Steve Burns, the beloved authentic host of Blue’s Clues, is again in entrance of a digicam and microphone with Alive, a brand new podcast from Lemonada Media that premiered Wednesday.
Twenty years after he left youngsters’s tv, Burns now goals to take the sensibilities of his outdated present—curiosity, calm, and connection—and develop it up for an grownup viewers.
The title itself is a mirrored image of Burns’ newly mature strategy. He was moved by the viral response to a 2021 anniversary video the place he reconnected with followers.
“When individuals found I used to be nonetheless alive, they have been completely happy about it,” Burns stated. “That connection appeared to endure, and this podcast is my approach of continuous it.”
A selfmade ethos
Alive feels not like most podcasts in the marketplace.
Burns data largely from residence, dealing with not solely the internet hosting but additionally writing and composing authentic music. He needs the present to really feel handmade, invoking the aesthetic of public entry tv and the intimacy of a childhood buddy.
Episodes characteristic sudden structural decisions: lengthy silences, open-ended questions, and interactive listening moments the place the viewers is invited to replicate. Burns sees these pauses not as empty area however as “lively silence” that permits listeners to really feel like members.
Arielle Nissenblatt, founding father of the consultancy EarBuds Podcast Collective, stated these pauses may resonate deeply with adults who as soon as watched Blue’s Clues.
“It lets listeners cease for a minute and really feel that consolation wash over them,” she stated. “You get rest and thoughtfulness with out totally tuning out.”
That meditative high quality makes Alive stand out in a market the place podcasts are sometimes designed to maximise tempo and effectivity.
“Some individuals need to study one thing new, others need to recap the information or get leisure,” Burns stated. “That is about being collectively within the weirdness of life, not about racing to the subsequent truth or joke.”
Lemonada’s function
For Lemonada, Alive represents each a artistic guess and a industrial alternative.
Chief govt Jessica Cordova Kramer described the partnership as “full on,” with Burns serving as govt producer and artistic visionary whereas the community gives infrastructure, advertising and marketing, distribution, and gross sales.
“Steve is beloved throughout so many sectors of society, and his present is speaking about common experiences—failure, dying, funds—that entrepreneurs need to have interaction with,” she stated. “Our job is to package deal that in a approach that feels genuine to him and worthwhile for them.”
