• by Melynda Fuller , April 16, 2020

BuzzFeed Media is launching its second co-produced podcast with iHeartMedia, a daily news and pop-culture show called “News O’Clock.”

The 20-minute show, intended to be a “one-stop-show” for important information, is hosted by BuzzFeed’s Hayes Brown, who formerly hosted “Impeachment Today,” and Casey Rackham, senior editor of TV and film.

“News O’Clock” airs at night and includes segments such as “The List” round-up and the interview-based “Say More.” Listeners can expect the hosts and contributors to discuss topics including the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, internet memes and celebrity news.

The show is distributed through the iHeartPodcast Network to podcast distributors and platforms. Its first episode is available April 20.

BuzzFeed also announced this week that it's shutting down its daily live morning news show “AM to DM” after Twitter pulled its funding. “AM to DM” appeared on the social-media platform, launching in fall 2017. The show was first hosted by Saeed Jones and Isaac Fitzgerald. In mid-2019, Alex Berg, a supervising producer for the show, and Zach Stafford took over hosting duties.

Nieman Lab reports that eight employees were affected by the decision. Their last day to work on “AM to DM” and other Twitter-funded projects is April 28.

In a statement issued from BuzzFeed News Union, the group claims the writers, hosts and producers who worked on the show were considered freelance contractors by BuzzFeed and, therefore, will not receive benefits like severance.

The statement, which was posted on Twitter, read in part: “A constantly shifting landscape of partnership deals is not a justification for classifying long-term full-time employees as temporary contractors. It’s not a justification for keeping people in the dark about the status of the projects they work on.”