N.Y. Times Plans Major New Interview Series Built From Magazine’s ‘Talk’ Column (Exclusive)

Alex Weprin
·2 min read
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The New York Times is planning a major new interview franchise, one that will live across its audio podcast division and within The New York Times Magazine.

The new franchise will be released as a weekly podcast, and will also be published as a Q&A in the Magazine, it will be co-hosted by David Marchese, who writes the Magazine’s “Talk” interview column, and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, the veteran NPR journalist who joined the Times to host its First Person interview series.

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The new interview series will launch in 2024, with a name still to be determined, though in a note to staff Thursday, Times audio chief Sam Dolnick, Magazine editor Jake Silverstein and director of audio Paula Szchuman said that it will “build on the success of David’s Talk column, which has been one of the most popular features on our site over the past five years.”

Marchese has interviewed more than 130 people for his Talk column, with many of them making news. Most recently his interview with Jann Wenner — in which the Rolling Stone founder said he didn’t include interviews with Black and female musicians in his book because they aren’t “articulate” enough — made global headlines, including at The Hollywood Reporter.

Garcia-Navarro, who joined the Times in 2021, was previously the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition.

The new program comes amid something of an interview podcast boom. Streaming services like Spotify and SiriusXM have invested substantial amounts of money in interview-driven podcasts, and publishers like Vox Media and the Times have as well.

The interview programs that have found the most success have typically been led by celebrity interviewers like Conan O’Brien or Joe Rogen, who can call on their famous friends as guests, as well as shows led by journalists who ask engaging or probing questions, like Kara Swisher.

Read their note below.

Colleagues,  

When we publish rich and deep interviews with fascinating and important public figures, as we regularly do, readers come in droves and leave with a sharper understanding of the people shaping the world.   

We plan to start running a lot more of those interviews soon.  

We are excited to announce the creation of a new weekly New York Times interview franchise that will provide readers and listeners with intimate, in-depth conversations with notable people from all realms of public life. It will be co-hosted by David Marchese, the Magazine’s Talk interviewer, and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a veteran and well-known audio journalist who hosted “First Person,” an interview show for Opinion Audio after 17 years at NPR.  

We’ll publish this new franchise as a podcast for those who want to listen to the interviews, and also as a text Q. and A. for those who prefer to read. It will launch next year and be based at the Magazine. 

The creation of this new franchise stems from our belief that rich interviews that engage with public figures in their own words are central to helping our audience understand the world. It will build on the success of David’s Talk column, which has been one of the most popular features on our site over the past five years.  

We’re excited to bring together two master interviewers for this new venture. Lulu joined The Times in 2021 from NPR, where she held one of the most prominent jobs in audio journalism, as one of the hosts of “Weekend Edition.” The winner of two Peabody Awards, she is known for the empathy, range and rigor of her many interviews, all of which were on vivid display in the recent interview she did with the Israeli writer Etgar Keret, which appeared as both a crafted longform Q. and A. and an audio interview. 

David took over the Magazine’s Talk column in 2018. Since then he has conducted more than 130 interviews, with figures including Jane Goodall, Yo-Yo Ma, Rosie Perez, Paul Ryan, Bono and Tom Hanks. His interviews are often marked by surprising revelations, deep research and a probing, conversational quality that disarms his subjects (a common refrain is “No one’s ever asked me that before!”). His recent interview with Jann Wenner made headlines around the world.  

This new franchise has been conceived and developed as a partnership between the Magazine and the Audio team. It will be overseen by Allison Benedikt, formerly the editorial director at Opinion. Allison joined The Times last year from Slate, where she was executive editor. Audio editor Anabel Bacon and producer Wyatt Orme will be part of the team, which we’ll continue building in the coming months.  

–Sam, Jake and Paula

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