Our new nightly show melds radio and web

Admit it. You talk about your boss once she’s left the room. Or before he enters.

I know the troops here in the WHYY newsroom do this with me.

I don’t blame them.

Every time I get that strange light in my eyes, the one that means my brain is hatching some new, madcap plan,  they know it’s going to mean a whole lot more work for them.

But, God bless them, these journalists resist the temptation to throw sharp objects my way every time I announce, “Hey, guys, I have an idea.”

Instead, they work with my half-baked notion, season it with some experience and some imagination, and turn it into something doable and worthwhile.

This week, we’re ready to present to you the latest product of our lively collaborative process.

It’s called NewsWorks Tonight.

It’s a new, nightly show featuring reporting, story-telling and analysis, all of it about our magnificent, maddening region – from Princeton to Wilmington and all points in between.

It will air weeknights at 6, and run for a half-hour – bridging the gap between the national and global reporting of All Things Considered and the economic coverage of Marketplace.

The content will come from our energetic team at WHYY, and from the network of partners we developed last year when we launched the NewsWorks.org Web site.  We also hope to imbue the show with the interactive tone of NewsWorks.org

The partners include the Public School Notebook, NJ Spotlight, the Philadelphia Business Journal and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  Working with these fine folks enables us to extend the topical reach and deepen the sophistication of what you’ll hear on the show.

The host is Dave Heller, our long-time afternoon anchor.  The show’s producer is Shai Ben-Yaacov, a seven-year veteran of our newsroom.   The voices you now hear on our newscasts, from Susan Phillips’ reporting on the Marcellus Shale to Dave Davies’ political analysis to Maiken Scott’s behavioral health stories, will be featured regularly on the show.

Folks here are really fired up about NewsWorks Tonight as a showcase for great reporting and smart talk. They’ve worked like crazy to get ready to launch this week.

So we invite you to listen in, and to let us know what you think.  NewsWorks Tonight is here, and we’d love you to be part of it.