West Virginia Public Broadcasting to Launch New Podcast 'Us & Them' at Charleston Event

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has teamed up with Charleston native and Peabody Award-winning producer Trey Kay for a new podcast, Us & Them. Slated to launch on May 1, Us & Them explores the issues that create vast cultural divides.

A first listen party for the podcast will be hosted at Kin Ship Goods in Charleston on April 28 at 7 p.m., in advance of the public premiere.

“West Virginia Public Broadcasting is proud to partner with Trey Kay on this new project. Us & Them is our attempt to bridge the divides of the so-called culture wars and find common ground,” said Scott Finn, Executive Director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The first listen party will include an exclusive preview of Us & Them (featuring in-depth discussions about religion, gender and freedom of expression in Appalachia), followed by an intimate Q & A with podcast host/producer Trey Kay and podcast contributors/West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporters Dave Mistich and Roxy Todd. The event marks the debut of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s partnership with NPR Generation Listen, an initiative to bring young, intellectually curious minds into the public broadcasting community.

Those interested in attending the first listen party can RSVP on our Splash That event page.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about this NPR Generation Listen event when audiences will hear the Us & Them podcast for the first time,” says podcast host/producer Trey Kay. “The whole Us & Them project is about finding ways to have different conversations between left and right, liberal and conservative, gay and straight, religious and secular and, equally as important, young and old. As I’ve been working on this project over the past year, older people who know my work ask, “What’s a podcast?” Younger people completely get it. I am hoping that Us & Them is a forum where the generations might come together to figure things out.”

Trey Kay is the recipient of the Peabody Award, Edward R. Murrow Award and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for his 2009 radio documentary The Great Textbook War, which examined the battle over school textbooks in Kanawha County, West Virginia. He shared in another Peabody Award for his contribution to Studio 360’s American Icons: Moby Dick, and he researched as a Spencer Fellow for Education Reporting at the Columbia School of Journalism as he produced The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom. He has also produced for Marketplace, Weekend America, Day to Day, American RadioWorks, Morning Edition and PBS Frontline. 

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. For more information on the Us & Them first listen party and to reserve a seat, visit usandthem.splashthat.com.

Us & Them is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About West Virginia Public Broadcasting: West Virginia Public Broadcasting tells West Virginia’s story through high-quality programming and services including radio, television, Mountain Stage^®, wvpublic.org, WV LearningMedia and Ready To Learn^®. West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a trusted resource for education, news, emergency services and community development.