SiriusXM and Levar Burton are teaming up on a new children’s podcast series that is one part Sherlock Holmes, one part Carmen Sandiego.
The podcast, called Sound Detectives, starts with the mystery that sounds are suddenly disappearing throughout the world, with the chief suspect identified as the “Sound Culprit.” Top duo investigators Detective Hunch and Audie the Ear will take children on an adventure as they try to track down the missing sounds and bring the Sound Culprit to justice.
The podcast is produced and distributed by SiriusXM’s Stitcher division, with Burton partnering with Julia Smith and Joanna Sokolowski on the project. The production was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday, as reported by the trade publication Hollywood Reporter.
Burton spent years hosting the popular public television show Reading Rainbow, which made its return as a digital series last year. Speaking at CES on Friday, Burton said he often listened to the radio as a child because he grew up as a military kid overseas in locations where English-language TV wasn’t always available.
“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,” Burton said. “It’s a real different experience.”
Sound Detectives will be Burton’s second podcast to date when it debuts later this year. His first, LeVar Burtons Reads, is a short-form production where Burton narrates fiction and has been downloaded more than 25 million times, according to a SiriusXM executive.
