''A Way with Words'' is an American weekly

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

program discussing the use of

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

(mainly

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

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English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, with other languages earning more occasional mention) in everyday life, along with

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...

lexicology Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language. A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller eleme ...

and

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

from a pool of listener questions from weekly callers into the program, along with a weekly word game with quiz expert and comedian John Chaneski. The program is distributed mainly for weekend airing across member stations of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, utilizing the

Public Radio Exchange The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...

for program distribution. That week's program is then distributed weekly as a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

on Mondays.

Background

John Chaneski at Bryant Park Crosswords (73624)

It was produced by KPBS-FM in San Diego from 1998 to 2007 and has since then been produced by Wayword, Inc. The show was originally hosted by authors Richard Lederer and

Charles Harrington Elster Charles Harrington Elster (born 1957, New York City) is an American writer, broadcaster, and logophile. In 1998, he cofounded and cohosted the weekly public radio show ''A Way with Words ''A Way with Words'' is an American weekly public rad ...

. After five and a half years, Elster left the show and was replaced by journalist and writer Martha Barnette. In October 2006, Lederer announced his retirement from the show. He was replaced by writer and lexicographer Grant Barrett in January 2007. On August 2, 2007, KPBS-FM announced it would stop production of ''A Way with Words'', saying it did not have enough experience or manpower to distribute a weekly program across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. In September 2007, Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, co-hosts of ''A Way with Words'', along with the show's producer Stefanie Levine, announced the creation of Wayword, Inc., an independent production company that would continue series production. Wayword began to distribute the program with the November 24/25, 2007 episode. Its distribution has since increased across the nation under this arrangement, from a quarter-million listens each week to half a million. As of December 19, 2022, the show has produced 1,604 episodes.

References

External links

* {{Use American English, date=June 2022 American talk radio programs American public radio programs American radio game shows Audio podcasts Educational podcasts English-language radio programs 1998 radio programme debuts 1990s American radio programs 2000s American radio programs 2010s American radio programs 2020s American radio programs