Youth Radio - Newsroom

The Decade That Was

noah — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:45:45 -0800

The Tee’s are by far the crayziest decade to ever hit this planet. Here’s a little look back --posted as both an injectable memesplice and in olfash txt for both Luddites and nostalgia's sake-- at the decade that was and will be (thanks to the continuum slip of 2017!)

December 23, 2012 - The End of The World [As We Knew It]
Turns out the Mayans were right, the world actually ended in a very colorful display of some wonderful pyrotechnics. There were flesh eating unicorns and rabid inanimate objects and renegade mimes for some reason. I think I speak for all of us in saying that was the bombest party ever!!!

December 22, 2012- March 14, 2014- The Great Hangover
Who can forget? Who wants to remember?

August 17, 2014- Rupert Murdoch buys the moon
That’s right; this was the time that Rupert Murdoch went too far. He bought the entire moon under shady circumstances and built a steak cannon capable of launching meat at the planet Earth in a very vexatious fashion.

May 7, 2016- Asteroid impact
After Earth’s collision with Asteroid 2003 QQ47 and traveling through the wormhole that subsequently opened up, we had a pretty epic battle with the hamburger people of the planet Gorboth from the 9th dimension; that was fun. We ended world hunger but unfortunately it had much worse implications for the world’s obesity epidemic.

January 1, 2017- Lady Gaga turns in to a dragon
It made for a great music video but an even better test for the newly developed lasercats! What was even cooler is that she proved that dragon scales are actually somewhat laser resistant.

April 14, 2018- Arnold Schwarzenegger goes back in time
We all knew the governator meant business when he began pursuing a political career, but he took it to the next level by going cyborg and traveling back in time. Unfortunately he never came back…

October 19, 2018- Wigs invade Greece
Due to the advances in Rogaine technology, tupés worldwide rose up in a strike resulting in a widespread occupation of Greece. After their creation of a nation-state, the rogue wigs developed advanced robotic technology and were able to construct an army of robotic giraffes to take over all uninhabited parts of the world which surprisingly went quite unnoticed.

My Dad's Perspective On Violence In My Neighborhood

rgee — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:11:19 -0700

By Jaylyn Burns

I’ve been thinking a lot about the violence that is happening in my neighborhood and Oakland as a whole. It seems that I hear about more people dying everyday and the perpetrators are becoming more bold with their violence. There seem to be no boundaries-- people are getting shot in their own homes.

A few weeks ago my own father was almost killed in front of our house when he was caught in the middle of a gun fight on his way to the store. The fact that he wasn’t the target but still almost was gunned down made me realize that I don’t know when it will be my turn. Clearly, I don’t even have to be apart of the drama to get killed. I decided to talk to my dad about this experience and see what he had to say about gun violence. Below is an interview with my father.

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Holding A Job And Maintaining A High School Education

rgee — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:34:16 -0700

This piece was produced by Acces Sacramento.

By Che Vang

Hiram Johnson Student, age 18

“No complaining, no whining, and no excuses,” is a motto Hiram w. Johnson High School’s JROTC instructor, Sergeant Rost, always tells his students to follow. Many high school students think that school is hard enough for them, but that is not the case when they are employed and have to go to school at the same time. According to a school wide survey, roughly 30% of high school students are employed and are still determined to go to school and graduate on time. Most of these students also plan to go on and further education.

High school students who are employed should be acknowledged for the extra work they do, whether it’s just being at work or just at school. Many can tell that the students who find a job while attending high school are the most likely to succeed in life.

Consider this; if you’re working and are completing your school assignments on time, you are already prepared for the real world and the next phase in your life, college. Just knowing that you have a job to go to and after coming back from work, you have to do your homework, you are already holding your priorities to a high standard.

When asking a high school alumni, Mai Vang, about how she balanced her school and work schedule back in high school, she said “It was hard. I worked at the local burger shop near the school, and everyday after school I would have to rush over there and start my night shift. I worked from 4 pm to closing. Then I would usually stay after to clean and that’s another hour or so. Every night when I get home I would have to stay up until 1am doing homework, then wake up at 7:30am the next morning. And I was still manage to get A’s and B’s on my report card."

As Vang has done in her high school days, many other high school students are also experiencing the same. Without complaining, whining, and or making excuses, she was able to finish her high school schooling on time and kept her part time job at the same time upon graduation.

Sending Messages: Voices From Juvenile Detention

squevedo — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:28:14 -0700

As many stories as there are about juvenile detention centers, it's rare to actually hear from the young people who currently live in them. "Sending Messages," a podcast produced by Spy Hop, is changing that. Since 2012, Spy Hop has worked with youth in secure-care facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah to create half-an-hour-long shows on themes ranging from loyalty to childhood. Each episode is a variety of interviews, stories, and poetry. We've posted one of their episodes titled, "When I Get Out," below.

Each of us at Sending Messages plan, hope, and dream of one day. The day we get out. Getting a chance to experience freedom once more, to see our families, and hear those doors slam behind us. But it isn’t that simple. Once paroled, each of us face new challenges, new obstacles and expectations. How often is the dream we wish to obtain also the most frightening way to fail? In this episode, we try to tackle what that means. What are the hopes, dreams, and fears when we get out?

To find out more, listen below or check out the Sending Messages website.

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Schools In L.A. Ban "Willful Defiance" Suspensions

rgee — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:37:35 -0700

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) made headlines this week by prohibiting schools from suspending students for “willful defiance.”

If you aren't following every twist and turn of the debate in Calif. over school discipline, you might be thinking, what's the big deal? After all, we're talking about one tiny line-item in the CA education code.

Let’s break it down.

If a teacher or administrator wants to suspend a student from school, they need to cite a reason for the suspension, such as “Attempting to steal school property,” or “Possession of a firearm.” (For a full list, see here.)

Somewhere in the middle of the list is this: “Disruption of school activities or willfully defying the authority of school personnel.”

Here's the problem: that's vague. Defying authority could be anything from simply talking back to a teacher, walking out of class, or refusing to sit in your assigned seat.

Over the years, the number of suspensions that cite this reason has increased dramatically with the rise of zero-tolerance discipline policies at schools.

In 2011 - 2012, Calif. schools doled out 700,000 suspensions -- and 48% of them were for willful defiance.

What's also controversial is the demographic breakdown of who's punished for willful defiance. For example, last year in Calif., 55% of willful defiance suspensions went to Hispanic or Latino students, and 78% of willful defiance suspensions went to socioeconomically disadvantaged students (numbers are not exclusive).

In LAUSD, there were approximately 700,000 students enrolled last year, and 18,888 were suspended. Thirty-one percent of those suspensions cited willful defiance.

NPR reports that pioneer high schools in LAUSD like Garfield High, banned suspensions completely over the past couple years, and have seen increases in attendance and rates of graduation. However, NPR also reports that some teachers and administrators are worried about the change, saying that without suspensions, they don’t have enough tools to handle discipline, especially when the schools are short-staffed.

The willful defiance ban may be implemented at the state level soon.

What do students think about harsh punishments for what they consider minor misbehavior? Check out Youth Radio's video series Detention Chronicles to find out...!

Youth Radio Podcast: Early Onset Puberty

Devonte Swag — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:18:27 -0700

Today on the Youth Radio Podcast, Youth Radio reporters share notes from a story in progress about early onset puberty and how it’s affecting puberty education in schools.

Review: The Revolutionary Optimists

rgee — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:47:38 -0700

By Joi Morgan

I recently saw a screening of the documentary film, “The Revolutionary Optimists.“ The movie was made by local filmmaker Nicole Newnham. The film was about a group of children that called themselves “the Dakabuko” (Daredevils), who grew up in the slums of Kolkata, India. Throughout the film the kids step out of their comfort zone to change their community. They fight against poverty and the traditional norms of their culture.

The film’s overall message is to not let your fate control you by making the change that you want to see in your community. The film told stories of 11-year-old Salim and 12-year-old Sikha, who grew up without a school system to keep them busy. These children decided to create more productive activities for children, such as sport games for boys and girls. Salim also helped inform people about a free polio vaccine give-away to all his community members.

These two courageous kids, with constant motivation from the adult activist in their group -- Amlan Ganguly -- created innovative and interactive ways to give young children things to do during the day. Throughout this project, schools were built and extracurricular activities were launched, such as dance, singing and puppetry.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent film that could help empower young people all over the world. I believe that this film should be shown in schools to help inspire young people to be the change in their community. I feel that this will not only benefit young people, but also those who are young at heart, and encourage them to step out of their comfort zone to create a more positive and innovative society to live in.

Watch the trailer below:

Bitstrips: Social Comics Take Off

rgee — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:36:43 -0700

By Nishat Kurwa, Turnstyle News

Jacob Blackstock first conceived of the burgeoning social comics site Bitstrips as a way to let the rest of the internet participate in his childhood passion. Blackstock says as a kid, the comics he most enjoyed creating “were the ones I would make for my friends, starring those friends.” Last December, he converted that idea into an app (that has since gone viral) that lets Facebook users create a cartoon avatar of themselves and their Facebook friends, and place those characters into customized comic strips.

But the cold reality is, it’s not easy to create a respectably funny (and thus, shareable) comic.

The first version of Bistrips, launched at the South by Southwest festival in 2008, was a digital comics toolkit site. Users could render a comic, a character, or a scene using Bistrips’ extensive art library and basic drag and drop tools. But narratively, it was essentially a blank slate. Anyone who’s ever stared down the screen, struggling to articulate a framing concept, can understand how this absence of a storyline could be a paralyzing prospect. Thus, creating a cartoon avatar might be as much engagement with the Bitstrips’ site as an amateur like me might attempt.

The possibilities for user engagement opened up dramatically with the release of the company’s Facebook app, which “instantly stratospherically eclipsed the boost we got from SXSW” by more than 6,000 percent, Blackstock says. Just a few months later, the app has about 8.4 million active users.

What was the company’s paradigm shift, exactly? Blackstock says the most significant adjustment was to tackle that blank slate. With the release of the app, professional cartoonists on Bitstrips’ 12-person team began creating daily comics templates for users.

Here’s one of the recent templates of the day, which the Bitstrips team captioned this way:

(USER) FOUND A WAY TO TAKE CARE OF HER CHORES AND HER HOMEWORK AT THE SAME TIME!

And here’s what Biststrips user @Serg_15 did with the template:

“The fact that almost 90 percent of our users customize these scenes tells us that they're still treating it as their own creative process, turning them into their own inside jokes,” Blackstock says. “In that sense, we're engaged in a massive ongoing creative collaboration with millions of people, which I think is really cool - not just for us and our users, but for the medium of comics as a whole.”

The combination of professionally created templates with amateur cartoonist aspirations amounts to a digital, customizable version of The New Yorker caption contest. But what’s also propelled the app’s traction is that your comics almost beg to be pasted to friends’ Facebook pages, like this one that I made about my colleague Lissa that would only delight those who know that she’s obsessed with the movie Brokeback Mountain.

NISHAT WISHES SHE KNEW HOW TO QUIT LISSA.

“We’ve designed it so you can literally just hit share,” Blackstock says of templates like that one, “and it’s going to be a quality comic.”

Other captioned templates that the app offered up to me this week included:

NISHAT'S GOT SPRING FEVER.

And

JUMP, NISHAT! AYESHA WILL CATCH YOU.

You get the picture.

My friend Ayesha, who Bitstrips placed me in that last comic with, says she doesn’t actually get around to making too many comics of her own. “I find the Facebook interface a bit confusing,” she explained. “But I love the idea of the avatar - another way of seeing yourself (i.e. brown people) reflected in art and lit. I’m planning on using it with my nieces and nephews as a way for them to create comic strips with characters that look like them, an empowering form of storytelling.”

And though it’s a Canadian, English-based app, some of the app’s most prolific cartoonists are rendering their talk bubbles in other languages. “The first viral outbreak of Bistrips was in Portugal, and then it was in Argentina. Now it’s huge in Mexico and Peru and Algeria and Italy and Spain and Turkey,” Blackstock says. “Once it’s over a few hundred (users in a city) simultaneously, that’s when it starts to take off.”

Cities like Monterrey, Mexico, have racked up more than 300,000 users, but Blackstock’s not sure why. Twenty-four-year-old Elizabeth Betancur Arboleda, a user in Colombia, wouldn’t speculate about that either (“humor is universal”), except to say that maybe it was because the app allows personalization of the text. Betancur Arboleda creates comics in Spanish and English, and says Bitstrips got her to begin using Facebook more frequently after she’d almost entirely abandoned the social network.

“I’m always drawing me and my friends in all kinds of situations, even at work meetings,” she says, “so when I discovered this tool that allowed me to make the same thing immediately and besides share it with many people,” she began using the app nearly every day, as evinced by this one that she sent at the bottom of her email to me:

Also of note in the apps’ user demographics: perhaps unsurprisingly, a full 92 percent are young adults, and a little over a quarter of users are teenagers.

Bistrips hasn’t had a typical “Silicon Valley startup” trajectory -- for one thing, it’s based in Ontario. For another, before the app launched, the biggest customer base had been educators, who, dispensing with the outmoded notion that comics don’t belong in a classroom, began using the customizable strips in their lesson plans. Bitstrips has been adopted system-wide by the Ontario school district, and the company charges to license its product to educators.

Back in 2008, the founders poured their own money into Bistrips (though Blackstock won’t say how much), quitting their jobs to work on the site full time. The educational licensing has paid a lot of the bills since. But now that the app’s social comics concept is taking off, it’s time to explore new revenue models. There are a few small display ads nondescriptly squeezed between comics templates of the day, but Blackstock says the founders are also searching for investors that could help the company grow.

LA Times Op-Ed: Standards Needed for Solitary Confinement

squevedo — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:45:31 -0700

In California, solitary confinement as a juvenile could mean being put away for a couple of hours, a couple of days, or even weeks. That’s because, according to an editorial published by the Los Angeles Editorial Board this weekend, there is no standard definition of how confinement is practiced in detention centers.

Solitary confinement, sometimes called “temporary isolation” is a widely used technique to protect violent or disruptive inmates from each other and from staff. But without a uniform best practice for the state, the article argues, the isolation can end up being anything but temporary. “Some officials say isolation is part of their treatment programs, but it can look an awful lot like retaliation, punishment or professional incompetence. The same is true in state youth facilities, where so-called temporary detention and even treatment programs can in effect be 23-hour-a-day lockdowns.”

And beyond the inconsistencies in the practice, the editorial also claims that by itself, solitary confinement is unhealthy for teens. “And if the juvenile is already mentally disturbed,” the author writes, “solitary confinement can further degrade his or her mental state. It can make treatment more difficult and, some studies suggest, suicide more likely.”

Last year, Youth Radio looked at a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch that explored the effects of solitary confinement on the developing teenage body. The report pointed to both mental and physical side effects like anxiety, insomnia, and physical issues associated with not getting enough exercise or food.

The same year the report was published, a California state bill that would have required mental evaluation for young inmates for every four hours held in confinement failed to pass.

Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), sponsored that bill, and this year he hopes to move a similar bill, SB 61, that would require officials, “at the very least have to certify that mental health evaluations were part of the decision-making process for each juvenile, and [that detention officials] should document all instances of solitary lockdown, under consistent standards and definitions.”

As in the past, these kinds of bills face a major hurdle, California’s tight budget. Some funding is available now and the author says that the Senate will have to think long and hard about whether the cost of introducing these practices outweighs the benefit of what they believe could be a safer, healthier justice system.

Pregnancy Prevention Via Text?

squevedo — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:51:46 -0700

By: Chantell Williams

Ever wonder what it’s like to own a giggling, spitting, peeing bundle of joy? Well now you can use your phone to find out.

DoSomething.Org has launched a campaign that uses text messages as a way to educate young people about what it’s like to be a parent. The way it works is that you enter your cell phone number or a friend’s, to the website. Then you receive periodic text messages representing a virtual baby. The “parents” will receive about 10 messages like this:

“Poopie Diaper. Change me!” or this: “Wahhhhhh!”

Many sexually-active teens do not fully understand the responsibility that comes along with pregnancy and child raising. The constant reminder of how much work comes with having a baby could encourage teens to wrap it before they tap it. And who doesn’t want that?

The problem is a phone could never simulate the real experience of having a baby. There is something about being responsible for an infant in the flesh that just doesn’t translate into a text message. Yeah, getting frequent baby messages could be annoying, but you could always delete those messages. You can't ever delete a baby.

New Drinking Laws Prompt Civic Action By College Students

rgee — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:48:02 -0700

This story originally aired on Minnesota Public Radio.

College students in central Minnesota are learning a few life lessons on how government works. The subject at hand -- three new ordinances designed to control underage drinking in the city of St. Joseph.

Students were caught off guard by the new rules and now they're getting more active in city lawmaking. Will Moore, a graduating senior at St. John's University, has the latest installment in our Young Reporters series.

By Will Moore

St. Joseph is home to the College of St. Benedict, with a concentrated population of students from St. Ben's and St. John's University. In fact, college students make up more than a third of St. Joseph's population -- 2,380 students live in the city, which has a total population of 6,534, according to census figures.

The three new laws went into effect in March. The first requires landlords to sign a keg permit acknowledging beer will be served on their property. The second allows police to charge people who are drunk with a misdemeanor if they're uncooperative with police.

The third ordinance holds hosts responsible if any minors drink alcohol at their social gatherings. The social host law is getting a lot of attention from students 21 and over because they fear the repercussions of socializing with mixed-age groups.
Shane Schiavo, 22, is a senior at St. John's. Schiavo is originally from Marshall, but now lives in St. Joseph, and he believes the punishment for violating the social host ordinance is too severe.

"One silly mistake and you get a misdemeanor, mandatory court appearance, possible jail time, up to a $1,000 fine that sticks with you for the rest of your life and can haunt you in your job search, can haunt you in anything," he said. "The punishment does not match the crime."

Neither city nor school officials informed students about the new ordinances until after they were passed in January. After several weeks of growing confusion, students organized a special meeting to get more information.

A meeting of the school's "Politics and a Pint" series focused solely on this topic. The series, which is hosted by students and focuses on a variety of issues, allows alcohol to be consumed by attendees who are 21 and older. Political science professor Matt Lindstrom moderates the series.

"We're going to hear all about kegs and social host ordinance, what that means, and also -- pay attention -- what it doesn't mean. And that's, I think, just as important," said Lindstrom.

A few hundred students packed Brother Willie's, the on-campus pub at St. John's, to hear public officials speak, including the mayor of St. Joseph, a council member and Police Chief Pete Jansky. Jansky told the students they're not the only ones concerned about the social host ordinance.

"Many of the cities, especially the ones with college communities in them, have the social host (law)," Jansky said. "We're the community that's probably one of the late bloomers coming through. Why did we do that? Because we wanted to do it right."

The Twin Cities suburb of Chaska passed the state's first social host ordinance in 2007, after a 19-year-old man who had attended a party in the city froze to death walking home while drunk. Now, more than 80 Minnesota cities and towns have passed some sort of social host law, and they cover more than half the state's population.

St. Cloud is one of those cities, and is home to a large student population from two schools in the area. Since St. Cloud's law went into effect three years ago, the city has seen a decline in public drunkenness, noise violations, and alcohol-related emergency room admissions.

Noise violations dropped from 418 in 2008 to 188 last year, according to data provided by St. Cloud City Attorney Matthew Staehling. Violations for disruptive intoxication declined from 14 in 2010 to three last year. And social host violations dropped from 90 three years ago to 30 last year. St. Joseph used St. Cloud's law as a template for its own.

Chief Jansky said St. John's and St. Ben's have had their own alcohol-related problems.

"Every year that I've been here for the past 12 years we've come very close to losing students because of alcohol poisoning. I think I can unequivocally say all of them were underage," said Jansky.

Even so, some students are not convinced the ordinance will stop underage drinking.

"I don't know of anyone who's underage who is going to stop drinking because of these ordinances," said Katie Zuroski, 20, a junior at St. Ben's. "I think that they're going to be sneakier about it and maybe more cautious, but I don't think that's going to change anything."

Many other students are using social media to call for better communication and more student involvement in city and school decisions. A Facebook group set up for that purpose attracted more than 1,000 members in its first three days. Even the mayor of St. Joseph joined the online discussion.

Since then, several students have been meeting with city officials regularly to voice their opinions. Senior Jenny Kunkel, 22, of Roseville, says the students who live in St. Joseph are ready to get involved if they're shown how.

"To even consider going to a council meeting ... that would be talking about school levies for the middle school or something -- that wouldn't be something I'd instinctively go to," she said. "But if they said, 'Hey, we're talking about something that's going to influence you,' I think people would show up."

And they did.

Despite a freak spring snowstorm, dozens of students attended a St. Joseph City Council meeting on April 18, where lawmakers asked them to present ideas. That meeting had a larger student presence than Police Chief Jansky said he'd seen in his decade as chief, and he thinks it's a good sign that students are getting more involved.

Students say they hope to reduce the punishment for social hosts. They're working with St. Joseph to put city news in the campus newspaper. And they want to create a program where students work directly with the council so they're more aware of city issues that could have an impact on them.

Covering Pop Hits On YouTube Is Starting To Pay [Extended Cut]

rgee — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:51:02 -0700

A version of this story aired on NPR's Morning Edition.

By Noah Nelson, Turnstyle News

The online video sharing site YouTube is this generation's MTV. Artists like Gotye and Psy have found mainstream success when their videos go viral. Yet the site is dominated by amateurs covering other people’s songs -- from toddlers chirping The Beatles to teens tackling Led Zeppelin.

Between those two extremes is an alternative universe of aspiring professional musicians who use their versions of cover songs on YouTube to build fan bases of their own.

Case in point, if you've listened to commercial radio in the last year you may have heard Maroon 5's Payphone.

This song alone has generated scores of covers, such as an acoustical version from the Korean-Australian twins Jayesslee.

Another popular cover is by Tyler Ward, a 24-year old singer and songwriter from Denver with an all American look and a sound that lives somewhere between indie pop and country.

Ward uses YouTube to promote his music career.

"I started, actually, doing cover songs in the bar," said Ward, "trying to make ends meet every weekend. So when I figured out what YouTube was, I just figured I could put these online, see what happens."

What happened was an opening slot for The Jonas Brothers, a performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and a headlining tour through Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

Before that, Ward posted covers on YouTube hoping to draw new fans. Yet, he could have made more money back at the bar singing those songs.

"The challenge is, when an artist decides to cover a song, they don't actually have the rights to make money on that song," said George Strompolos, the CEO of YouTube network Fullscreen. Tyler Ward is one of his clients.

"They are not allowed to run advertisements and not allowed to make money."

Strompolos explained that since YouTube is free in the same way that broadcast TV is free, the site makes money through advertising that runs with the videos. Until recently cover songs were the exception. YouTube couldn’t run ads with those videos. An aspiring musician like Ward could put hours of work into a video, hoping for attention, but not get a single dollar.

"The problem," Strompolos, "is neither will the original songwriter, because again there are no advertisements."

The issue is the legal rights to the song. Those are held by publishers or songwriters, and if anyone wants to make money on a recording of a song, they have to make a deal.

Enter Fullscreen and one of its rivals, Maker Studios. They’re in the business of connecting YouTube creators with possible advertisers. These companies put talent agents, video producers, and ad sales all under one roof.

Earlier this year Fullscreen and Maker struck a deal with one of the largest song rights holders: Universal Music Publishing Group. This opened up Universal's massive catalog -- decades of music from Fleetwood Mac to Adele -- to a revenue sharing plan. Now the musicians who work with Fullscreen and Maker can earn money on their cover videos.

"What we've done with teaming up with Universal Music Publishing Group," said Strompolos, "is allowed the artists who cover those songs to have the license to run the advertisements. And that way if their cover songs on YouTube gets hundreds of thousands or millions of views, it's actually worth money to that cover artist and the original songwriter is also compensated."

None of the parties involved in the deal will disclose exactly how the money is shared, so I asked Josh Cohen, founder of online video news site Tubefilter, to give me a sense of how this all works for the YouTube musicians.

"The general revenue split for advertising on YouTube is 45 percent/55 percent. That's 55 percent to the creator, 45 percent to YouTube," he says. "There may be varying deals depending on the company that YouTube's working with, but that's pretty standard."

Ads pay content creators - that includes the creators of cover songs - based on what's called CPM, which is cost per 1,000 views.

"Content creators on the low end are making a $1 or $2 CPM from YouTube," Cohen says. "The benefits of signing up with a company like Maker Studios or Fullscreen is that those content creators can get guaranteed higher rates for their videos. So Maker Studios or Fullscreen might offer them a $2 or $3 CPM, or even higher for a period of time, which is more money than they'd be making from YouTube alone."

YouTube pays the music publisher and original songwriter and the young cover artists also get a little money. They also get to make names for themselves while riding the popularity wave of hit songs.

Meanwhile, businesses like Fullscreen and Maker Studios are in a way becoming de facto A&R departments for the music industry.

Maker recently got a $36 million injection of cash from Time Warner Investments as YouTube has become an entertainment destination.

Courtney Holt is the Chief Operating Officer of Maker Studios. Before coming to Maker, Holt was with MySpace Music. A serious music fan, Holt believes that there are infinite possibilities here to mine the back catalogs of the music publishers. The YouTube generation, after all, hasn’t heard everything yet.

"I think in some ways we have a responsibility to reintroduce this generation to really great music, not just new music," said Holt. "If we have one talent who loves Justin Timberlake, maybe they haven't really discovered the Michael Jackson catalog or the Motown catalog or the Staxx catalog. And you start to think about, what if I go back a little further, what am I going to find?"

What musicians are finding is that cover songs can simultaneously launch their YouTube careers while helping to cover the bills. No more spending your post-college years singing in bars while living in your father's basement, like Tyler Ward did.

"He was like 'You've got two years, son,'" said Ward. "'You've got two years, and then you're going to have to get a real job.' I was like "Alright." So about a year and a half later I started doing the cover thing and my whole world changed. I was able to move out to LA. Support myself. Buy a car. Buy a house. That kind of thing.

Music to any aspiring musician's ears.

Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)

Reuniting With Mom

denise — Fri, 03 May 2013 10:06:03 -0700

The following aired on KCBS.

By: Donisha Dansby

While most teenagers are so ready to move out, I’m counting the days until I can move back in with my mom.

When I was 12 and living in Colorado, I visited my relatives in California. Every day I woke up to a full house -- my granny in one room and my cousins in the next. I didn’t want to lose the feeling of having family close by. So I decided to move here permanently without my mom.

Now that she isn’t constantly in my ear, I’ve became more responsible. I’ve learned to purchase things on my own, and manage my own schedule.

Now, three years after my decision, my mom’s finally moving here. And I couldn’t be more thrilled.

But will I back track on my accomplishments? I’m my mom’s only child, so I know she’s going to step in when she feels I’m slipping. I know that if I don’t follow through on something, my mom will.

I have to try and show my mom that I can handle my responsibilities, but I suppose if I do slip up, it will be nice to have someone there to catch me.

(Donisha Dansby (right) and her mom (left)).

Youth Radio Podcast: A High School's Hard Lesson

Devonte Swag — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:08:00 -0700

Today, on the Youth Radio podcast, high school students in Oakland team up with the city’s safety agencies to set up an elaborate staged drunk driving accident on the high school’s campus. But when a violent death is staged to teach a lesson, can it do more harm than good to teenagers?

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Youth Radio Asks: What Traits Came Straight From Mom?

rgee — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:44:59 -0700

In preparation for Mother's Day, we asked young people what traits they picked up from their moms over the years -- intentionally, or unintentionally.

Sophie Varon: I’m emotional like my mom and I never buy anything at full price.

Sunday Simon: My mom and I have the same handwriting. We both write super fast so no one can understand it.

Senay Alkebu-Lan: My human compassion. I care about people like my mom does.

Jahlil Jackson: I get my smile from my mom. She’s my best friend.

Donisha Dansby: I get my silliness and my laugh from my mom. We sound like twins. My grandmother can’t tell us apart on the phone.

Dante Jackson: I get my attitude from my mom -- I’m a people person. And my courage. I do things that other people wouldn’t do. Also, Southern hospitality, like saying, 'Yes, ma’am' and 'No, sir' -- I get that from my mom.

Joi Morgan: I have my mom's loving personality. She's genuine to every person she meets and welcomes them into her home.

Minneapolis Teen Bucks Family's Trend Of Teen Pregnancy

rgee — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:25:18 -0700

Originally aired on Minnesota Public Radio.

Preserving customs is important in many families and many parents encourage their children to carry on established traditions. But not all traditions need to be repeated. In this installment of MPR's Young Reporters Series, Jasmyn Taylor tells us how she's bucking the trend in her family -- by not becoming a teenage mother.

By Jasmyn Taylor

Going back at least three generations, nearly every woman in my family was a teen mother. My grandmother, Anita Dempsey, said being a young mom wasn't a surprise.

"In those days, that was the norm," she said. "Being a teenage mother was something that happened on a regular basis. And I think a lot of times people are trying to reverse that, they are trying to make that different for the young girls that come behind us."

It is different. Fewer teens are getting pregnant and having babies. In Minnesota over the past 40 years, the birth rate for girls aged 15-19 has declined by nearly half, according to the state Department of Health -- from 43 births per 1,000 girls in 1970 to 22 per 1,000 for the same age group in 2010, the latest year for which statistics are available.

Even though girls are still getting pregnant, I refuse to be one of them. I'm a senior at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, and the months are moving fast as I prepare for my first year of college at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

My relatives have pressured me my whole life to do well in school, and have made it very clear that if I don't go to college, they will be extremely upset. My mother, Von Howard, is at the top of that list.

"I think that I would be a little disappointed and worried for your future," she said, "because I know that college is very instrumental in a successful life, and a financially successful and stable life. If you didn't go to college, I would worry about your struggle to be stable in life long term."

My mom knows what she is talking about. She delayed going to college because she got pregnant with me at the age of 18. She got a job and moved out of grandma's house, deciding to live on her own. My grandmother offered her support, but Mom refused the help and took full responsibility for me.

Because of that experience, she tried to prevent me from becoming a teen mom by keeping me from dating until I was 17. She thought that I wouldn't have been mature enough for love and all the complications that come with it.

"They are very grownup feelings and topics -- being in love," she said. "I just didn't want you to have to experience that before you were ready to totally take that on."

Waiting to date was frustrating. I think I could have handled a relationship before my senior year. However, I know that right now, I am not ready for motherhood.

Over time, I have seen the women in my family, including aunts and cousins, struggle because they were teenage moms. Most of them were single mothers, trying to support themselves and their babies. Still, all this time, I believed that if I were to become a teen mom, I would receive the same support that mom could have gotten from grandma. But in a surpising conversation with mom, I discovered I was wrong.

"It would be a very different type of support system that I would be for you," she said. "And it would be in a way that would allow you -- or kind of force you -- to be the kind of mother that I was for you without very little help."

I never thought that Mom would give me "tough love." Either way, I don't need that type of support because motherhood is not on my agenda right now. But college is, because I want to be a talk show host. I know that being a young mom would hinder my dreams, as well as my mom's dreams for me.

"I want you to have work that doesn't feel like work. I want you to enjoy what you do in life, so that you can continue to do it without feeling the pressure and the stress of living and making a living," she said.

My mom's dreams are things that she never got. My grandma's dreams for me include children, just not right now.

"I dream that you will accomplish all the goals that you set for yourself like college and having a good job, and getting married and having kids, and just living a good life," she said.

I know without a doubt that college is the next step that will lead to the life my mom and grandma want for me. At the end of it all, I just want to make my family proud.

The Mary Jane Mindset: Rookies Report On Marijuana

rgee — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:06:56 -0700

This piece was produced by Radio Rookies, and aired on WNYC.

By Temitayo Fagbenle and Gemma Weiner

May 9, 2013 – As 17-year-old Radio Rookie Temitayo Fagbenle puts it, "Once you reach high school, weed is a part of your life." Even if you don't smoke, marijuana is at parties, the corners and parks near schools, and sometimes in school stairwells.

In recent years, research shows fewer and fewer teenagers see using pot as risky. And opponents of the drug blame the changing attitudes at least partly on the rise of legal, medical marijuana.

Two Radio Rookies, Temitayo and Gemma Weiner, spoke with nearly three dozen high school students who smoke weed to learn more about what they call 'the Mary Jane mindset' among two quite different sets of New York City teenagers. Gemma attends private school. She sat down with one friend who can smoke at home, talks openly about marijuana with her parents, and recently got $60 worth, or 3.5 grams, of weed delivered directly to her doorstep.

Meanwhile, students at Temitayo's public school tend to buy smaller amounts, often going "five-five," when each teen puts in five dollars for a dime bag. That's just one of the many differences between Gemma and Temitayo's two worlds when it comes to buying and using marijuana.

Listen to their story to get an inside look at the current teenager culture of marijuana, and hear Gemma and Temitayo's takeaway on what parents should think about if they find a joint in their kid's bedroom.

Partnering Up With Your Parents To Launch A Business?

rgee — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:57:03 -0700

It looks like moving home to your parent’s house after college may not be a dead-end. It may even jump-start your career. You just have to put up with your dad... being your boss.

Youth unemployment is dismal around the world (except in Germany) and predicted to flat-line before it goes down. It’s highest for young people in Spain and Greece, where over 50 percent of young people are unemployed.

In America, college grads, frustrated with the labor market, are starting franchises in partnership with their parents. Rick Bisio told the New York Times that 10 to 20 percent of the franchisees he works with as a franchise consultant, are parent-child pairs. And the number is rising.

Whether parents have been laid-off, are looking for a late-career change or want to grow their existing companies, parents are fronting the money to go into business with their kids.

The division of labor usually breaks down like it did for the Leonard family, that started a cell-phone repair franchise:

His wife, Paula, will run the front desk, Mr. Leonard said, while his older son, Russell, 29, will be responsible for marketing; his younger son, Philip, 27, for technology; and his daughter, Carolyn, 24, for social media.

Sure, returning home may not the pinnacle of a 22-year-old’s ambitious future, but it’s one way to get around the youth job market standstill. That is, if your parents are loaded.

Experts Speak On Stopping Youth Violence

JClayton — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:34:58 -0700

By Joshua Clayton

I encounter youth violence almost five times a week in west Oakland. At a recent panel event, I spoke with some interesting people about the subject and ways they are working to stop youth violence.

Teresa Goines, Founder and Executive Director of Old Skool Café, opened her shop in response to the young people she encountered while working as a correctional officer. “I asked them what they needed,” she said, and the young people said: jobs and a place to call home.

I also spoke with Pastor Michael McBride, Director of the Lifelines to Healing Campaign, and Gonzalo Rucobo, Founder and Executive Director of the Bay Area Peacekeepers, Inc.. Rucobo grew up as a member of the Norteno gang, running the streets. “My wife and kids almost got shot over it,” he said. He told me that was a wake-up call.

I never knew these programs existed before this event. It was enlightening, knowing there are people out there trying to help my city get better.

Jobstacles - From Banking To Hosting A TV Show

denise — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:22:54 -0700

By Chaz Hubbard, Denise Tejada and Jenny Bolario

What's the path to that dream job? How does one job lead to another? Youth Radio finds out in our series Jobstacles.

Being on camera talking about video games was never something Adam Sessler imagined for himself. In fact, Sessler graduated from college as an English major and then worked as a banker before becoming the host of GameSpot TV and later as a co-host of the G4TV show X-Play. Sessler says, “When you’re young you kind of get the sense that what you’re doing now is what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life. But things can change.”

Find out how things changed for Sessler, and how he got out of a banking job that he didn't enjoy and into a career he loved in television.