August 20, 2025; Washington, D.C. – What beliefs guide the people who shape our culture? Launching August 27, Ye Gods With Scott Carter, a weekly podcast produced by Southwest Florida's WGCU Public Media and Efficiency Studios, will explore this question with humor, curiosity and candor. WGCU and the NPR Network plan to have an "always-on" approach to distributing Ye Gods with Scott Carter, publishing 120 episodes over the next three years.
Hosted by Scott Carter, an award-winning executive producer and writer known for his work on Real Time with Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Ye Gods encourages comics, actors and religious leaders to open up about the moral, cultural and spiritual codes that guide them through life.
Ye Gods' first guest is actor and comedian Martin Short, star of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. Hear the Emmy and Tony Award winner tell how growing up in a loving home filled with "argumentative merriment" helped him withstand early tragedies.
On September 3, Rabbi Sharon Brous, whom Newsweek Magazine once called "America's most influential rabbi," describes how she co-founded a synagogue for today's seekers of spiritual connection.
On September 10, 29-time Emmy winner Bob Costas recounts a childhood in which he was caught between his mother's devout Catholicism and his father's compulsive gambling.
Other confirmed guests include: Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentarian Ken Burns, Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, Screen Actors Guild Award winner and Emmy nominee Rainn Wilson, Emmy-winning writer and comedian Larry Wilmore, New Yorker staff writer and Dean of Columbia Journalism School Jelani Cobb, fashion maven and Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award winner Tim Gunn and many more.
"We're asking our guests how they found the magnetic north of their moral compass," said Ye Gods host Scott Carter. "This show is for believers and skeptics, dreamers and doubters, the dogmatic and pragmatic. As the role of spirituality shifts in our culture — and more people in the U.S. identify as having no religious affiliation, we're creating a platform where people tell us where their moral philosophy comes from."
WGCU Public Media General Manager Corey Lewis, echoing a statement to press in June about the show, said: "Ye Gods is another example of our station, and many other NPR affiliates, having the resources and connections to strong, independent producers to add value to the NPR Network, and for WGCU this project supports our ambitions to help people see the common lens of humanity that we look through across different religions, races and cultures." WGCU previously partnered with USA Today for the award-winning series The Last Ride, which was also distributed on the NPR Network.
"Partnering with local stations to serve our communities is essential to our success and is more important now than ever," said Dan McCoy, NPR's Senior Director of Network Growth. "We're thrilled to work with WGCU and Efficiency Studios to help this unique show reach more listeners and generate revenue to further support our mission. We look forward to expanding this type of podcast partnership with more stations in the months to come."
In addition to its podcast feed, Ye Gods with Scott Carter will be made available to public radio stations for terrestrial broadcast. The public media agency Artemis Independent, led by Emmy and International Documentary Association Award winner and Ye Gods co-executive producer Selena Lauterer, will work with stations to promote the radio broadcast.
"We believe this is the right show for the right time," stated Lauterer. "Americans are hungry for meaningful conversation. We're searching for understanding. Scott's interview style is warm, inviting and genuine. His guests open up and show us who they really are, their struggles, their highs, their quest of how to lead a harmonious life. Ye Gods has the potential to make a profound difference in people's lives. And we're so thrilled public media is the partner in this sacred endeavor."
Ye Gods with Scott Carter is co-created and executive produced by Carter and Dossie McCraw. McCraw, formerly of HBO and Spotify, currently executive produces the top history podcast History That Doesn't Suck with Professor Greg Jackson and the NAACP Image Award-winning podcast Holding Court with Eboni K. Williams. Emmy and Peabody Award winner Amy Shumaker also serves as executive producer.
Ye Gods with Scott Carter is produced by WGCU Public Media and Efficiency Studios and distributed by the NPR Network.
About Scott Carter
Scott Carter was executive producer/writer of the first 1,100 episodes of Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher (Comedy Central, ABC) and the first 500 episodes of Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO). For them, he won the Producers Guild of America and Writers Guild of America awards and received a dozen Primetime Emmy nominations. In 2022, Carter won the regional Emmy for long-form interview as Co-Creator/Executive Producer of Love & Respect With Killer Mike (PBS/Revolt). He has also created or produced shows hosted by Candice Bergen (Oxygen), Lewis Black (Comedy Central), Bob Costas (HBO), Carrie Fisher (Oxygen) and Kevin Nealon (Spike).
About WGCU
WGCU Public Media is Southwest Florida's source for PBS and NPR, and a member-supported service of Florida Gulf Coast University. WGCU provides quality programming 24 hours a day and is a trusted storyteller, teacher, theater, library and traveling companion.
Serving all or part of 12 counties in south and Southwest Florida with five distinct digital TV channels, three radio services, and multiple digital media platforms, WGCU delivers national and international programming, as well as develops and produces award-winning, relevant, informative and educational local content.
About the NPR Network
The NPR Network is a local-national media network comprised of independent public media organizations in communities around the country, founded on a mission to create a more informed public. Through the Network, NPR and Member stations are working together to bring America closer through free and independent journalism, music, politics, culture, and more. This collaborative initiative aims to engage more audiences with public media content through all digital platforms. NPR Network content is available through local Member stations (npr.org/stations), NPR.org, and the NPR App, and wherever podcasts are found.
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