Six New Public Media Teams Join Project Catapult
PRX’s podcast training program for public media stations welcomes producers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming, San Diego, New Orleans, and Washington D.C.
At PRX we champion experimentation, risk-taking and stepping outside of creative comfort zones — which are just a few reasons why we love Project Catapult, our public media podcast accelerator that launched in 2016.
Project Catapult encourages stations around the country to create podcasts meaningful to their communities, reach new ears and audiences and to both identify and develop new talent within the public media system. Our training team, which helps journalists and storytellers adapt and succeed in today’s highly competitive podcast market, guides creators through a 20-week curriculum that includes content development, audience engagement, and monetization strategies.
There have been two cohorts to date. We’re excited to introduce you to the third!
Join us in welcoming production teams from the following stations to the PRX and Project Catapult family:
- East Tennessee PBS in Knoxville, Tennessee will place the historical Black experience in Appalachia into today’s national context.
- KPBS in San Diego, California will bring to life stories of art and culture at one of the world’s busiest border crossings.
- WAMU in Washington, D.C. will investigate how the city is responding to homelessness following the tragic disappearance of a young girl.
- WKMS in Murray, Kentucky will unpack preconceptions of rural America… idyllic, isolating, communal, tribal… what is it really?
- WWNO/WRKF in New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Louisiana will seek answers to questions about climate change and its impact on everyday people now that flooding and catastrophic weather is becoming the new normal.
- Wyoming Public Radio in Laramie, Wyoming will go in search of people and stories that reveal the evolving identity of the American West.
We kick off Project Catapult Round Three today with a one-week training intensive. Each month there will be training at the PRX Podcast Garage in Boston, as well as virtual webinars, mentorship, technical support and in-person creative reviews packed with actionable feedback, all culminating in a celebratory live showcase in March 2020. From there, PRX will work with each team to ensure a smooth launch.
We can’t wait to see (and hear!) how these shows develop and look forward to sharing six new can’t-miss podcasts with you.
Project Catapult alumni include:
- Bottom of the Map (WABE in Atlanta, Georgia)
- Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller (KALW in San Francisco, California)
- On Something (Colorado Public Radio in Denver)
- Out of the Blocks (WYPR in Baltimore, Maryland)
- Preach (KUER in Salt Lake City, Utah)
- ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? (WNIN and Evansville, Indiana)
- Second Wave (KUOW in Seattle, Washington)
- Sick (WFYI in Indianapolis, Indiana)
- Us & Them (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
- Versify (WPLN in Nashville, Tennessee)
- We Live Here (St. Louis Public Radio)
- The Music Box (Louisville Public Media)
To date, podcasts from Project Catapult have been awarded the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award, the Radio Digital News Association’s Kaleidoscope Award for excellence in covering the diversity of the community, and an Arts Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. One of the more recent Project Catapult podcasts to launch — The Music Box, hosted by a music teacher and artist in Louisville, Kentucky — was recently praised by The New York Times as nothing less than “delightful.”
More info at catapult.prx.org. Our thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for their generous support.
