KUAF Premieres Two New Podcast Series on Anti-Racism and K-12 Education During COVID-19

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –  As with almost everything else in our lives, radio listening has undergone a tremendous change in the last seven months.

With the shift in many listeners’ schedules – people working from home, spending less time in the car, no more daily commute, etc. – options for on-demand and streaming listening have become increasingly essential.

With that in mind, KUAF 91.3, the local National Public Radio affiliate for Northwest and Western Arkansas, is broadcasting two new podcast series dealing with changes in education and a national reckoning on race relations – two topics that have come to the forefront of the nation, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a supplement to one of the podcasts, KUAF will also be hosting a series of virtual community conversations surrounding anti-racist movements in Arkansas and the South – with the first taking place from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22.

“Digital and on-demand listening is increasing due to changes in listeners’ schedules. On-demand formats, like podcasts, allow listeners to spend a good amount of time with one topic and we felt there was much to learn from how the pandemic was affecting race relations and education right now,” said Leigh Wood, general manager of KUAF.

With support from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, The Movement That Never Was: A People’s Guide to Anti-Racism in the South and Arkansas is a five-part series that will identify the term anti-racism and trace the history of anti-racist movements across the South and in Arkansas, paying particular attention to how the involvement of white participants has affected these movements in the past.

Written and executive produced by Paul Kiefer, a journalist based in Seattle and finalist for the Kroc Fellowship offered by National Public Radio, this podcast will explore the intersection of anti-racist movements with political systems and voting rights, labor movements, local organizing, the economics of social justice and more.

The first episode of The Movement That Never Was: A People’s Guide to Anti-Racism in the South and Arkansas will air on KUAF’s locally produced news program, Ozarks at Large, on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and will then be available on-demand at KUAF.com and other podcast providers.

In coordination with the first episode, KUAF will also host along with the Fayetteville Public Library a virtual community conversation around the term anti-racism, anti-racist movements that have taken place in Arkansas in the past and its roots in abolitionism.

The event will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22. Registration for the event is required and can be found on the library’s website.

Panelists for the conversation alongside Kiefer include:

• Lisa Corrigan, professor of communications, director of the Gender Studies Program and affiliate faculty in both African and African American Studies and Latin American Studies Programs in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas;
• Jay Childers, associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Kansas University;
• Michael Simmons, former SNCC organizer and a global human rights activist for more than 40 years.

The discussion will be moderated by KUAF’s news director, Kyle Kellams.

KUAF’s second new podcast, The New Classroom, a special reporting series supported The Walton Family Foundation, is produced by Ozarks at Large reporter and producer Zuzanna Sitek. It explores the struggles, changes, and innovations in education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Episode one of The New Classroom is available now and collects reporting on teachers’ reactions to reopening schools to in-person learning, students’ impressions of the first week of school, the changes impacting substitute teachers, the learning pod trend and more.

The New Classroom podcast will continue through the spring semester of 2021.

Each monthly episode will collect and expand on KUAF’s reporting on the ongoing changes in public schooling, higher education, charter and private schools as well as the experiences of local teachers, parents and students as they attempt to create a new normal for education in our area.

Episode one of The New Classroom is now available at KUAF.com and on podcast providers like iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and more.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.