Students Learn Rad Radio Skills And Podcasting With NWPB
Elliott Page was worried she’d be an outsider in a large intimidating group of students.
She was running late to the beginning of the RadioActive youth workshop. Fifteen students from as far away as Pendleton participated in a radio journalism workshop by Northwest Public Broadcasting, KUOW’s RadioActive Youth Media out of Seattle and Washington State University Tri-Cities from Nov. 16-17.
But Page says the friendly and casual nature of the workshop format helped set her quickly at ease.
“At the beginning people had different levels of [radio and podcasting] experience and different backgrounds,” said Page, 16, of Richland. “By the end of the weekend everyone was able to work as a team. Everyone was really open minded and respectful and we worked together as a community.”
Small teams of students worked with mentors to learn how to properly voice their stories in the NWPB studios at Washington State University Tri-Cities. Photo by Rajah Bose.
Five KUOW RadioActive mentors from Seattle, and NWPB’s own correspondent Anna King, taught the students radio skills throughout the Saturday and Sunday workshop.
Youth went from sometimes little knowledge of radio or podcasts to producing their own several-minute finished piece to show off at a listening party Sunday afternoon at WSUTC.
“My favorite part was editing, because I hadn’t used that Adobe Audition software before,” Page said. “And during a short part of time I was able to learn a lot. And being able to interview someone well is a really good skill. It’s something that I can use if I work for newspapers or for yearbook — so I’m really grateful for that.”
Page and the other students produced stories on: the effects of divorce on teens, drug addiction in families, how to be an ally to LGTBQ teens, social anxiety and how rock n’ roll needs a revival.
The RadioActive team, along with NWPB, plant to bring another two-day youth podcasting and radio workshop to Yakima this spring.
Hear the students’ stories here.
View more photos of the RadioActive workshop by Maegan Murray / WSUTC.
