News & Politics

Kojo Nnamdi’s Show Will End in April

The legendary broadcaster has hosted a show on WAMU since 1998

Nnamdi on the mic at home last spring. Photograph by Rashad Young/WAMU.

The Kojo Nnamdi Show will cease production on April 1, WAMU announced Wednesday. Nnamdi has hosted his show since 1998, and it got its current name in 2002.

Nnamdi, 76, will continue to host the Friday Politics Hour with Tom Sherwood and host “Kojo in Our Community” events around the region. Don’t look for a local replacement for his show on Mondays through Thursdays just yet, though: WAMU says it will air WNYC’s The Takeaway in Nnamdi’s old slot as it spends time “reflecting and assessing the changing needs of our community.”

“My relationship with WAMU started with me as a listener, was strengthened through my friendship with Diane Rehm, and was bonded when Mark Plotkin, Steve Martin and Diane convinced me that I could play a significant role at WAMU,” Nnamdi says in a press release. “That role owed a great deal to WAMU’s commitments to understanding the Washington region across racial lines — the lines which too often divide us.”

WAMU’s reluctance to immediately name a successor show may reflect station’s tumultuous 2020, when its general manager left after a staff revolt. Filling Nnamdi’s slot will be an important job for the next GM. Nnamdi’s staff will depart as well, DCist reports.

The show will be remembered for Nnamdi’s wide-ranging subjects, from politics to snow shoveling, as well as his distinctive voice—it may be difficult for some Washingtonians to imagine the airwaves without a daily dose of Kojo. “I’ve always had a wide variety of interests, and I’ve always been easily bored,” Nnamdi told Washingtonian in 2013. “A perfect environment for me is one in which I get to talk about all the things I’m interested in and curious about.”

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Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.