Last year, Champaign-Urbana native and former host of NPR’s Here and Now Jeremy Hobson debuted a four-part series called The Middle, which launched from Illinois Public Media’s studios in the midst of the 2022 election season. Now, The Middle will be a weekly national public radio show, produced by Illinois Public Media, Nashville Public Radio, and iHeart Radio. The new program will be broadcast live from Illinois Public Media studios beginning this Thursday, September 28th, at 8 p.m. The show will be heard on more than 320 stations throughout the country.
Like the pilot series, the weekly show will focus on elevating the voices of people in the Midwest, and will have a call-in feature. From Hobson:
Growing up in the Midwest, I know people don’t necessarily spend every waking minute thinking about
politics, but they do have a lot of sway in our politics, and they have something to say. As
someone who has worked in public broadcasting my whole career, I know firsthand that public radio is
in a unique position to facilitate conversations focused on these overlooked but important voices.
The initial airing of the pilot series was the first national distribution of a program in WILL’s history, so it’s a pretty big deal that they will now be continuing to do so weekly. You can listen live at WILL-AM 580, FM 90.9, or streaming on the Illinois Public Media website and The Middle website.