Science Friday is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 400 public radio stations. SciFri is hosted by award-winning science journalist Ira Flatow and was created and is produced by the Science Friday Initiative. The program is divided into two one-hour programs, with each hour ending with a complete sign-off. The focus of each program is news and information on science, nature, medicine, and technology. For most of its existence, Science Friday was a sub-program within Talk of the Nation, serving as the fifth day of programming on Friday. Science Friday was spun off as a series in its own right when Talk of the Nation was canceled in June 2013. The Science Friday radio program is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501 organization. The Science Friday Initiative is an independently run organization with a governing Board of Directors and Executive Director. In addition to the radio program, the organization creates award-winning educational and digital content, finds underwriting for the program, and hosts public science events. Science Friday is also available in a podcasting format and is one of the most popular iTunes downloads, frequently in the top 15 downloads each week. SciFri podcasts are downloaded over 23 million times per year and over 1.8 million listeners tune in each week to hear the program. It is also carried via Sirius XM Radio. SciFri broadcasts excerpts from the annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
SciFri was created when the National Science Foundation agreed to fund a weekly science talk-show on NPR. After the Gulf War in 1991, NPR created the daily talk show Talk of the Nation, and incorporated Science Friday into it. Science Friday moved from NPR to Public Radio International in 2014. Science Friday maintained an island in Second Life, including an open-air theater with live audio and video feeds of the broadcast. That venue is no longer in operation. On November 9, 2012, ScienceFriday, Inc. filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in New York state court against a long-running Denver radio program, titled Real Science Friday, hosted by two young earth creationists including a Colorado pastor. The show was re-titled Real Science Radio. On April 11, 2018, distribution of the show changed hands once more when it went from PRI to WNYC Studios.
