(HONOLULU) Hawai‘i Public Radio is one of six organizations selected to participate in a regional journalism podcast training program.
The PRX Journalism Podcast Accelerator is an intensive podcast development and training program for local journalists across the U.S. who reside and serve communities supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Knight invests in models and methods that advance the practice of journalism, build trust, reach new and diverse audiences, and generate revenue solutions to ensure a sustainable future.
Over the next year, PRX will welcome three cohorts of journalists who are connected by region. This first cohort from the western region will participate in the training program from September through December 2022, with the goal of developing, launching, or re-launching a podcast, while building new strategies to sustain audio production at their news organizations.
HPR reporters Casey Harlow and Savannah Harriman-Pote traveled to San Jose last week for the training program’s initial in-person meeting. The other participating organizations in this first cohort are: Colorado Public Radio with Denverite; CapRadio (Sacramento, California); KQED (San Francisco, California); The San Francisco Public Press; and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists with palabra.
“HPR is thrilled to be a part of the PRX Journalism Podcast Accelerator,” said José A. Fajardo, HPR President and General Manager. “Continued professional development is a top priority at HPR, and is crucial to ensuring we continue to serve our island communities in a rapidly evolving media landscape.”
“We’re excited to develop a programming concept to bring more local content to our listening audience and to do it in a different way,” said Bill Dorman, HPR Vice President and News Director. “We’re grateful that we were chosen to participate in this unique program and we look forward to the work ahead and sharing it with our listeners.”
“We’re really excited to create, re-tool, and problem-solve alongside this incredible cohort of journalists,” said Stephanie Kuo, Director of Training at PRX. “We also know that there are challenges to creating podcasts that are well-resourced and sustainable. The PRX Journalism Podcast Accelerator will help journalists address these challenges head-on. Thank you to the Knight Foundation for supporting this work.”
Each team participating in the PRX Journalism Podcast Accelerator will receive:
- 12 weeks of intensive training in podcast development with a focus on developing and strengthening content concepts, introducing and implementing technical and creative skills grounded in collaboration and iteration, and best practices for areas such as audience engagement, branding, and monetization
- $5,000 in funding for production costs
- Access to a network of industry experts and a community of peers to learn from and alongside
For more about PRX training, visit training.prx.org
