Public radio station KUER’s popular podcast “Preach,” a weekly examination of faith in its many forms, is ending its seven-month run this week — because its host and creator, Lee Hale, is leaving Utah for a job with NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
The final episode will be posted Friday, and will be an exit interview of sorts, a conversation between Hale and “Preach” producer Tricia Bobeda. It will be available at PreachPod.org, and on many podcast apps.
Hale launched the podcast this past September, and has conducted more than two dozen in-depth interviews, talking about how one’s faith intersects with one’s daily existence. Episodes have discussed Jehovah’s Witnesses, witchcraft, the Unification Church, yoga and “VeggieTales.”
Famous guests on the podcast have included “The Office” star Rainn Wilson, comedy writer Jeannie Gaffigan, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” host Peter Sagal, and activist Sister Helen Prejean (whose ministering to Death Row inmates was depicted in the movie “Dead Man Walking”).
“It was so encouraging to find out how hungry we all are to talk about these things,” Hale, who has been a religion and education reporter for KUER for the last five years, said in a statement.
[Subscribe to The Tribune’s Mormon Land newsletter, delivered every Thursday.]
Hale was inspired both by the stories he covered for KUER, and by his upbringing in a family who were devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Preach” also got a boost from PRX’s Project Catapult, which works with public radio stations to foster podcast ideas.
Joel Meyer, KUER’s station manager, said in a statement, “from Lee’s kernel of an idea to this reflective final episode, ‘Preach’ has been such a satisfying listen and a bold new venture for us.”
Hale is moving to Washington, D.C., to be an editor and producer at NPR’s flagship evening news program, “All Things Considered.”
Follow @SeanPMeans