Creative Team Behind Award-Winning Folktales Podcast Circle Round Departs WBUR

After nine years building Circle Round into an award-winning, globe-spanning, chart-topping kids and family podcast adapting folktales as radio plays featuring beloved voices from the stage and screen, real-life couple Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis are departing WBUR, the NPR station that distributes the podcast, and starting a new independent project. 

Since 2017, Sheir and Shimelonis have worked as western Massachusetts-based contractors for WBUR and its licensor, Boston University. “Eric and I treasure the 300+ stories we’ve told and the devoted, faithful fan base we’ve cultivated since our now 10-year-old son was in diapers!” says Sheir, Circle Round’s host, writer, and casting director. “Our decision to leave was not made lightly. But during our nine years as external vendors, so much happened behind-the-scenes that it became increasingly clear: a corporate environment of a university-owned radio station is not conducive to the creative work that’s become our passion and purpose in life.”

Shimelonis, Circle Round’s composer/sound designer/musician/mixer, adds: “Our last episode was May 26th. We’d been hoping to prepare our fans for the change, but not only did WBUR cut Rebecca and me off from direct contact with fans, it’s been butchering our episodes, newsletters, and Circle Round Club emails to hide the fact that come June, Rebecca and I will be gone. While we somehow managed to work a brief goodbye into our final episode, we’d been hoping to do more.”

"For nearly a decade, hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic kids and families trusted us to provide enriching, uplifting, and comforting entertainment,” Sheir says. “They’re what’s kept us going all these years. And while this door didn’t close quite how or when we would have wanted for them, we hope they come along with us as we unlock the next one!”

Sheir and Shimelonis are committed to making their next project, a storytelling podcast called Lions and Legends, fully independent. “For the first time, Eric and I will have the opportunity and creative freedom to do things our way,” Sheir says. “For us, that means putting our audience first, and making sure the world we create is 100% driven by the values we’d like to share, and the lessons we’d like to teach."

Lions and Legends will bring listeners fun, fantastical retellings of legends, myths, folktales, and fables through the ages. Each 15- to 25-minute audio adventure will feature gripping action and compelling characters, while providing a timeless tool for teaching values, fostering empathy, and bringing hope, wisdom, and comfort to today’s topsy-turvy world. Sheir and Shimelonis are excited to bring along Sabina Hahn, their illustrator from Circle Round, as well as many of the voice actors Circle Round fans have come to know and love. Sheir and Shimelonis also plan on offering a membership club for super-fans, high-quality merch, plus live episode recordings across the U.S.

Sheir enthusiastically invites “anyone who has enjoyed Circle Round to stick with us. While Lions and Legends will cater to slightly older audiences, and be a bit more complex, its timeless tales and fun format — not to mention Eric’s original music played on instruments from around the world — will appeal to all ages.”

While Sheir and Shimelonis are planning a September 2026 launch of Lions and Legends, they will release previews and mini-features through the summer and are holding a fundraiser to help get their budding independent project off the ground. Learn more about Lions and Legends and Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis’s fundraiser on their website.