KSPS PBS Among Group to Develop New Podcasts for Kids and Caregivers

SPOKANE, Wash. - May 4, 2022 - PRLog -- PRX, PBS KIDS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced a Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator training program for KSPS PBS and four public media stations across the US to develop new educational on-demand audio programming for children ages 2-8 and their caregivers. This podcast training is part of the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator is underpinned by the mission of the Ready To Learn Initiative to help young children and their families build vital skills to succeed in school, work, and life. Stations in the podcast accelerator will receive up to $12,000 in funding and 16 weeks of intensive virtual podcast training led by PRX, including regular feedback and ongoing guidance on all aspects of production. The training curriculum will focus on areas such as developing content, building audience profiles with intention, and sustainability. Participants will have a space to navigate through production, build skills, and to form community among peers. In addition, the program will host interactive webinars featuring top experts from across the kids podcast ecosystem.

KSPS PBS in Spokane, WA will be creating a conversational podcast giving voice to the growing community of immigrant and refugee youth and families in Spokane, helping residents better understand heritage and values from across the community.

"We're thrilled to welcome production teams from the public media community to create new podcasts at a time when possibilities for the medium continue to grow," said Kerri Hoffman, CEO of PRX. "We're proud to help empower public media's commitment to excellence, ambition, and trusted content for all ages. Thank you to our partners for collaborating with us on the Ready to Learn Podcast Accelerator."

"We are pleased to partner with PRX and PBS KIDS to bring stations the opportunity to explore innovative ways to help parents and children learn together," said Debra Tica Sanchez, Senior Vice President of Educational Media and Learning Experiences at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "We're grateful for the Ready To Learn Initiative for making this possible."

"We're excited to bring PBS stations the opportunity to create original podcasts for children and families through the Ready To Learn Accelerator program in partnership with PRX and CPB," said Sara DeWitt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS KIDS. "We can't wait to hear the new series in development."
The Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator is now in its second year. Information on the 2021 program may be found here.