You Must Know Everything Podcast Turns into PBS Animated Series
This delightful parent+child show tackles big questions in short form!
- Which are more popular: cats or dogs?
- Where do gold and silver come from?
- Do traffic light buttons actually do anything?
Learn the answer to these and other “vexing questions” as the parent-child podcast and public radio show You Must Know Everything comes to PBS stations nationwide in animated form.
In each 30-second animated adventure, real-life 10-year-old Rasa Smith and her journalist dad Jeremy investigate and answer one of the above questions and more.
Rasa and Jeremy started You Must Know Everything early in the pandemic to share everything the other needed to know to get through life. Since then, they’ve released more than 100 episodes and the podcast has been picked up by Montana Public Radio and featured by Headline News, CNN, NPR’s Morning Edition, and the New York Times.
The invitation to bring an animated version of their vexing question segment to PBS came from Ray Ekness, director of the Broadcast Media Center at the University of Montana, who saw earlier animated adaptions of the show by students in the design program at Eastern Washington University, led by instructor Ginelle Hustrulid. Makenzie Ley, a recent EWU graduate and associate color designer at Nike, created the visuals.
Marc Danon, a veteran Los Angeles producer and head of original content at Redbox Entertainment, helped guide the project.
“It’s been a remarkable collaboration,” says Jeremy. “We’ve gone from a parent-child duo recording alone in our attic to a 20-person team working across the country.”
“Hearing my voice on the radio is crazy,” says Rasa. “But even crazier is seeing me and my dad as cartoons.”
You Must Know Everything animated shorts began airing July 31 on Montana PBS, with distribution available to other PBS stations nationwide via PBS Station Exchange. The entire lineup can be viewed online on YouTube and at YouMustKnowEverything.com.
Congratulations, Rasa and Jeremy!
