This New Podcast is Looking for Teens to Share Personal Stories

"U Got This!" is a podcast that aims to inform and support kids ages 9-13 by featuring the stories of other teens that they can relate to.

By Patrick Gunn July 22, 2020

TRAX, a national podcast network owned by PRX, is starting a new podcast called “U Got This!” for pre-teens and is looking for teenagers to help host. The podcast aims to help kids ages 9-13 deal with the issues they might face during this transitory stage in their life—like bullying and other forms of abuse, understanding their identities and sexualities, and dealing with the divorce of their parents—while motivating them to speak out and express their concerns.

The U Got This team is looking for teens ages 14-18 who have stories to tell (with parental consent for those younger than 18). Two teens will be picked to be on each episode of the podcast and will discuss how they dealt with certain issues with the hosts in grounded, honest conversations. Teens who are interested can fill out this Google survey by Aug. 15 to be considered. They can remain anonymous, as long as they are willing to share their age. The podcast is set to debut on Sept. 21.

“We have two objectives with this,” Halle Petro, one of the podcast’s creators and executive producers, said about the show. “One is to empower the teens to tell their stories. The second is to inspire the younger generation to understand that they’re not alone and that they’re not the only ones going through something.”

“U Got This!” joins a slew of teen programming on TRAX including a fiction podcast called “Timestorm” about a pair of twins traveling through time to maintain their culture. Other nonfiction podcasts on the network include “Tai Asks Why,” “Feeling My Flo,” and “Mic Drop.” All of these podcasts are about pre-teens facing challenges, from the world’s most pressing questions to menstruation and simply sharing personal stories.

“[The podcast] will be used as a means for a younger generation to understand that it’s okay for them to come forward and talk, that they’re not alone in what they’re going through, and that there is always an outlet for them, even if they feel surrounded by people who cannot help them,” Petro said.

The TRAX team features a diverse group of teens, producers, child psychology experts, and the TRAX Squad—a group of preteens from across the country that provide producers with content that is relevant to their age group—coming together to create informative, relevant content. Kenneth Ginsburg, M.D. MSEd, nationally recognized adolescent pediatrician and author, is also part of the TRAX Squad. “U Got This!” looks to be another medium for TRAX to help children growing up find an outlet.

PRX is a non-profit media company and open radio exchange that has made an effort to publish audio stories (through radio or podcasts) that highlight diversity and strong journalism. Some of PRX’s shows include “This American Life,” “99% Invisible,” and “The World.” PRX developed TRAX because it felt there was a lack of teen representation in media. TRAX is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit creator of Sesame Street.