PRX, PBS KIDS, and CPB Welcome Five Public Media Station Teams to the Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator

BOSTON (May 3, 2022)––PRX, PBS KIDS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced a Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator training program for five teams of public media producers from stations across the United States 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. 

Participating public media audio creators in the Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator include the following. New content is in development and is subject to change: 

• Ball State PBS in Muncie, IN––An interactive and entertaining podcast exploring the wide world of work. 
• East Tennessee PBS in Knoxville, TN––A podcast for caregivers to children with family members affected by incarceration or justice involvement.
• KERA in Dallas, TX––A bilingual game show podcast that will help to build language skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork skills, and confidence.  
• KSPS PBS in Spokane, WA––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. 
• The WNET Group in New York, NY––A fictional, intergenerational storytelling podcast to celebrate the things that bring us together: valuable life lessons and food.

“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.

About PRX
PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling. PRX serves independent producers and organizations by helping them connect to their most engaged, supportive audiences. One of the world’s leading podcast publishers, PRX works in partnership with TED, PBS, the Smithsonian, Futuro Media, GBH, Religion of Sports, and more. PRX is also home to Radiotopia, known as one of the most creative and successful podcast networks. In addition, PRX distributes trusted and treasured public radio programming to hundreds of stations nationwide, including “The World,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “This American Life,” “Snap Judgment,” “Reveal,” “The Takeaway,” and “Latino USA.” PRX programs have been recognized by the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit PRX.org for more.

About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS believes the world is full of possibilities, and so is every child. As the number one educational media brand for kids, PBS KIDS helps children ages 2-8 learn lessons that last a lifetime. Through media and community-based programs, PBS KIDS wants children to see themselves uniquely reflected and celebrated in lovable, diverse characters who serve as positive role models, and to explore their feelings and discover new adventures along the way. Families can stream PBS KIDS for free anytime, no subscription required. A large collection of mobile apps and pbskids.org provide accessible content that spark kids’ curiosity. PBS KIDS and local stations across the country support the entire ecosystem in which children learn and grow – including their teachers and caregivers, parents, and community – providing resources accessible anytime and anywhere. For more information, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for other updates.

About The Ready To Learn Initiative
The Ready To Learn Initiative is a cooperative agreement funded and managed by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. It supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted at preschool and early elementary school children and their families. Its general goal is to promote early learning and school readiness, with a particular interest in reaching low-income children. In addition to creating television and other media products, the program supports activities intended to promote national distribution of the programming, effective educational uses of the programming, community-based outreach, and research on educational effectiveness. 

The contents of this release were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. The project is funded by a Ready To Learn grant (PR/Award No. S295A200004, CFDA No. 84.295A) provided by the Department of Education to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Contact:

David Cotrone - Public Relations & Communications at PRX

David.Cotrone@prx.org