Here and Now has three cutaways for newscasts: one from :04:00 to :06:00 past the hour, occupying a portion of the national five-minute newscast from NPR, and two one-minute summaries of national news headlines at 0:18:00 and 0:38:00 past the hour, produced and anchored in-house at WBUR.

The show expanded to include national and international elements, its current format, soon after.

In 2005, WBUR had announced that the show would return to its roots as a local current affairs program, but a national distribution deal with PRI changed that plan.

[10][11] The reported reason for the change was a desire of bigger NPR member stations to have a midday magazine-style news show acting as a bridge between network stalwarts Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

“Here & Now Anytime” is a curated selection of news and culture stories from the radio show, as well as podcast-only exclusive interviews and reporting.