The following is one in a series of three "white papers" commissioned by OSI for a March 2004 convening on youth media. The papers offer a snapshot of the field from the perspective of different media, serving as overviews of the trends, challenges, and opportunities in youth media.

History

In the mid 1970s, under community pressure, the FCC opened up the radio spectrum, making more room for community licenses. A “community radio movement” was born and dozens of new stations came onto the listening spectrum, mostly in smaller markets across the nation. On the technical side this miracle happened through the genius of a new generation of young techies, most of whom were hippies (precursors to geeks and dot comers). The programming was driven by a range of people and their interests including:

• 1960s and 70s politicos and "alternative journalists";
• ethnic communities developing strategies for self-determination--Native American, Latino/bi-lingual and urban African American stations; and
• young people "breaking into" the media business. In 1975 stations with similar goals formed the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) in order to share programming and lobby Congress for community-based stations’ piece of the pie.

At the tail end of this movement in 1979, Louis Freedberg, a producer at KPFA in Berkeley, started Youth News, which taught a diverse group of local high school students how to produce news. Louis was in touch with the folks at Youth Communication in New York and Chicago and they saw themselves as linked through the work, though the phrase "youth media" did not yet exist.

In addition to an occasional local show on commercial radio, Youth News mailed out a weekly half hour show on quarter inch tape to community radio stations around the country, as many as 30–40 stations at the peak. Youth News gradually lost its edge in the funding world and the activity dwindled—but never died. In between the adults coming and going, kids always kept Youth News alive, somehow or another. Youth Radio literally grew out of this experience, starting in 1990 by switching focus from the national tape distribution to a return to local programming. Beginning in 1990 with just a two-minute commentary on KQED-FM (San Francisco) and a Friday night music and talk show on KPFB (Berkeley/Pacifica repeater), over the next decade Youth Radio grew into a multiplatform media organization with a variety of outlets serving both adults and youth.

Youth media led the alternative media movement of the 90’s and new millennium.

Young people transitioned Youth News to Youth Radio by insisting that music and technology be part of the training experience. They did not want to be limited to "news," especially since the journalistic profession was already losing the allure it had for diverse groups of Youth News students a decade earlier. On the contrary, one could posit that the current youth radio movement has its roots in rap music and the attraction to it.

Urban youth of the late 1980s and early 90s were bored out of their minds in failing schools, watching their communities be ravaged by post-Reagan poverty, the invasion of crack cocaine and gang violence in inner city neighborhoods. Like any self-respecting younger generation they found expression in words and music. These kids were tech savvy and resourceful. Major record labels weren’t interested, so they created their music in basement studios; radio stations didn’t play their music so they carried it around in boom boxes, and distribution meant out of the trunk of a car. Gradually, as we all now know, these young people began to dominate youth culture not only nationally, but internationally as well.

During the 1990s, the rap music movement and the many tributaries of expression it engendered brought new energy to the connection between youth and "youth radio." Kids wanted to be Dj’s, make music and be on the radio. Concurrently, budding young journalists who would normally have found an outlet in school newspapers, instead found those publications axed in the mania of "education" cutbacks. These students are another major force in the building of the youth radio landscape, as we know it today.

The first Youth Radio-NFCB National Training for Youth in Radio Conference took place in 1999 and 35 young people attended. Each year since then the number of attendees has increased, with registration cut off at about 175 last year. The youth media movement has been powered by a distinctive set of circumstances in each medium--youth radio, youth video, and print media by and for teens. With the concurrent explosion of the web in the late 1990’s, the movement became more than the sum of its parts. And now many people actually know what we’re talking about when we say we work in “youth media.” You can look around and see that we are a movement, one that must be interpreted and translated to other strategic partners—funders, academics, and content distributors.

Some Trends in Youth Produced Radio

Solid models are developing

Currently, a major strength of the youth radio field is its diversity in terms of organizational models and ways of working with young people. There is not one formula for "success," rather an increasing range of models, including:

• Appalshop—community media organization in Appalachia
• Blunt—independent project, broadcasts out of station in Portland , Maine
• Radio Arte—Institution affiliated with Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago
• Radio Rookies—WNYC-FM affiliated in New York
• Youth Spin—independent project in Austin, Texas
• Youth Radio—independent, cross section of outlets in Berkeley, bureau/partnerships in L.A., D.C., Atlanta 

Internet

Youth Radio projects can all use the Internet to extend and expand audiences. In addition, the Internet guarantees publishing or broadcasting through web casting—without an editorial filter. It is also a place to incubate cutting-edge material that will change the sound of broadcasts in the future. With that in mind, music rights are a huge issue.

Youth Development

In addition to the young people being the producers and masters of their own content, fundamentally what sets youth radio/youth media apart from "stories about kids" is that we care about the young people and are invested in expanding their opportunities. Ironically, it’s this relationship with caring adults and peers that is the "secret ingredient" of youth media. Because the young person’s well being is the priority over "capturing the story," there is a trust that produces the most compelling and authentic stories when they are told. Extended commitment to the young people and their futures in the form of college bound programs, counseling, tutoring etc. is a basic trend of our field.

Talking mostly to adult audiences

We must admit that most of youth radio is currently talking to adult audiences, mostly public radio. This is invaluable, but not nearly good enough.

Youth radio can attract exceptional talent at relatively low wages

It is difficult to find creative, highly skilled people who love working with youth. Hiring can take a long time, but we have amazing talent right now in youth radio/youth media because the work is very exciting journalistically, artistically and of course it’s personally extremely rewarding because young people give back much more than they receive. That said, as the work expands, we find increasing difficulty in hiring (paying) the talent we need, particularly in smaller markets (for radio and youth development talent.)

Everybody is doing youth radio/youth media

It’s trendy to give kids microphones, recorders, cameras etc., but is that youth media? Imitation is the highest form of flattery and thus far, the more the better. It all keeps the door open. The authenticity of work that includes youth development and journalistic professionalism, distinguishes itself over time.

Youth radio mostly focuses locally

Most youth radio work is broadcast locally, with a national story here and there. This is primarily an issue of capacity at the local level, which is no match for the obstacles and challenges at the national level.

Some Challenges to Sustainability

We have some great models developing, but we have to work on strategies for long term sustainability, including exploration of the following:

• Institutional affiliation (radio station, school, museum), while maintaining independent governance of the youth program, and
• larger independent projects with diverse sources of funding including earned income. Can we make it in the long run without institutional affiliation?

Distribution through established networks post 9-11

Program distributors can respond subtly and overtly to conservative political shifts. The reaction to the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake incident is emblematic of this. When broadcasters and politicians quickly point the finger at MTV, the most powerful symbol of youth culture and youth media—nationally and globally, we know something’s happening. Because of consolidation, Clear Channel can ban particular artists and songs, but censorship is not usually necessary because editors often censor themselves. Notably since 9-11, editors more easily consider youth material not important enough or politically risqué. The underlying sentiment can also be as ‘innocent’ as adult editors not really wanting to hear what kids think. We just have to keep plugging, one story and one editor at a time. For every skeptic there’s a youth radio/youth media fan to be found at the networks.

Youth material is held to a higher standard than adult material

There is no doubt about this, just listen to the radio. You’ll notice that the threshold for adult material is a lot lower than the threshold for youth material that is expected to be spectacular at a minimum.

Youth empowerment

As we professionalize the young people can fall out of the loop of decision-making. Even as our young people grow up in the programs or return as adults, they must remember to "reach younger" and keep involving fresh thinking and real decision making in the process. This is built into the editorial process, but what about hiring, governance boards, fundraising and strategic direction?

Life has gotten tougher for most of our students

Young people face a dramatically tougher world in everything from skyrocketing incarceration rates, dysfunctional adults everywhere in their lives (at all income levels), and a college admissions process that’s begging for a class action lawsuit. Day to day our young people’s problems demand more than the good will of media people, they often need professional help and we must increase our resources and connections. This is a social services challenge and at times also a mental health challenge for our staff.

Some Opportunities

Commercial radio/Youth audiences

Unlike public radio, commercial radio understands youth as a market and they are accustomed to youth-oriented programming. Young people are accustomed to listening to commercial radio and even Clear Channel is now somewhat vulnerable to the charge of ignoring community interests. Commercial radio at the local level is a real opportunity for youth-to-youth communication and underwriting or sponsorship is a possibility. At the local level, commercial radio often minimizes interference with public affairs programming.

Spanish and other languages etc.

In markets with Spanish or other language stations, let’s go for it, particularly in a case of expanding youth demographics. This is an excellent opportunity as well for our students who speak English as a second language. These will usually be commercial opportunities. Put it on the web and you’re (potentially) global.

Emerging youth media

We have to stay versatile and nimble. Luckily we practically live with a youth focus group any corporation could die for! In the next 5-10 years the content delivery systems will continue to evolve. Will radio be on cell phones, what can we do with ipods, video games, etc? We have to stay open as producers and be training the young people for all of it. Radio will probably not go away, but there have never been enough jobs in it for all those who are interested.

Increasing the presence of youth media

We could be curating youth radio material to fill regular spots on larger outlets—national, regional, and web. These opportunities might be on NPR, PRI, satellite and other content hungry outlets where we retain control of the content. We should offer local groups production support in the process. This all takes financing we currently don’t have.

Music, Spoken Word and other youth media arts

Most young people love radio because of music—music as a form of youth expression and communication. Now they are also bringing us spoken word and the growing youth poetry movement (and what about comedy?). Most of youth radio’s activity and recognition has been around journalism and talk. It’s a mistake to underestimate the additional power of art and thinking of ourselves as artists (and musicians).

Continued training whenever possible

The opportunity still exists to change the face of broadcasting and it has to happen. People of color and diverse viewpoints are not adequately represented in the boardrooms and newsrooms of public and commercial radio/media. We are training the talent, the next generation and we need training and internship programs that move our students into those jobs. Then they will be the editors and executives who promote the youth media programming. That’s already starting to happen at the local level. In addition, the highly trained youth radio students continue to build our organizations with incalculable commitment and vision.

Conclusion

Some advances in policy that would serve diverse voices of the younger generations, include: 1) CPB creating a funding category for youth training and youth-produced programs system-wide for radio, TV and web (CPB is funded by Congress with tax dollars), 2) advocating for a non-profit or youth media space on the internet (similar to public broadcasting band), 3) advocating for a significant increase in diversity in public broadcasting hiring and programming (ethnic diversity will lead to a broad diversification of voices heard—including more regions, constituencies and opinions in the public dialogue), 4) on the local and national levels, advocating for youth media time on commercial outlets.

Addendum

Why Radio?

In order to understand the challenges, opportunities and trends in the field of youth radio, it is useful to focus for a moment on the medium itself.

Radio is a user-friendly medium, particularly for young people. Even with the consolidation in radio and the reduction in percentage of youth-oriented stations, radio listening in America spikes between the ages of 14–18. In any given city or community young people are communicating, sharing a youth culture—alternative to their parents—through listening to particular stations that cater to them. That’s part of growing up and defining yourself as ‘other’, hipper’ and coming of (a new) age.

Radio has the cache of being a mass media, a complex media, but relatively easy to learn. Youth Radio students are on the air and hands-on producing the second week in the program. The first day they’re in the studio with other kids who are on the air.

It’s so not like school . Radio gives its students the ‘instant gratification’ that is so important in youth media, grabbing them quickly through the thrill of creating your own media and listening back to it. It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing a more idealized image of you reflected back. And you’re not alone in the experience—your parents, teachers, family, neighbors and most importantly—your friends can also hear this cool version of you.

Radio is an entry medium, always has been . Many of the first TV people came from radio and so it has continued. Students learn the basics of broadcasting and journalism in producing radio. When we feel snobby we say, "if you can tell a story without pictures, TV can seem easy." In addition to the natural flow of stories (now called “content”) from one medium to another, on the technical side, the digital revolution has accelerated and maximized the cross-media trajectory. Everything from radio to network TV and feature films is now produced on a computer, often with the same software. (DigiDesign’s ProTools is seen as the industry standard in film. Youth Radio students have been cutting sound on ProTools since 1995.) In the world of youth media, it’s incumbent upon us to be presenting radio as a medium at the center of the "fountain of expression." Not only can a radio commentary easily be reprinted in a newspaper and reformatted for TV and the web, but our students can be writing scripts for film, writing music for film and starting their own CD/DVD labels.