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World Cafe Guest DJ: Sam Sanders

Sam Sanders
Corey Seeholzer
/
NPR
Sam Sanders

I moved from my hometown of Toronto, Canada to Philadelphia to work at WXPN's World Cafe in October 2016. Remember October 2016? The election cycle had reached fever pitch,so there was a lot of political coverage to keep up with and make sense of. At the time, the NPR Politics Podcast was releasing daily dispatches that became part of my essential audio diet. I was so grateful to the whole team, especially to Sam Sanders, for his ability to bring clarity, context and humor to complex issues.

Since then, Sam created his own show called It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders where his sharp takes on popular culture — especially music — are on full display. Case in point: eschewing the conventional podcast or radio theme song, Sam opens each Friday episode with a different hand-picked piece of music that's relevant to the week.

Sam has an incredible breadth of musical knowledge and appreciation for music, so needless to say I was thrilled when he agreed to hop the train from D.C. to Philly to help me do my job for the day.

Together, Sam and I listened to some of the gospel songs his mom used to play around the house when he was a kid, the music he danced to at prom and the rappers who motivate his morning run. We sang. We laughed. We cried to Bonnie Raitt. Plus, Producer John Myers and I surprised Sam with a phone call to one of Sam's favorite artists.

Listen in the player above and if you haven't yet, listen to Sam's show. Special thanks to World Cafe producer John Myers, and It's Been a Minuteproducer Brent Baughman for being amazing and making this work.

Copyright 2021 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage,as well asseveral prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as aproducer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.
Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.

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