Louisville Public Media, the owner of three public radio stations, is stepping up its podcast efforts. LPM has announced new podcast initiatives designed to increase access to podcasting resources for underserved communities, including a podcast incubator, distribution partnership program, a podcast internship, and a newsletter.
The effort is led by LPM’s Director of Podcasts & Special Projects Laura Ellis. “We are great at audio storytelling at LPM, but not every story is ours to tell,” she said. “Some conversations are better had by folks whose lived experiences inform them. This initiative is meant to empower people in our community to own and tell their own stories, and to have those important conversations. We'll facilitate, support, and then help put those podcasts out into the world, to let us all understand each other a little better, and hopefully care about each other a lot more.”
The LPM Podcast Incubator is designed to make podcasting accessible to people who don’t have a show yet but have ideas and aren't sure how to make them happen. That includes people who cannot afford studio time, who can’t travel to conferences or attend all-day trainings, and who don’t usually hear themselves represented in public media. Selected applicants will work with LPM producers to develop their ideas into a recorded and edited full season podcast.
LPM’s new podcast distribution partnership is designed for people who are already producing a show and want help with the logistics of getting it out into the world. Under this model, finished episodes are submitted to LPM who will help publish them on podcast apps, LPM websites and NPR.org.
LPM says its program will prioritize shows created by and for people of color, marginalized genders and identities, and nontraditional backgrounds.
A new podcast-focused paid six-month internship program is also being created. Designed for a person of color and marginalized gender who wants to learn how to edit and produce podcasts, its objective is to make the audio and podcast production industry more inclusive of underrepresented groups. The intern will learn to create podcast episodes from start to finish, including mixing, editing and publishing. LPM says the program's inaugural intern is Louisville native Alex Cooper, a freelance theatre sound technician moving into audio storytelling.
The podcast initiative is being underwritten by Podchaser and Rankings IO and Louisville’s The Community Foundation of Louisville, The Eyecare Institute’s Butchertown Clinical Trials.
Louisville Public Media owns news-talk WFPL (89.3), classical WUOL (90.5), and adult alternative WFPK (91.9) in the market.