WNYC Studios and Night Vale Presents Announce A New Partnership

(New York -- May 10, 2018) – Acclaimed podcast producers WNYC Studios and Night Vale Presents today announced a new partnership. WNYC Studios will present a deluxe edition of the first season of the cult-favorite fictional podcast, THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR). In addition, WNYC Studios and Night Vale Presents will co-produce the show’s second season.

Available to listeners on Monday, May 14, episodes of this special reissue of season one of THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) will be released daily for eight days. The deluxe episodes will feature the show’s writer and creator Julian Koster, a member of the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Koster and special guests from the show’s creative team will share never-before-heard stories and commentary, shedding new light on the process of writing, editing, and working with the actors who voice the podcast’s indelible characters. Listeners will also be treated to a new director’s cut of the podcast’s season finale.

Part radio drama, part bizarrely impossible variety show, the podcast tells the story of a lonely janitor who stumbles into a series of surreal adventures atop the Eiffel Tower. Night Vale Presents originally released season one beginning in October 2016, followed by a spin-off series The Second Imaginary Symphony in 2017. The show features a wide cast of characters voiced by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption), Mandy Patinkin (Homeland), Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Susannah Flood (For The People), and Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale), among others.

Season Two will be co-produced by WNYC Studios and Night Vale Presents and will debut later this year.

“WNYC Studios is thrilled to partner with the creative team at Night Vale and to join forces to share the stories of Julian and the Circus,” said John Chao, Chief Operating Officer, New York Public Radio, which includes WNYC Studios. “Night Vale Presents are deeply innovative storytellers. As long-time admirers, we share their experimental spirit and commitment to championing new voices. We’re proud and excited to bring THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) to a broader audience and to collaborate on the future of this unique show.”

“We’re excited to share this special reissue of THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) with our existing listeners and new audiences alike,” said Christy Gressman, Producer of THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) and Partner at Night Vale Presents, the team behind Alice Isn’t Dead, I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, and genre-defining fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale, among others. “We’ve long seen the show as something all listeners can return to again and again. Working with WNYC Studios on this release feels like a bold way to explore the craft of podcasting as one might a film. This may be the first time a podcast has been reissued — and reexamined by its creators — in this way. At Night Vale Presents, we love pushing the boundaries of what podcasting can be, and we can’t wait to continue creating alongside WNYC Studios in the future.”

“I was so delighted to create a director's cut of THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) podcast for WNYC Studios,” added Koster. “WNYC is an institution I grew up with. In my childhood, when I was first pretending to be on air, it was as much a part of the idea of radio to me as a radio’s dials and knobs.”

Praised by The Financial Times for its “joyous, off-the-wall surrealism” and previously named among the best podcasts of the year by The Guardian, THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) has also convened more than 30 live shows across North America, including stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Phoenix, Boise, Boston, and more.

Listeners can find each episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Pocket Casts, and any platform where podcasts may be found. More here.

ABOUT WNYC STUDIOS

WNYC Studios is the premier producer of on-demand and broadcast audio, home to some of the most critically acclaimed and popular podcasts of the last decade, including Radiolab, 2 Dope Queens, Nancy, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Death, Sex & Money, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, Snap Judgment, On the Media, and A Piece of Work with Abbi Jacobson. WNYC Studios is leading the new golden age in audio with podcasts and national radio programs that inform, inspire, and delight millions of intellectually curious and highly engaged listeners across digital, mobile, and broadcast platforms. Their programs include personal narratives, deep journalism, interviews that reveal, and smart entertainment as varied and intimate as the human voice itself. For more information, visit wnycstudios.wnyc.org.

ABOUT NIGHT VALE PRESENTS

Night Vale Presents, a partnership between Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor and Christy Gressman, is a podcast network dedicated to a vision of boundary­ pushing and original podcasting. Founded in 2015 by Fink and Cranor, creators of the genre-defining fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale, Night Vale Presents is dedicated to developing and producing podcasts by artists who have never worked in the format before, bringing diverse perspectives to a continually evolving medium. Including Welcome to Night Vale, our shows Alice Isn’t Dead, Within the Wires, The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air), Conversations with People Who Hate Me, It Makes A Sound, I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, Sleep With Me, and Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast are downloaded over 5 million times per month and are listened to in almost every country in the world. Night Vale Presents is a pioneer of live podcast touring, having produced over 300 live events in 35 U.S. states and 16 countries. For more information, go to www.nightvalepresents.com