Youth Radio

For more than a dozen years the Bay Area-based Youth Radio has helped teenagers get their views on the airwaves while proving that education, entertainment and advocacy can be defly blended into a single, winning combination.

The educational component of the Youth Radio program ensures that high school students who participants are taught to mix, write, produce, DJ, and vocalize their experiences. But, because the program’s radio segments are produced for broadcast on the nation’s biggest public radio outlets, National Public Radio and Public Radio International, the learning experience is also results-driven, with an emphasis on going beyond the “process” to a celebrated and polished finished product.

Throughout its first decade, dozens of Youth Radio reporters-in-training have sown the seeds for careers in radio, while the remainder have accelerated their academic and civic lives. Perhaps, even more remarkable, is the breadth of Youth Radio’s participant pool.

Among these are teen-agers from Camp Sweeney, a San Leandro juvenile hall detention facility. Together with both an adult and peer trainer, the adolescent inmates at Camp Sweeney have produced radio pieces ranging from such serious topics as the September 11th attacks to a more light-hearted look at today’s popular slang terms.

Below are excerpts from several Youth Radio segments.

“I think banning Oreos in California is preposterous! [San Francisco attorney Stephan] Joseph was initially trying to get Oreos banned in California. How could he even think about doing that? I love Oreos! I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” —Danny Lannon

“To me the word ‘high school’ sounds innocent and playful, it makes me think of young kids running around campus with water balloons in their hands. I’ve never done that, but it sounds like fun. College, however, symbolizes angry old professors who can’t remember the names of their bored students. Change scares me and if there’s a big chunk of it coming my way, I try to step aside.”—Petya Somleva

“I can remember running home to catch the songs on KMEL’s ‘Seven O’Clock Drop,’ but now, at 6:59, I just run away from the radio. Clear Channel owns about 1,240 radio stations, and from what I hear, many of their stations are programmed the same way. To my ears, it’s like corporate powerhouses are playing Monopoly with local radio.”—Josh Clemmons