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"Youth Radio: Voices Of A Generation" Wins George
Foster Peabody Award
Special Thanks
| Check out press coverage!
Pictures from
the award ceremony
Sponsors who
made it possible for us to attend the Peabody Awards
Youth Radio, an award-winning media training program, wins
prestigious journalism award The George Foster Peabody Award
for activities enabling thousands of teenagers to express
their views, to experience civic engagement and to develop
critical thinking skills, teamwork and self-esteem.
History
For more than a decade, Youth Radio has been bringing the
voices, passions and concerns of young people (ages 11-24)
to the media.
Starting in the early 90's with just a two minute commentary
on KQED-FM (San Francisco) and a Friday night music show on
KPFB (Berkeley 500 station), Youth Radio is now a leader in
the growing field of 'youth media' and a curator of youth
voices from around the country and the world. In 1992, Youth
Radio began as a vehicle for the many untold stories behind
the youth gang wars that left so many young people in jail
or dead as violence plagued the urban Bay Area. We've followed
the children of the crack epidemic in minority communities,
the search for answers in post-Columbine suburbia, the crisis
in education and the continuing debate over solutions, three
presidential campaigns, the rise of the Internet Generation,
and now Generation 9-11.
Editors and producers around the country turn to Youth Radio
when they're looking for 'youth voices' on everything from
prom night to the attack on the World Trade Center. Likewise,
young people rely on Youth Radio as an outlet for their passions
and concerns, both in times of national and international
crisis as well as during the very personal crossroads that
come with the territory of 'growing up'.
Youth Radio stories are no more predictable than young people
themselves. They range from perennial adolescent subjects
like flirting and keeping secrets from your parents, to narratives
of life behind bars webcast from inside a youth jail. So many
of the major political and social dilemmas of our time center
around the younger generations. Youth Radio brings their voices
to the public policy debates, through a network of media outlets-local
and national, commercial and non-commercial, youth and adult-oriented.
Expansion from Radio
Youth Radio productions are a creative reflection of a generation
that has been defined by media, perhaps more than any other.
But these young people are also the masters of the new media
they've developed and embraced. Youth Radio students have
led the organization in expanding outlets as they searched
for new audiences and new forms of expression, stretching
to include incredible graphics on the website and new media
like FLASH. The website also features poetry, comics and a
range of music. This entry samples the range and evolution
of the young people's work, from radio to new media and writing
for print.
Outlets
Youth Radio outlets expanded from local public radio, to local
commercial news outlets (KCBS-AM, All News), to San Francisco
youth music stations including KZQZ currently, and KMEL and
KYLD. Youth Radio reporters then became regular contributors
to national outlets including National Public Radio, Marketplace,
Latino USA, and Public Radio International. Today, Youth Radio
programming is also reaching international audiences through
the BBC and the CBC. Youth Radio has expanded beyond traditional
broadcasting to produce original content on the web at www.youthradio.org,
and distribute it to websites from CNN.com to mtv.interactive
and CBSHealthWatch.com. Youth Radio has also had a regular
column in The San Francisco Chronicle since 2000. This variety
of outlets gives young people a wide range of formats to tell
their stories, everything from a one-minute commentary to
a two-hour music and talk show, depending upon the outlet.
Youth Radio broadcast programming now reaches an estimated
audience of 15 million adults and youth each year, with youth
programming from the Bay Area and from our bureaus (or media
partners) in Atlanta, Georgia, Los Angeles, California, Maplewood,
New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C. and freelancers
from all over the world.
How Youth Radio Works
Berkeley-based Youth Radio has trained thousands of young
people, in groups that are by design, as diverse as possible,
with 80% low income and 80% youth of color. They are offered
classes in broadcast journalism, website design, writing and
production, engineering and peer-teaching. Youth Radio programming
is developed through collaboration among the young producer/reporter,
professional adult producers and youth staff (engineers, teachers,
editors). Young people are involved in every phase of production:
story development and framing, research, field recording and
interviews, writing, studio production and most importantly,
the editorial process. If editors from Youth Radio, NPR, or
commercial stations suggest changes, the young reporters are
involved in all final decisions, retaining the final editorial
control.
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