As fall arrives and the leaves begin to change, WUTC-FM 88.1 announces some new additions to its weekend schedule.
On Saturdays at 10 a.m., National Public Radio (NPR) introduces a new program, “Ask Me Another,” a comedy broadcast that delivers live trivia, zany riddles, jokes, comic patter, and even mystery guests. The host is Ophira Eisenberg.
“Ask Me Another” replaces “Car Talk” with Click and Clack, the Magliozzi brothers, who after 30 years in public radio have retired and will not be producing new shows.
The program “Music City Roots” will showcase bluegrass, folk, country and rock music from Tennessee’s historic Loveless Café on Saturdays at 6 p.m. Recent guests on the show have included Emmy Lou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Doyle Lawson, The Doobie Brothers, Jonathan Edwards, and Tom T. Hall.
“Music City Roots” replaces long-time public radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” on the WUTC lineup. “Prairie Home” is the most expensive program currently aired by WUTC and the rising costs have made it prohibitive to continue airing.
Regular listeners to WUTC might recognize the voice of the new program on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. In “The Vinyl Café,” host Stuart McLean tells stories about Dave the hapless operator of a small town second hand record store whose motto is “We’re not big but we’re small.” The popular show regularly brings in a million listeners in Canada.
“Programming decisions can be very difficult, but we have to take steps to ensure the fiscal health of the station. We realize that these programs have had loyal listeners in our area, including myself,” said Chuck Cantrell, associate vice chancellor for communication and marketing. “But we hope listeners will give these new programs a listen and become fans of them as well.”
WUTC FM 88.1 is Chattanooga’s NPR affiliate and licensed to UTC.