Culture and entertainment have always been at the core of NPR’s mission to inform the public, increase understanding of the world and enrich the experience of everyday life. Many come to NPR to stay up-to-date on the news, but audiences also desire more levity and wonder in their daily listening. According to an NPR June 2025 survey, the NPR audience desires to stay informed, but not at the expense of their well-being, with a keen interest in consuming more positive stories instead.
Brands can connect with NPR’s loyal, engaged and influential audience through award-winning culture and entertainment programming. NPR’s storytelling and comedy broadcast shows present highly engaging cultural conversations that reach over 6.6M listeners weekly. This past year, NPR launched several new broadcast shows with the hope of bringing more joy and excitement to audiences across the country.
Tiny Desk Concerts Hit the Radio
For the past 16 years, NPR has hosted some of the world’s greatest musicians behind an iconic office desk in Tiny Desk Concerts. These unique, intimate performances have inspired listeners and become a rite of passage for artists across genres. And now, Tiny Desk Concerts are on the radio! Hosted by Bobby Carter and Anamaria Sayre, NPR Music presents an hour-long program of performances, interviews and behind-the-scenes stories made exclusively for public radio stations.
Tiny Desk Radio reflects the magical music and storytelling you know and love from NPR Music. Now carried by nearly 100 stations and reaching 22M broadcast listeners weekly, Tiny Desk continues to be a major platform for reaching listeners across the globe passionate about music discovery and celebration.
New Broadcast Hour with It’s Been a Minute and Wild Card
Making strides to bring culture and entertainment together, NPR has also paired It’s Been a Minute with Brittany Luse and Wild Card with Rachel Martin for the broadcast audience. On Wild Card, a new podcast from NPR, Martin uses a custom deck of cards to drive conversations with celebrity guests about their fears, joys and how they’ve built meaning from experience. Paired with Brittany Luse’s It’s Been a Minute, the show presents meaningful explorations into how culture shapes our world and our lives.
Audiences can add joy to their weekly routines with this new joint hour of programming. This feature piece show reaches 815K+ weekly listeners, leaving listeners feeling connected, seen and inspired.
Creating Moments of Joy Across NPR Programs
Comedy and culture are cornerstones of NPR’s programming across platforms. The award-winning weekly comedy news quiz, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! engages with more than 3M listeners through games, limericks, and spoofs. Each week on the radio, the best and brightest in news and entertainment are tested on their knowledge and listeners are able to interact directly with the content. On Fresh Air – a Peabody award-winning program and one of public radio’s most iconic series – Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley host intimate conversations about today’s biggest probing questions and cultural topics reaching 3.5M weekly listeners.
In addition to a slew of arts and culture programming heard on the radio, NPR’s Run of Arts & Life podcasts, covering pop culture, books, history and more, have over 22.3M monthly downloads. This gives your brand even more opportunity to align with NPR’s culturally relevant programming across platforms.
Bringing joy to listeners across the country is a vital part of NPR’s mission, with award-winning arts and culture programming spanning across NPR’s platforms. If your brand is looking to align with brand safe, award-winning content, NPR’s arts and culture programming is a natural place to start.
