Brought to us by KUOW, Seattle’s NPR news station, RadioActive is a youth program created to inspire and educate young people on the importance and impact of radio journalism. The OYPC team had the honor to interview a staff member, a mentor and program participant of RadioActive to share their insights and experiences on what building and growing RadioActive meant to them.
Interviewees:
- Kelsey Kupferer: RadioActive Program Producer since 2019
- Kyle Norris: RadioActive Mentor since 2018
- Youth Participant: RadioActive Youth Producer since 2019, A current High School Senior who plans on studying Journalism in college
“RadioActive Youth Media is where young people discover public radio journalism and gain access to the skills, community and institutional resources that spur their growth as media makers. Through their stories, listeners of all ages gain a deeper understanding of young people whose voices are rarely heard by the greater public.” (Source)
The Start – How did RadioActive begin and what has it become?
RadioActive began in 2004 when high school students asked to have a voice at the radio station. Since being permanently established in 2013, the program has served over 6,000 youth and has evolved into the vibrant, fast-paced and competitive radio journalism program it is today. RadioActive has two full-time staff members (and are currently hiring one more), and they have about 20 part-time youth and adult staff members. Kyle describes the program as an “NPR boot camp for teenagers,” and breaks down “the three big buckets” of RadioActive activities:
- Intro to Radio Journalism Workshop – a paid multi-week summer intensive program for 12-20 youth to get exposure to what radio journalism is all about. Projects include making podcasts and radio stories.
- Advanced Producer’s Program – a year-round program that offers leadership development, radio production and employment opportunities to 20-30 Intro Workshop alumni yearly. This program offers another intensive multi-month radio production workshop, a speakers series, pop-up opportunities, internships with KUOW shows, and co-reporting projects with KUOW reporters.
- Community Workshops – workshops that prioritize partnerships with youth who are incarcerated, migrant workers, refugees and others without ready access to media platforms. These reach 500-700 young people per year at more than 25 schools and community organizations in Central and Western Washington. Community workshops range from 1-10 hours long, and can focus on one skill (i.e. interviewing) or on story production, where youth make podcasts in small groups.
The Now – Building community & Caring for the whole youth
RadioActive strives to build meaningful relationships between the KUOW community and its youth through providing mentorship, resources and a safe and inclusive environment for youth to grow as individuals and as journalists. RadioActive prioritizes the significance of validation and value when interacting and instructing their youth. Additionally, RadioActive provides a space where youth learn how to grow community among each other. Our youth interviewee shared that “there is so much love and respect for everyone there” and described how he felt esteemed as a contributing member to KUOW rather than just another student.
How have you seen your program impact the lives of youth/you/the community? Why did you choose this program?
Participant: “As a freshman, I didn’t have much interest in [journalism]. I thought, ‘I have no plans over the summer, I might as well give it a shot’, and I was very nervous. After a week, I was excited to come back. I chose the program partly for the money and because I had nothing to do, but I fell in love with it. I’ve made new friends and I get to produce my own content. I keep coming back because I have new things to love about it….[With RadioActive] I took a big step forward in feeling confident in sharing my stories….It was a real learning experience. We were never treated like children even though we are 15-18. We are treated like coworkers – we are treated like we are responsible… We don’t like to use the word “kid”, we use the word “youth” which I appreciated. We are encouraged to try new things.”
Kyle: “What did I learn about youth? They have wisdom, they have lived experience, they are smart, they are open, they are kind, they are funny, they have value in terms of their lives. They can bring that to the world- those collective stories and we need that…[RadioActive] is the best thing I do, it bolsters me in times I have gone through in COVID and personally – I turn to these young people and my coworkers and their stories and it lifts me, it gives me comfort and it inspires me and I want to put my energy into it. I want to share it with more people…I think this is the best youth program in the country. There are other youth media programs, but they are not as robust as this – this is very special…”
Kelsey: “The impact is real. To watch some of the youth grow into professional radio producers when they came to RadioActive having never heard of public radio is so amazing and delightful. A narrative we hear often — more often than I expect — is ‘I came in knowing nothing and just looking for a fun summer job, and now I’m applying to college for journalism’…opening up that career path for young people is so cool… We don’t seek out youth who want to be journalists [for this program], we do the opposite – we seek youth who love storytelling. [These youth] then [leave the program] with a better understanding of media literacy and journalism works..”
Kelsey shares that her favorite aspect of her job is just “working alongside youth to create cool stuff”- it’s as simple as that. RadioActive is not just work nor a curriculum – it’s fun, creative, challenging, innovative and meaningful.
COVID-19 & Challenges – Navigating a pandemic & addressing new problems
Pivoting from an in-person model to a fully remote environment, RadioActive has overcome adversity during the pandemic to increase accessibility to their program for youth, no matter their situation. Although the team is slowly bringing students back into the recording studio in a hybrid model, the interviewees shared with us the advantages and successes of going remote.
The biggest challenge prior to COVID-19 was commuting. Kyle and Kelsey shared examples of students commuting up to 2 hours by public transportation to come to the RadioActive studio in the U-District. Although he wished to come in person every once in a while to collaborate with peers, our youth interviewee explained that,
“it almost felt natural [going remote] after a while – like we’d been doing it forever. What I didn’t expect was to still have that engagement and community online because in person it was so much easier to just hangout with someone…we didn’t quite have that, but we were still together. When I was facilitating a group with my fellow 2019 members, it was still amazing – there were still sparks. The only issue was that we didn’t have the nice recording studios – which we didn’t mind.”
Youth members were still able to bond over their days despite the distance apart. He expressed that without the deep connections made from the beginning, the pandemic would’ve been a different experience, but because RadioActive fostered a community for students to come together so well, it felt like nothing had changed.
As a result of the pandemic, a hybrid model will most likely be permanent since the virtual programming went so well. Kyle explained that there were no great challenges when teaching students how to report individually as it was a common practice done in the professional world of journalism. He shared how RadioActive still maintained engagement during remote learning- by checking-in. Checking-in everyday with students allows for better understanding of what each youth is feeling and going through before beginning work building empathy and connection among one another.
Youth well-being & Youth development
RadioActive’s goal is to mitigate any barriers that could prevent youth from participating in the program. For example, RadioActive provides food and snacks for all youth members as well as Orca cards and translation services. Youth well-being and development is a priority at RadioActive; they take care of one another like family, truly creating a transformative experience.
RadioActive encourages and helps youth tell their stories that they find more important and meaningful. Kyle shared with us that mentors work alongside youth to brainstorm and experiment with different storytelling techniques to capture their visions and bring it to life. RadioActive allows young journalists to explore their own topics; there is no boundary or limit to the stories that can be told.
The stories that RadioActive journalists share are personal and vulnerable – our participant shared that getting to make his stories about what he wanted to focus on was “healing” and helped with his mental health. Youth have the chance to open up difficult conversations with the community, including with their own family and friends. Our youth interviewee explains the natural challenges for youth journalists to find the courage to be able to share their stories, saying,
“A natural challenge for anyone that wants to share a story is finding the confidence to share that story…That’s the same for many other people, they have serious and deep stories they want to share whether that’s about themselves or about someone else – that’s a huge step…when you get over finding the confidence to share something – it’s really beautiful to hear someone’s voice talk about what they’ve been through or something you’ve been going through as well – it’s just amazing.”
Even in a short piece, there are many complex layers that go into creating the story. With 18 years of experience in radio and NPR, Kyle shares that when youth are stuck during the creative process of their story, “that’s when mentors come in and go – ‘try this or try that’, that’s what a lot of RadioActive is, it’s just trying stuff and putting it together in a story form”. The ideas of resilience and perseverance are evident in RadioActive’s approach to youth development, teaching youth to never give up and to always keep moving, no matter the pace you’re at.
“When we’re silent, we’re stuck; when we’re moving, we’re…something”
– Kyle Norris
In the Works – what’s next for RadioActive?
With so much accomplished in almost the past two decades, what does the future look like for RadioActive? We asked each interviewee about any changes they would like to see or new ideas that would help expand the program.
Perhaps:
- Being able to increase the number of youth served, without sacrificing the depth and richness of the small-cohort experience.
- More opportunities for youth to work on other KUOW shows, including the podcasts Seattle Now and The Record
- Strengthening relationships and creating new partnerships with surrounding organizations in the area.
- New smaller studios throughout the greater Seattle area so students could have more access to recording and working in person, in their own neighborhoods.
- Adding a shuttle service for minors so those who live far can be transported safely and efficiently to the KUOW studios.
As learned from their own firsthand experience, innovation blooms from ideas and visions come to life when challenges are overcome. Although a seasoned youth program and a model program for so many, both locally and nationally, RadioActive’s desire to always be better for their youth is a testament to their commitment of helping their youth grow as both better individuals and journalists.
A BIG THANK YOU to the RadioActive team for taking the time out of their busy lives to share their stories with all of us as a part of Youth at UW! Their values, work and mission is admirable and inspiring for all of us who strive to better the lives of youth.
Youth in RadioActive tackle topics close to their hearts and that are often challenging, such as returning to school after COVID, gender norms, advocating for trans teens – To view example projects and work from youth producers @ RadioActive, visit https://www.kuow.org/RadioActive.