Houston Public Media has launched a new podcast hosted by Ernie Manouse and Catherine Lu. The first ten episodes of Unwrap Your Candies Now are currently available on Houston Public Media’s website. The podcast’s title was the brainchild of Lu, who, during a brainstorming session, suggested the common theatrical pre-curtain announcement as a title idea. UYCN’s focus is on the visual and performing arts in Houston, and as Manouse puts it in the introductory podcast: “[Houston has] the second largest number of theater seats in a concentrated area outside of Broadway.” UYCN’s first ten episodes have focused mostly on music and theater.
New episodes will be released every Friday, and each episode will have two guests, with interviews split between Manouse and Lu. Listeners responses to the podcast will be included on the show, and the hosts are open to suggestions for new guests to the podcast.
Lu’s background in the performing arts go as far back as her high school years, when she served as concertmaster of the Clear Lake High School Orchestra, and she was a four-time violinist of the Texas All-Star Symphony. She has worked as a broadcaster in both Chicago and Houston over the past two decades, for KRTS 92.1, and for KUHF beginning in 2004. Lu’s stint at Houston Public Media’s Arts and Culture Unit began in 2014. There, she produces and hosts special music programs on Classical 91.7.
Manouse, a native of Binghamton, NY, also spent some time in Chicago and is a graduate of Loyola University. In Chicago, Manouse worked with NBC News, WLS-AM Chicago, and joined Houston PBS, now Houston Public Media, in 1996. He is an Emmy, KATIE, and Houston Press Club Lone Star award-winning anchor and producer.
The podcast is available from multiple podcast sources including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. You can share comments, questions, and ideas with Lu and Manouse at [email protected].