“Air Schooner” and NET’s “Friday Live” arts and entertainment program have teamed up to offer Nebraska Public Radio listeners a taste of literary radio. Starting this month, “Friday Live” will feature author readings and interviews from past “Air Schooner” podcasts, with introductions and discussions by “Air Schooner” co-hosts Scott Winter and Stacey Waite.
“Air Schooner” is a podcast series produced by Prairie Schooner, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s literary journal. The monthly segments will begin with a St. Patrick’s Day reading from Irish writer Nuala Ni Conchuir at 9 a.m. March 14.
“Friday Live,” NET’s weekly arts and entertainment program, spotlights music, theater, visual art, literature and film throughout Nebraska, and typically broadcasts from The Mill restaurant in Lincoln’s Haymarket district. The show is hosted by NET music director Genevieve Randall, who was essential in organizing the partnership.
“Scott and Stacey have such depth and breadth of knowledge, but especially enthusiasm for their work, which I think will connect listeners with a variety of writers,” Randall said.
After the initial reading, “Friday Live” will feature “Air Schooner” clips and conversations with Winter and Waite every other week, continuing with readings from the episode “Money Words” to coincide with tax season. Winter and Waite will talk with Randall about each clip and provide insight on the featured writers.
Talks for an NET-“Air Schooner” partnership have been in the works since September, when Winter and Waite spoke on-air with “Friday Live” interim host Nancy Finken about how “Air Schooner” promotes the literary arts in an increasingly digitized world.
“ ‘Friday Live’ is a perfect venue for Prairie Schooner and ‘Air Schooner’ to interact with Nebraskans,” Winter said. “A major goal of our show is to make these incredible writers accessible to the public and this is a great way to do that.”
“Air Schooner” originated in 2011 when Prairie Schooner editor-in-chief Kwame Dawes approached the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications about moving the journal into the digital realm. UNL assistant professor of journalism Scott Winter stepped up to lead the project, and launched “Air Schooner” in January 2012. He was soon joined by co-host Stacey Waite, an assistant professor of English at UNL, and Adrian Koesters, a former UNL graduate student in poetry.
The “Friday Live” appearances are one in a series of expansions to the listener base of “Air Schooner.” It joined iTunes shortly after its first broadcast, switched from biweekly to weekly podcasts and added a reading series in January 2013, and joined Stitcher in January 2014.
Listeners can stream the show through the NET website at http://go.unl.edu/mwb0, or listen live throughout Nebraska on the NET Radio network.
“Air Schooner” podcasts are available through iTunes, Stitcher and the Prairie Schooner website at http://go.unl.edu/t0cc.
