations by about 50% of the regular show’s online listenership.