Marketplace is an American business and economic news service produced and distributed by American Public Media (APM). Based in Los Angeles, California, it produces a daily national radio program, the Marketplace Morning Report, a suite of podcasts, and digital journalism at marketplace.org. Since its creation in 1989, it has become one of the most listened-to sources of economic news in the United States, reaching upwards of 12 million listeners with reporting that explains markets, policy, and personal finance in plain language.
Origins at USC
Marketplace premiered in 1989 as a production of the University of Southern California's public radio station, created to bring serious but accessible business coverage to public radio audiences. The program's premise was that economic news belonged in the daily conversation of ordinary listeners, not just investors — covering jobs, wages, trade, and consumer life alongside Wall Street.
In 2000, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) acquired Marketplace Productions from USC, bringing the program into the public radio system's largest station-based production operation. The acquisition was contested: Public Radio International, which had been distributing the show, sued, saying it had not given its contractually required approval for the sale. MPR prevailed, and in 2004 American Public Media was founded as MPR's production and distribution arm, becoming the program's producer and distributor. The show is produced from APM's Frank Stanton Studios in Los Angeles.
The Daily Program and Its Hosts
The flagship Marketplace broadcast is a half-hour daily program airing in the evening on public radio stations nationwide. David Brancaccio hosted the program from the early 1990s until 2005, when Kai Ryssdal took over as host and senior editor. Ryssdal's wry, skeptical delivery — and his signature sign-offs — became defining features of the show's identity, and he has led it through the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 economy, and the inflation surge of the 2020s.
The program's editorial approach treats the economy as a human story: its reporters cover factories, ports, small businesses, and households as well as the Federal Reserve, Congress, and corporate earnings. Regular segments follow economic indicators — jobs reports, GDP, inflation data — while explanatory pieces demystify topics from bond markets to supply chains.
Marketplace Morning Report
The Marketplace Morning Report is a seven-minute, thirty-second business news broadcast that replaces the business segment of NPR's Morning Edition on subscribing public radio stations. Hosted by David Brancaccio since 2013, it airs in seven feeds from 5:51:30 a.m. ET to 11:51:30 a.m. ET, updated as news develops through the morning.
The segment's popularity led NPR to strike a deal with APM incorporating the Morning Report into the second hour of Morning Edition itself, bringing it to all of that program's listeners whether or not their station subscribes to Marketplace. This arrangement made the Morning Report one of the most widely heard business news segments in American radio.
Audience and Reach
As of 2014, Marketplace's programs reached upwards of 12 million listeners, an audience reported to have an average household income of $101,000 — among the most affluent in public radio. The program airs on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, and its podcasts extend its reach to on-demand listeners worldwide. Marketplace.org publishes daily digital reporting, analysis, and explainers complementing the broadcasts.
The audience's loyalty reflects the program's distinctive voice: economically literate but jargon-free, skeptical of spin from both Wall Street and Washington, and grounded in the premise that economic policy has tangible consequences for everyday life. Listener support through station fund drives and direct donations forms part of its funding base.
Podcasts and Digital Expansion
Marketplace and the Marketplace Morning Report have long been available as free podcasts, and beginning in 2015 the brand expanded into podcast-only productions. Early efforts included Actuality (with Quartz), Codebreaker, and Corner Office; in 2016 it added The Uncertain Hour and Make Me Smart. Current productions include Make Me Smart, hosted by Kimberly Adams and Kai Ryssdal; The Uncertain Hour, hosted by Krissy Clark; This Is Uncomfortable, hosted by Reema Khrais; Million Bazillion, a family finance show hosted by Bridget Bodnar and Ryan Perez; and How We Survive.
The Marketplace brand also absorbed the money-advice program Sound Money, renamed Marketplace Money in 2005 with a personal-finance orientation. Marketplace Money was replaced by Marketplace Weekend in June 2014; Marketplace Weekend was cancelled in 2018. Short-form Marketplace Minute briefs were discontinued in stages, with the remaining editions cancelled in July 2024, as the organization concentrated resources on its core programs and podcasts.
Reporting Beats and Newsroom
Marketplace's newsroom covers the economy from bureaus and correspondents in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and London, among other locations. Its beats include labor and wages, trade and globalization, technology, housing, the Federal Reserve and monetary policy, and climate economics. Signature reporting projects have included long-running series on the economics of education, health care, and aging.
The program's correspondents are known for field reporting that puts abstract data in human context — touring container ports during supply-chain disruptions, visiting factory towns during trade disputes, and interviewing workers and business owners during economic turning points. This ground-level approach distinguishes it from studio-bound business coverage.
Editorial Standards
As an American Public Media production, Marketplace operates under public media editorial standards emphasizing accuracy, fairness, and independence from funders and underwriters. Its business coverage follows standard financial-journalism practices, including careful attribution of market analysis and separation of reporting from commentary. The program discloses relevant conflicts and maintains that its coverage serves listeners, not the industries it covers.
The show's tone — direct, occasionally irreverent, allergic to euphemism — is itself an editorial choice: the hosts routinely translate corporate and official jargon into plain English, a practice listeners cite as central to the program's trustworthiness.
Awards and Recognition
Marketplace has won many of the top honors in American journalism, including Peabody Awards, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, and Gerald Loeb Awards for distinguished business and financial journalism. Its reporting on the 2008 financial crisis, the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changing American workplace has drawn particular acclaim. Kai Ryssdal has been individually honored for his contribution to economic journalism.
Signature Segments and Series
Marketplace is known for recurring segments that have become part of its brand identity. "Doing the numbers" opens much of its market coverage with a brisk rundown of the day's trading. Marketplace Tech, a daily segment and podcast, covers the business of technology — from Silicon Valley to the economics of artificial intelligence. Long-running interview series have included "Conversations from the Corner Office," featuring CEOs and business leaders, and "The Big Book," an occasional series exploring influential books on economics.
The program also produces ambitious multi-part reporting projects. Its coverage of the 2008 financial crisis — explaining mortgage-backed securities, bank failures, and the government rescue in language ordinary listeners could follow — won major journalism prizes and is frequently cited as a model of explanatory business reporting. Later series examined the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply-chain crisis, and the post-pandemic inflation surge, always anchored in field reporting from workplaces and communities.
Funding and Business Model
Marketplace is funded through the American Public Media nonprofit structure: station carriage fees, corporate underwriting, foundation grants, and listener donations. As with all of American public media, the 2025 congressional rescission of federal public broadcasting funds removed a long-standing — if indirect — source of support for the stations that carry the program, increasing reliance on underwriting, philanthropy, and audience contributions.
Contact and Access
Marketplace is produced from American Public Media's Frank Stanton Studios in Los Angeles, California. The daily program and Marketplace Morning Report air on public radio stations nationwide and are available as podcasts on all major platforms. Digital reporting, program archives, and newsletters are available at marketplace.org.
