Weekend 'All Things Considered' moving West

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Weekend editions of NPR's "All Things Considered" will be broadcast from Los Angeles, a move that includes a new host, Arun Rath, the network said.

The weekday editions of the legacy radio program will remain at NPR's Washington headquarters, but the network saw the weekend move as an opportunity to revamp the shorter Saturday and Sunday programs, The New York Times reported Friday.

"It's good to be out West," Rath said.

"We'll have more stories from the West; more voices from the West," he said. "But the core values of the program aren't going to change."

"Geographic diversity was very important to us," said Ellen McDonnell, NPR's executive editor of news programming. "Hurricane Sandy focused our attention on how we would broadcast if there was a situation where we were incapacitated at our Washington facility. Brainstorming began and after a few meetings we agreed that moving the show west was central to our editorial and future business continuity."

The first broadcast from Los Angeles was scheduled to air Saturday.

The move comes after NPR announced last week a buyout program as part of an effort to reduce its workforce by 10 percent.