Audio School: An Inside Look at How Youth Are Doing Radio
by Erin Mishkin
BreAna Loranger interviews Kiera Feldman at the
National Youth in Radio Training Conference
I have always been a fan of youth radio. I love the freshness of it, its often frank and open nature, its ability to break down our expectations for what we think a radio piece should sound like. I love that when I listen to youth radio, I come away with a new perspective on any number of universal issues. During my time in graduate school, I began more seriously exploring the idea of teaching audio documentary to youth as a means for self-expression, community involvement, and self-exploration. Audio School, a series of guides informed by youth radio producers on the art of making radio, is the result of this exploration.
The goal behind Audio School was to create an audio documentary guide that was informed by youth who have been producing audio documentaries. What would they have wanted to know when they were first starting out? What advice did they appreciate at the time? Because there are several written guides and resources for audio documentary producers available, but fewer audio guides, I wanted to "show" rather than "tell" youth how to create audio documentaries by using the very medium they are learning and, most importantly, using their own words to describe the process. How can sound be used to teach about the art of sound?
It was also important to me to highlight the valuable contributions being made by youth to the public radio landscape and to share their insight and wisdom about producing audio documentaries. I wanted to help youth learn from other youth and see the value in the work of their peers—expanding their role models, perhaps, from adults to youth their age.
In the course of producing these, I found that, more often than not, youth weren’t afraid to admit that they are still learning, that even though they may have been producing radio for a while, they are by no means experts. As a newbie radio producer myself, there is something appealing about hearing these admissions and being reminded that everyone was a beginner at some point.
Format and Production
Think of it as a DVD special feature, only there’s no DVD. These guides provide a combination of commentary by the youth producers woven in between snippets of their own work. They reflect on the choices they made, what they’ve learned since production, what they wished they had done differently, and what they thought worked well. Along the way, they offer tidbits of advice, pep talks, and insight into the art of radio.
To figure out which topics to tackle first, I asked youth producers to tell me what they wished they had had more guidance on when beginning to experiment with documentary arts. I made an extensive effort to hear from youth all over the nation (and who were doing all kinds of radio) through an online survey, endless phone conversations, and email exchanges. I also talked to adult youth radio advisors, public radio gurus who were fans of youth radio, and anyone I could convince to talk to me about youth radio. I found that those in the public radio community—especially youth—were excited about the idea and were willing to help.
After getting much feedback, for this first round of pieces I decided to focus on three topics: general advice, interviewing, and use of music in pieces. For the general advice vox pop, KBOO youth radio producer BreAna Loranger conducted several short interviews with her peers at the National Youth in Radio Training Conference. For the guide on interviewing, I talked to Emily Raymond at KRCB regarding her piece, "The Night I Met Billy Corgan," an interview with the Smashing Pumpkins star. For the music guide, I interviewed Kiera Feldman, a member of the KBOO Youth Collective and a student at Brown University, regarding her piece, "In a Cornfield in Iowa." Both producers were funny, insightful, and articulate about their pieces and the choices they made. In order to avoid having the sound of a phone conversation (Emily was in Portland and Kiera was in Providence), I asked both producers to record themselves and then send me the audio. (This technical complication was an obstacle to having other youth producers participate—many don’t own their own sound equipment and were unable to borrow it from their youth radio group.)
Audio School
General Advice
BreAna Loranger KBOO Youth Collective guru BreAna Loranger talks to her peers at the National Youth in Radio Training Project in April 2006 about what advice they’d give newbie radio producers.
Interviewing
Emily Raymond Emily Raymond of KRCB’s youth radio contingent describes what it was like for her to interview her musical idol, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame. From deciding what to ask (and why) to getting reticent talkers to gab, Emily shares her insights into the art of interviewing.
Using Music
Kiera Feldman Youth radio producer Kiera Feldman reflects on her use of music in the piece, "In a Cornfield in Iowa." What was her reasoning behind her music selection and the timing of the music? How did a piece about trying to find oneself make use of a song by the 1980s band, Journey? Kiera takes the listener behind the scenes, giving us insight into all of these things—including how her thinking about audio documentaries has evolved from her initial thought that it was "print journalism with really cool music."
To Learn More
Audio School is made in collaboration with the good folks at Generation PRX. Generation PRX, a project of the Public Radio Exchange, promotes youth voices and youth-produced radio to help listeners discover the next generation of sound. To learn more about Generation PRX, and to see lesson plans connected to the Audio School modules go to the Generation PRX Tools page.
Feedback
I would love to hear from radio producers—veteran or newbie, youth or adult—about what topics to tackle next. Future guides could include: editing tips, how to record in the field, how to use ambient sound, ethics, writing for radio, or how to find the story. What do you want to hear? If you’re a veteran, think back to when you were just starting out and let me know what advice you wished you had been given. If you’re just beginning to get your radio feet wet, I want to hear from you, too.
About Erin Mishkin
Erin Mishkin Before getting a degree in Arts in Education, I worked for four years at National Public Radio, where I did everything from operate a conference popcorn maker to edit my division’s employee newsletter. This past summer I traveled the Midwest in a van-full of teenagers, camping and doing documentary work along the way. I love office supplies, buying cheap shirts at Target, and meeting characters in my neighborhood.
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