PBS Kids is helping families gear up for the back-to-school season with the return of its popular The Arthur Podcast and the launch of two new weekly shows, including a podcast featuring the Latin Grammy-winning duo 123 Andrés.
Among the new podcasts launching over the next several months is the multi-generational and music-centric podcast Jamming on the Job set to premiere in September, as well as Playdate With the Wombats!, an audio spin-off of the animated TV series Work It Out Wombats! in January 2024. The podcasts will join PBS Kids’ existing lineup, including The Molly of Denali Podcast, Odd Squadcast, Pinkalicious & Peterrific Podcast, and their first original podcast, Keyshawn Solves It.
Related Stories
“We’re so excited to introduce kids to fresh, fun podcasts that we hope will get the whole family listening, learning and enjoying these audio adventures together,” Sara DeWitt, senior vice president and general manager, PBS KIDS, said in a statement. “In addition to inviting them to ‘rock out’ with new friends while they learn with Jamming on the Job, The Arthur Podcast and Playdate With the Wombats!, these podcasts will give kids opportunities to further connect with characters from some of their favorite shows in unique, new ways.”
On Sept. 14, PBS Kids will premiere Jamming on the Job, starring Christina Sanabria and Andrés Salguero, the Latin Grammy-winning kids’ music duo 123 Andrés. Developed as a part of the Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator program, the new series is designed for children ages four to eight and their families.
Sanabria and Salguero will act as hosts, touring the U.S. and performing songs about the “world of work” as they meet professionals who can not only help them solve a problem, but connect featured professionals’ skills with the interests of the show’s young audience. Each “career-of-the-day” will also inspire a new song with some help from 123 Andrés’ magic music-making machine BoomBox, voiced by Grammy-nominated musician Pierce Freelon.
Among the jobs slated to appear in the podcast’s first season are nurse practitioner, prescribed fire manager, language instructor and robotics engineer. From these professionals, Jamming on the Job‘s young audience will learn skills like empathy, social problem-solving and responsibility, as well as flexible thinking, impulse control and persistence over multiple episodes released weekly and produced by PBS North Carolina in partnership with PRX.
The anticipated third season of the Arthur podcast, which spun-off from the beloved and now-ended children’s animated series, is set to follow, debuting Nov. 9. Produced by GBH Kids together with Gen-Z Media and distributed in partnership with PRX, this latest set of episodes will continue to roll out weekly and see everyone’s favorite aardvark go on a whole new set of adventures adapted from stories featured in the series. Episodes will also feature new commentary from Arthur himself, as well as the ongoing question-and-answer segment Arthur’s Inbox.
PBS Kids will then welcome its second new podcast series, Playdate With the Wombats!, featuring the marsupial siblings Malik, Zadie, and Zeke of the preschool series Work It Out Wombats! on Jan. 4, 2024. Focused on listeners ages three to six, the new series from GBH Kids and Cultural Whisperers welcomes kids to participate in fun-filled, interactive playdates with its titular characters. In each episode, “Wombuddies” will be able to answer questions, count, sing, dance and use their imaginations in a podcast focused on reinforcing computational thinking skills, just like the animated TV series and its digital games.
Its two new and one returning series are set to release weekly and will be available free on-demand on the PBS Kids Video App and across all major podcast platforms. Additional podcasts will roll out across 2024.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qbvLpbCwp5%2BZv6a8zqurnqpemLyue8GuqqKmlajAcLDIoKCtmZxkvaO%2FjKSgnatdlr%2B1tNSrZKmnlJiutMCMrJyaq5%2BjenR5yZqkpqGenHqwuoytn55lmqSvbrDEm6ytZWFngHaBlnBva2pf