January 20, 2023
Children Are Our Future: LeVar Burton Lands Host Job for Children’s Podcast ‘Sound Detectives’
Beloved star, LeVar Burton, made his debut in the entertainment industry as an actor, but what ultimately captured fans’ hearts was his hosting 1983’s children’s series Reading Rainbow.
Almost 40 years later, Burton is returning to children’s entertainment by hosting a new podcast, Sound Detectives, which is slated to premiere on Stitcher, a media company.
Sound Detectives‘ premise follows two inspectors, Detective Hunch and Audie the Ear, investigating why sounds are disappearing from the world. According to The Hollywood Reporter, what makes Sound Detectives different from other podcasts is that each episode occurs in various locations, and children can take part in the adventure by using their listening skills to differentiate the sounds.
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Burton created the podcast along with Julia Smith and Joanna Sokolowski. Earlier this month, the 65-year-old spoke in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show and revealed how his love for radio began as a child. Burton, who lived overseas because of his family’s military background, explained that listening to the radio was his only form of entertainment, because he didn’t have access to English-speaking television programs.
While raving about how this helped expand his imagination, Burton said, “That is where I discovered that theater of the mind, listening to a story unfold and connecting to it purely in my imagination based on what I was hearing. It’s a real different experience. I loved the opportunity to be able to tap into that aspect of ourselves, the aural nature of the human being and what it can bring to us in our lives.”
Later, Burton disclosed why he seized the opportunity to create a children’s podcast. He stated, “It’s really about satiating the curiosity of kids, giving them an opportunity to use a different part of their brains and different skill sets than we normally use in a very visually dominated world.”
Burton’s Sound Detectives podcast will be his second project with Stitcher. The star’s first was LeVar Burton Reads.
Sound Detectives is scheduled to premiere this spring.