‘Marketplace’ host leaves for PBS show

David Brancaccio, host for the last decade of “Marketplace,” the irreverent business-news program on public radio, is leaving the show at the end of August to co-host “NOW With Bill Moyers” on PBS.

David Brown, “Marketplace’s” senior producer and fill-in host, will take over the latter job permanently on Sept. 1, according to Minnesota Public Radio, which produces the program that originates out of Los Angeles.

“I often brag that ‘Marketplace’ is the best gig in broadcast journalism,” Brancaccio said in a news release. “The honor of serving a huge audience of smart people is one that I leave with enormous reluctance. This new venture is an opportunity to explore a new beat, politics, in a different medium, television. I assure you it is only a coincidence that ‘Marketplace’ is currently running a series about career choices entitled ‘Starting Over.’ ”

“Marketplace,” which began in 1989, saw its greatest period of growth while Brancaccio was host and is now heard on 340 stations nationwide. It airs from 2 to 2:30 p.m. weekdays on KCRW-FM (89.9), and a half-hour later on KPCC-FM (89.3).