Ari Shapiro has officially reunited with his former NPR co-host Audie Cornish to premier their new CNN cultural podcast, Engagement Party. On her show On with Kara Swisher, host Kara Swisher introduced the duo by noting that both of them previously "hosted NPR's flagship evening news show, All Things Considered, for a decade."
Swisher is highly optimistic about the chemistry between the two public radio veterans. Speaking on Pivot, Swisher praised Ari Shapiro as "terrific" and called them a "really interesting pairing." She joked that with the new show, "They're trying to do Pivot but less dick jokes, I think."
The new series aims to tackle broader cultural divides. On Pivot, Swisher mentioned that Audie Cornish wants the project "to help people get out of the cultural silos" that dominate modern media. Whether the former public radio hosts can successfully port their polite, analytical style to a major network's podcast feed remains the big question as the show begins its run.