For immediate release
Contact:
Marissa Norris, ideastream
(216) 916-6318
marissa.norris@ideastream.org
Ann VerWiebe, WKSU
(330) 672-9153
verwiebe@wksu.org
Oct. 6, 2016 (Cleveland) – After a competitive election season, the news will have the chance to provide a little humor to Northeast Ohio as 90.3 WCPN ideastream and 89.7 WKSU team up to present NPR’s popular news quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! live in Cleveland on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at the State Theatre at Playhouse Square. In addition to host Peter Sagal and judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, the three panelists for the Cleveland show are comedian Paula Poundstone, humor writer Peter Grosz and author Faith Salie. The show will be recorded and edited for national broadcast on Dec. 10 and 11.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. through the Playhouse Square box office at (866) 546-1353 or online at playhousesquare.org/events/detail/npr-presents-wait-waitdont-tell-me. Information can also be found at ideastream.org/waitwait and WKSU.org.
Now in its 19th season, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! is NPR’s Peabody Award-winning quiz show. Sagal leads a rotating panel of comedians, humorists and journalists, listener contestants and celebrity guests through a comic review of the week’s news. Contestants vie for the most coveted prize in all of public radio: a custom-recorded greeting by scorekeeper emeritus Carl Kasell for their voicemail. Wait Wait is NPR’s most-popular entertainment show and, with an audience of nearly 4 million people, ranks just behind the networks newsmagazines for listenership.
Each week, Sagal quizzes panelists and listeners on their knowledge of current events, offering fill-in-the-blank limericks, the challenge of picking a true story from three unlikely options and the winner-take-all lightening round. The show’s popular “Not My Job” feature invites a guest celebrity to answer questions on a subject completely out of the realm of his or her expertise. The “Not My Job” celebrity contestant for the Dec. 8 Cleveland show will be announced at a later date.
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About ideastream
90.3 WCPN ideastream helps Northeast Ohioans connect with their world. Listeners count on 90.3 for a combination of locally produced reports on the important news events in Northeast Ohio and national and international news coverage and talk shows from trusted sources like NPR, Public Radio International, American Public Media and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, complemented by arts and cultural coverage and musical programs. The mission of ideastream is to strengthen our communities. ideastream pursues this mission as a multiple media public service organization by providing distinctive, thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain.
About WKSU
WKSU is an award-winning public radio station and service of Kent State University that broadcasts to 22 counties in Northeast Ohio from the station’s primary signal at 89.7. WKSU content can also be heard over WKRW 89.3 (Wooster), WKRJ 91.5 (Dover/New Philadelphia), WKSV 89.1 (Thompson), WNRK 90.7 (Norwalk) and W239AZ 95.7 (Ashland). The station adds WKSU-2 Folk Alley, WKSU-3 The Classical Channel and WKSU-4 The News Channel over HD Radio and as streaming audio at www.wksu.org.
About Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is the oddly informative weekly news quiz show from NPR. During each fast-paced, irreverent show, host Peter Sagal leads what might be characterized as the news Olympics. Callers, panelists and guests compete by answering questions about the week's events, identifying impersonations, filling in the blanks at lightning speed, sniffing out fake news items and deciphering limericks. The show is a co-production of NPR and Chicago Public Media.