Starting today, Coloradans have a new option to stay up-to-date on statewide news. Colorado Today is a podcast featuring the biggest stories in our state as well as moments of joy and curiosity in less than 15 minutes each weekday. Stories in the podcast come from on-the-ground reporting by journalists at CPR, Denverite and KRCC.
To develop Colorado Today, over the past eight months we asked for input from Coloradans through an online survey and one-on-one interviews. Podcast listeners told us they want a daily briefing that keeps them informed and up-to-date, connects them with their communities, provides inspiration, helps them live better, and fits into their daily routines.
A lot has changed since the last time CPR launched a daily news program. Colorado Matters debuted just before September 11, 2001. Then as now, Colorado Matters serves Coloradans with deep conversations, surprising stories of people and places around the state and in-depth analysis of big issues facing Colorado, on the radio and via podcast.
Colorado Today adds another option for podcast listeners who want a shorter daily summary of the top news.
Podcast listening is at an all-time high: nearly half of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast in the past month, and podcasts are gaining audience on traditional media consumption across all generations, particularly for younger people.
CPR’s Jo Erickson, Arlo Pérez Esquivel, Bazi Kanani, Mateo Schimpf, Stephanie Wolf and I have been designing this podcast with input from listeners, and we are excited to offer this new option to serve you in Colorado. Here are more answers to questions you may have:
What time can you listen to Colorado Today each day?
New episodes will be released around 6 a.m. on weekdays. It is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the NPR app, the CPR app, or wherever you get podcasts.
If you have never listened to a podcast but want to try it, get in touch with us by email at [email protected]. We’ll be happy to help walk you through it.
Will you hear Colorado Today on the radio?
On the radio you will hear some of the stories produced for Colorado Today, but not the podcast as an entire package. If you tune into Morning Edition or All Things Considered on CPR and KRCC you will hear short pieces of daily news presented by Kanani and Pérez Esquivel that oftentimes originated from Colorado Today.
What will Colorado Today sound like?
You can expect to hear 3-4 stories a day, drawn from the reporting across the CPR, Denverite and KRCC newsrooms.
Stories on Colorado Today focus on things that have visible, tangible and significant impacts on Coloradans; things that empower and delight Coloradans; and things that you and your friends will be talking about on any given day. It is a complement to national news many Coloradans already get through other podcasts like NPR’s Up First.
How is Colorado Today funded?
Like all of CPR’s programs, Colorado Today is funded by a mix of support from individual listeners, Colorado businesses that buy sponsorships, and other revenue sources like car donations. As with all of our content, donors or sponsors have no influence on news content.
What other podcasts does CPR offer?
CPR is currently releasing new episodes of several podcasts:
- Purplish is a weekly podcast about state politics and policy, produced in partnership with the Colorado Capitol News Alliance.
- Colorado in Depth is a periodic podcast of in-depth reporting and news documentaries.
- RealTalk is a weekly podcast, adapted from the radio and television program produced in partnership with Denver7.
- Colorado Matters is available as a podcast each weekday.
CPR also has podcasts that are not currently in production but available for listening, including:
- Systemic features people working to reform systems like policing and education.
- ¿Quién Are We? shares everyday stories of people exploring their Latino/Chicano/Hispanic heritage through their personal passions.
- Terra Firma is about the outdoors, the sounds of the natural world and our place in it.
- Parched is a 10-episode podcast about the people who rely on the river that shaped the west — and have ideas to save it.
