Bilingual podcasting and Latine engagement

KERA's Tiempo Tranquilo offers inclusive service for Spanish-speaking communities

In the public media conversation around diverse engagement, KERA's new podcast, Tiempo Tranquilo, stands out in its commitment to reach Spanish-language audiences. 👍🏽 It emerged from a grant opportunity through Ready To Learn, and became part of KERA's proactive approach to leveraging resources for community-centered initiatives.

As KERA’s Lisa Bracken describes, the podcast's genesis was based in empathy interviews with parents and educators. 👩🏽‍🏫 This collaborative approach shaped the podcast's content and format, ultimately fostering a sense of trust and resonance with its audience.

As public media organizations navigate an increasingly diverse and dynamic landscape, Tiempo Tranquilo is a smart example of innovation. 🌻 In this OIGO, Lisa's insights and advice may resonate our aspirations for public media organizations to prioritize community voices and needs in their programming initiatives.

To start, Lisa Bracken is the Director of Education at KERA, where she has been since November 2021. Prior to KERA, Lisa was the Senior Executive Director at Reading Partners, a national nonprofit overseeing regions in Texas, California and Washington, as well as other nonprofit work, including prior work with KERA. Lisa started her career as a classroom teacher in elementary schools.

Lisa grew up bi-culturally with a native Spanish-speaking mother (who learned English in kindergarten). Her family came from Spain and settled in Mexico; then, her grandparents emigrated to El Paso, Tex.

How did Tiempo Tranquilo start?

We originally had a grant opportunity through Ready To Learn through CPB and the Department of Education. And then, it was a PRX 16-week accelerator boot camp to create a children's podcast. I talked to our managing producer at the time, Micaela Rodriguez, and we said, 'you know what? We really want to do a Spanish language podcast for our community, because our community definitely is diverse and the communities we work in have populations which often speak Spanish.’

What was the thinking behind this particular type of content versus say a news program or a podcast about elections or anything else?

We did have the grant funds focused on kids. And so that's when the podcast team reached out to me as the Director of Education, to ask, 'do you want to partner on this? I know that you and your team are working out in the community in quite a bit. What could we do together?'

When we pitched the grant, we actually had a completely different podcast idea. We pitched like fun and zany game show with a lot of problem solving. But the first thing that we did was we went out into the community and we did empathy interviews with parents and with counselors and teachers. We pitched our idea to them and they were like, 'that sounds great, but that's not what we really need. What we really want is something that calms our kids down, something we can listen to before bed, or listen in the car on the way to school or the grocery store. Anything with breathing and mindfulness would be great.’ Literally, after we got the grant, we did a 360.

PRX was completely fine with us changing the format, because it's truly based on community voice and what we heard from parents and what they wanted and needed.

I would imagine to get someone to be that vulnerable with you requires a lot of trust. What has KERA done in the education space and community?

I'm glad that you brought up trust. We are a Ready to Learn station, and we have learning neighborhoods. So, we have multiple partners in the learning neighborhood and we've also developed a parent advisory council. Over time, there's been a lot of trust built with that council and with these community partners. Last year alone, my team and I hosted 45 family engagement workshops in the community. We really have gotten to know families. We know the grandmas, many of the family members. When we walk in, that trust has been built; and they sit down and they are vulnerable and they share their stories and they're very candid with us.

Why did families say they needed something calming?

We had a very specific feedback opportunity from a school counselor we talked with. We were doing this empathy interview following the Uvalde school shooting. She said to us, ‘my kids are in crisis and we need some support in the area of social/emotional learning. Anything that you could bring to them that brings a heart rate down, brings calmness and some mindfulness, we would be welcomed and used in our classrooms.’

There's so much stimulation out there. There are so many different media opportunities that children are involved with on their devices or their laptops and TVs and so forth. Not only do we hear from parents, but we’re hearing from educators about needing tools to use in their classrooms to support kids. That was really what we were responding to.

Sometimes it goes beyond just the utility. It's also about people feeling comfortable with it. It sounds like conversations really sought to amplify that need for you.

That is a good lesson at anything that we do. We do not want to make assumptions of what people might want. And what we expect families to want may not necessarily be helping. We're very mindful of that. To me, that's the biggest part of this podcast – it's been a joint venture with families and with our team. Hopefully their expectations were met and exceeded.

For someone who has yet to hear this, could you describe the arc of the season, how pieces were chosen, and the order in which they were chosen?

Each episode has beautiful storytelling throughout it. We have a host, Cecelia Adame, who is Dallas ISD graduate herself and was our intern at the time of recording. We looked at what are some of the big emotions we face as humans. We face anger and excitement and jealousy and sometimes we have anxious moments. We took a look at eight of the big emotions that we have to sift through. And those are the ones Cecilia talks about. For example, this story is something that happened to her when she was a child and then she talks about how she addressed it. Anyone who listens to the podcast at the end, from teenagers to small children, walks away feeling calm and ready to take on anything.

The way that the stories were crafted is directed for kids, but they're also relatable to adults. How intentional was that?

It was intentional. I think we've learned from series like Sesame Street, which does a masterful job at not only reaching kids but parents alike. In that vein, we know that young children are going to be listening, but parents are the ones who have to put on the podcast to share with the kids. The parents and the educators are going to be in their classrooms, in their car, in their rooms. So, we wanted stories for adults to learn and to really resonate with them. We Infuse the podcast with a lot of sound immersions and effects. Kids like the music and we think others will like it as well.

We also wanted to be very culturally responsive when we were building this podcast. When we first decided that we were going to do a Spanish language podcast for kids, folks who went through the PRX accelerator boot camp started listening to the initial versions. Some suggested we make some in English too. We decided to go with popular demand – not only is this going to be in Spanish, but it's going to be English. However, it is going to be rooted in Spanish culture.

In the English version, you hear Spanglish and that was intentional. When we were working with our host in the podcast studio – and almost everyone in the space was bilingual – we asked, ‘what would we say if we're with our family sitting around the dinner table?’ Like, ‘what words would we use?’ So even though we had a script, we changed it to really feel familiar to families and kids.

Speaking of adults, you put together quite a few learning materials.

Yes, we have we put together learning materials for families as well as educators. Those guides are in English and Spanish around the specific social/emotional learning aspects that go into emotions. These are curated materials around each of those different emotions in the episodes. And we are currently working on additional study guides and parents’ resources.

Were those materials put together by an internal team?

We've got a very strong education team who all are former educators. We also have an advisor. So, when we put together the toolkits, we ran it by her as well as the parent advisory council. They were able to look at the materials at least twice and gave us feedback. We take seriously the input they give to ensure we’re serving community needs.

What was it like to pivot with a Spanish language program?

There were a few challenges along the way. When you translate something, it's never a straight translation. It is similar, but some of the wording had to adjust because some words could seem like more of how you would say something in another Latin American country, though our primary audience in North Texas are from Mexico. Although we have many others, that's the vast majority of our population. We worked with an organization to provide translations and work with our bilingual editor. We used Spanish that reflects the regionality that we have here in North Texas.

Are you seeing a lot of downloads of the English or the Spanish versions?

I am very happy with the results so far. We have about 50 percent in Spanish and about 50 percent in English. We started working with a Spanish-language advertising hub to take a look at how we can build our Spanish-language audience. We are going to be starting a campaign over the next few weeks geared to that listener.

What advice would you give public media organizations that might want to do something like this?

Get to know your audience and get to know what their wants and needs. If you already have a concept in mind, take that concept to partners in the community and get their feedback. Get their advice when it is developing. That's probably my number one recommendation. And always allow a little more time. It's kind of like when you do construction on a house. It takes a little longer.

If anyone who is reading this is in the social/emotional learning area and has a want or need for any other materials, reach out to us because that will help us in deciding like what are the next steps as far as curriculum. We want to know what different communities want. Your input will help us in curation. 🟢

Cafecito: stories to discuss ☕

• Futuro Media has named new leadership, according to Current. 🌵 The organization cut staff last year.

• Colorado news outlet La Ciudad is not seeking to be the only source for bilingual news in Commerce City, but to instead collaborate with other news outlets with the same goal. 🌈 Colorado Community Media says leaders want everyone growing together to help the community even more.

• Latino Public Broadcasting and PBS have debuted Voces Shorts on PBS.org, featuring Latinx short films and documentaries. 📺

• In April, Noticias Telemundo and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY host a panel on the Latine vote, trends and what to watch in battleground states. 🍿

• Maria Hinojosa will receive the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award. 🏆 The recognition is given annually to journalists who will be remembered for their contributions.

El radar: try this 📡

• Cover Latine kids who are caregivers. 🫶 Kansas Public Radio shares the story of Selene Rocha, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, who suffered a stroke over a decade ago that left her partially paralyzed and unable to continue her job. She now heavily relies on her 8-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, to help her with daily tasks and serve as her interpreter.

• See who’s creating opportunities for Latinx youth in the arts. While there have been efforts to get girls and students of color into STEM fields, Micha Espinosa, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Music Dance and Theater, noticed a lack of initiatives aimed at getting them into the arts. 🤸 She tells KJZZ that she launched the Latinx Leadership Academy in the Performing Arts, with the goal of creating a pipeline from local high schools into the performing arts for Latino students. Are similar efforts happening near you?

• Examine statewide impact of laws on Hispanic organizations. The Nebraska Commission on Latino-Americans is facing potential cuts under the state’s LB 1417. 🏛️ For Nebraska Public Media, Kassidy Arena reports how the Commission remains vital for both Latino representation and government engagement in the state, highlighting ongoing efforts to ensure its continued impact.

• Talk about Latine seniors and technology. Elderly Latinos in Reno are benefiting from free technology classes, taught in Spanish, as part of a program aiming to familiarize them with smartphones to stay connected and avoid scams. 🧓🏽 KUNR, via is partnership with Noticiero Movil, covers the need for linguistic and cultural accessibility.

• Explore Latinos and the outdoors. It’s become a common story shared in public media, but Aspen Public Radio tells it well. 🏂 A part-time snowboard instructor teaches Hispanic students, aiming to create a sense of inclusion and community within the sport.

• Ask if towns near you are seeking to attract immigrants. Also at KPR, Choose Topeka is making cash offers $15,000 to attract Hispanic immigrants to get jobs and move to the community. 🏬 It’s an economic development drive, and I’m curious where else this could be happening.

The next OIGO arrives March 29. I expect to be in St. Petersburg, Fla. in early April for some DEI conversations. 🎳 If you’re in the region or will be there, please reach out. I’m happy to talk and share with you.

In addition, you’re welcome to my keynote at the Native Broadcast Summit in May. 🪄 Globalizing indigenous storytelling is the event theme. It’s organized by Native Public Media.

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