Announcing
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Public Radio's Channel for Kids
Finally, public radio will truly serve the most underserved audience- children and families. Pipsqueaks will create an entire channel through an aggregate of both old and new programming assembled from a variety of sources in public radio and elsewhere. Music, news, stories, comedy, lullabies, educational programming and more will be presented in distinct programs which target an audience of children aged 0 to 10 and their parents. The common denominators for all of the programs will be a committment to quality, a love of many cultures, and a profound respect for the intelligence of children.
Pipsqueaks is a not-for-profit production of KUSP and Pickleberry Pie Inc.
Some of the programs planned for Pipsqueaks include:
Rabbit Ears Radio The multi-award winning series popular on many public station in the 90s. Hosted by Mel Gibson, the half-hour program features classic stories narrated by stars with music by acclaimed composers. Source: Rabbit Ears Productions
Quirky Radio Music for the offspring of Generation X. It's Yma Sumac to the B-52's to Jim Copp- and back again. This is not your usual purple dinosaur music. Hosted by Matilde Piana, age 10. Source: new programming from Pickleberry Pie Inc. and KUSP
Recess Short programs exploring the world of children's culture daily. From John Ciardi to Pez on Parade. Source: The University of Florida
Cow Pie Radio Join Buck Howdy in an old fashioned campfire of the airwaves. It's a magic carpet pulled by a tractor. Source: Prairie Dog Entertainment
Kinetic City Super Crew Peabody Award-winning half-hour series of science through adventure. Source: AAAS
Live at the Clubhouse the rollicking Zucchini Brothers find cool music for kids: Source: the Zucchini Brothers
FFFBI Short radio dramas that help kids learn about places and cultures around the world. For instance, in the Three Star Hotel of Doom, Agents Wrist, Elbow, and McGurk go on a crazy journey to New York where something very strange is happening... Source: WGBH Interactive.
Castle Cottage- an hour long program of stories and music for young children. Often features children reading from their own work. Source: KUSP
Knock On Wood- Steve Charney and his wooden sidekick, Harry, present an hour of music and comedy for kids age 3 to 10. Source: Knock On Wood Productions
Pickleberry Pie- a half-hour musical situation comedy centering on the lives of the whimsical "Pickleberries" These berries have attitude. Source: Pickleberry Pie Inc.
The Night Kitchen Radio Theater - half hour plays recorded live at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Source: Night Kitchen Radio Theatre
Scholastic News Radio- short audio news and information reports by kids, for kids. Topics range from movie and book reviews, to Star Spotlights, to investigative reports on child labor. Source: Scholastic.com
World Kid News Whatever comes into Chloe or Cadence's heads and out of their mouths. Short, stream of consciousness pieces about imaginary friends and what's going on at school. Hosted by Chloe or Cadence. Source: New programming (KUSP) and old programming (Pickleberry Pie Inc)
Lullaby Land- a soothing hour of bedtime songs and evocative sound effects, hosted by Linda Arnold. Source: new programming from KUSP and Pickleberry Pie Inc.
We are in the process of securing several other existing programs for inclusion in Pipsqueaks. We anticipate that the channel will launch with at least 10 hours of non-repeated programming per day- and expand from there.
How it will work:
Pipsqueaks will be made available to public radio stations through a variety of formats. In the beginning, the channel will present weekend-only programming from 6am to 10pm Saturday and Sunday. Pipsqueaks will be heard through:
1. Streaming
The entire weekend's programming will be streamed live in Real Audio and MP3 through KUSP's website, kusp.org
Launch target: October 2006
2. KUSP2
KUSP's second channel, KUSP2, will present the Pipsqueaks programming to the Central Coast audience ( from San Jose to Paso Robles.) The entire Pipsqueaks channel will also be made available free to the public radio system at large. We anticipate that with the advent of digital broadcasting, many public radio stations will seek just this kind of programming to fill out their multi-channel schedules.
Launch target: Fall, 2006
3. Podcasting
Programs which originate at Pipsqueaks will also be made available for podcasts. Revenue from podcasting will help support KUSP's efforts in children's broadcasting.
Launch target: Spring 2007
A note to program providers:
Pipsqueaks seeks the non-exclusive use of material from other sources. All rights, including rights to stream, podcast or release material in any other format, remain with the program producers. Program providers will retain all benefits from underwriting and/or grant announcements within the body of their programs. What Pipsqueaks will provide, at no cost to the program providers, is access to a targeted national ( and indeed, worldwide) audience.
Programs will be provided to Pipsqueaks on cd, on portable hard drives, and/or on DAT.
For further information,
please contact PJ Swift, channel wrangler
pjswift@sbcglobal.net