Welcome back to Radio 831, where hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall make the case that yearning isn’t just trending—it’s a defining orientation toward life. Then they chat with author Betty Corrello to dig into what Wuthering Heights is actually doing in the canon: Is it a love story, is it camp, and what has romance inherited from Cathy and Heathcliff anyway? Plus: Sanjana gives Tyler her first homework assignment, Lisa Kleypas's Again the Magic, and Tyler comes back a changed woman.

• On yearning: Allison P. Davis’s “A Year on Our Knees” for The Cut, the movie Pillion, and the idea that lit-fic assumes everyone is cynical and jaded ℅ Mel Thomas (aka @page.melt).
•  Betty Corrello is here to talk her favorite classic novel Wuthering Heights—the latest adaptation of which is now streaming on HBO. Her last banger of a romance (written under BC Dolce) is My Italian Vampire, and her next, out this October, is Back for Seconds.
• Sanj’s backlist homework for Tyler: Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas.

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Welcome to Radio 831, where hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall share their romance origin stories and make the case for why romance is fiction's most underestimated genre. Then they sit down with Jen Prokop, co-host of the Fated Mates podcast, to break down what actually makes a romance a romance: the HEA, the theory of change, the unspoken rule that love has to make you better. Plus: what our hosts can’t wait to read and watch this summer.

• Sanjana Basker’s romance origin story: period pieces and Lisa Kleypas’s historical romances.
• Tyler McCall’s romance origin story: The Idea of You by Robinne Lee (and Harry Styles fanfic) and Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade (related: this Jezebel article).
• Four examples of romance at its best, from Jen Prokop, co-host of the Fated Mates podcast: The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn, Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid, and Indigo and Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins.

Summer releases Tyler and Sanj are hotly anticipating: Rivals Season 2 (May 15), Score by Kennedy Ryan (May 19), Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kamar (July 21), Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon (July 14), The Invite movie (June 26), I Want Your Sex movie (July 31).

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Everyone is talking about romance, and hosts Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall are here to delve into why. Each week on Radio 831, they dig into the books, tropes, adaptations, drama, and discourse shaping the conversation, exploring what our obsession with love stories says about how we actually live. Expect genre deep-dives, expert discussions with authors and superfans, and strong opinions on everything from dark romance and age gaps to Wuthering Heights and certain Russian hockey players. Come back May 7 to tune in.

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It’s been about a year since we’ve been in your ears, and we’re so excited to share some news! Coming May 7, this feed will be the new home of the Radio 831 podcast: Your weekly dose of all things romance. It’s a production of iHeartPodcasts hosted by Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall, two brilliant, funny, knowledgeable people we love having in our ears.

It’s a half-hour show that we like to think of as the SportsCenter of smut: the audio companion to our romantic fiction publishing company 831 Stories that delves into everything from why certain subgenres are having a moment—hello, cowboys!—to what’s happening in the Jane Austen Verse.

Also, while we have you, we figured we’d take the opportunity to share some of the things that have made us wish we still had a podcast over these last 12 months. Butter bust, wild brand websites, an emotional phone call, and sausage-race innovation await!

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