Pop Culture & Politics: An After Hours Discussion with Sam Sanders
Hosted by April Baer
Thursday, January 22, 2026 - 7 p.m.
Watch on YouTube
A virtual Michigan Public event - Suggested donation $5
Join Stateside host April Baer in a discussion with Sam Sanders, journalist and host of The Sam Sanders Show, the cult-classic pop-culture and entertainment podcast heard on Michigan Public. The two will recount Sanders' past as a political journalist, discuss his evolution into a pop-culture podcast host, and look at what's on the horizon for him in the new year.
Sanders has been a national news figure since 2015. For over 10 years, Sanders has covered a wide range of topics, from politics to pop culture, and has been a leading national voice for all of us.
Starting in 2015 within NPR’s Election unit, he covered Bernie Sanders’s 2016 election campaign and co-founded NPR’s Politics Podcast. In 2017, he launched It’s Been a Minute, the cult-classic pop-culture podcast and radio show from NPR. Sanders left NPR in 2022 to create the Sirius XM podcast Vibe Check, and recently returned to public media with his PRX show The Sam Sanders Show.
Stateside host April Baer will lead this latest episode of the Speaker Series from Michigan Public. She’ll lead Sanders in a discussion looking back at the last 10+ years of his career, including the creation of NPR’s Politics Podcast, leaving public media, and launching his most recent show, The Sam Sanders Show. Join Michigan Public for this unique, after-hours discussion with one of public media’s most notable figures!
This is a virtual event organized by Michigan Public. Registration is required to access livestream information. Suggested donation is $5.
The Sam Sanders Show airs Fridays at 10 pm and Saturdays at 7 pm on Michigan Public.