Vivian Schiller, who heads the online operations of The New York Times, will become chief executive of National Public Radio.

Vivian Schiller, who heads the online operations of The New York Times, will become chief executive of National Public Radio.

A few years ago, Alex Blumberg, a producer at the public radio show “This American Life,” asked: “Why are they lending money to people who can’t afford to pay it back?”

Mr. Sievers was a television news producer who covered more than a dozen wars but became best known to the public as he chronicled his illness for NPR in a blog called “My Cancer.”

“The Takeaway,” a brand-new show broadcast on 15 public radio stations, is gearing up to face off with the mother of all public radio shows, “Morning Edition.”