WXLV's Youth Radio
From Jones Franzel of Public Radio Exchange...
When it comes to licensing youth-made radio, WXLV blows everyone else out of the water. And when we contacted Program Director Burr Beard, we discovered just how trailblazing they are over there: Every Friday, WXLV puts together an hour-long special exclusively of youth radio pieces, almost all from PRX. It's an exciting model with big implications. Burr filled us in how the station makes it work.
Generation PRX: What prompted WXLV to start a youth show?
Burr Beard: My 10 year old daughter's teacher talked to me once about how much she enjoyed the youth radio "shows" on public radio. She meant the segments on NPR News that are aired as part of the larger "shows." But a whole show of youth media features intrigued me. I thought if I could work with teachers to have their students produce pieces, I could fill out an hour with a diverse mix of features downloaded from PRX. Getting students to produce radio in traditional classrooms has been difficult, although I have tried with a poly sci course by offering weekly NPR content rundowns which are emailed to me, to spark interest.
Formerly with WDIY 88.1FM in Bethlehem, PA, I helped start a youth media program. This is the way to go - to set up a program with the goal to produce, not just to broadcast. We have begun to air some WDIY Youth produced features.
Our weekly one hour Youth Radio show is produced solely by an LCCC Digital Media student intern. He or she is my content depot operations manager for the semester. 10 hours of NPR, PRI, PRX and independent programming are downloaded and custom fitted to go into weekend automation for unattended operation. The intern introduces the show and each downloaded segment, usually from PRX. The descriptive information that comes with the program on the PRX website is very important for the show and for tracking public affairs issues broadcast on WXLV for the station public file.
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Visit the PRX website to learn more about the project and the latest news from the world of public radio.
When it comes to licensing youth-made radio, WXLV blows everyone else out of the water. And when we contacted Program Director Burr Beard, we discovered just how trailblazing they are over there: Every Friday, WXLV puts together an hour-long special exclusively of youth radio pieces, almost all from PRX. It's an exciting model with big implications. Burr filled us in how the station makes it work.
Generation PRX: What prompted WXLV to start a youth show?
Burr Beard: My 10 year old daughter's teacher talked to me once about how much she enjoyed the youth radio "shows" on public radio. She meant the segments on NPR News that are aired as part of the larger "shows." But a whole show of youth media features intrigued me. I thought if I could work with teachers to have their students produce pieces, I could fill out an hour with a diverse mix of features downloaded from PRX. Getting students to produce radio in traditional classrooms has been difficult, although I have tried with a poly sci course by offering weekly NPR content rundowns which are emailed to me, to spark interest.
Formerly with WDIY 88.1FM in Bethlehem, PA, I helped start a youth media program. This is the way to go - to set up a program with the goal to produce, not just to broadcast. We have begun to air some WDIY Youth produced features.
Our weekly one hour Youth Radio show is produced solely by an LCCC Digital Media student intern. He or she is my content depot operations manager for the semester. 10 hours of NPR, PRI, PRX and independent programming are downloaded and custom fitted to go into weekend automation for unattended operation. The intern introduces the show and each downloaded segment, usually from PRX. The descriptive information that comes with the program on the PRX website is very important for the show and for tracking public affairs issues broadcast on WXLV for the station public file.
- continued -
Visit the PRX website to learn more about the project and the latest news from the world of public radio.