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Generation PRX: Amplifying Youth Voices

Published on September 19, 2005

"Slip of the Tongue speaks of ridiculous societal standards and how we lose ourselves when we get caught up with them," writes Alla Pekareva, a youth radio producer with outLoud Radio in San Francisco. "It is beautifully written, the way he plays with words is magic. His performance is very passionate and full of emotion. I did not want it to end so I had my player loop this piece. It felt like a wakeup call."

Youth radio producers from KRCB Voice of Youth are able to license their pieces for broadcast around the country via Generation PRX

Alla is reviewing a radio piece produced by Youth Radio in Berkeley, California. But Alla has never heard this piece on her local station. So how does someone respond to a radio story that she's never actually heard on the radio? Through Generation PRX.

Generation PRX, a project of the Public Radio Exchange, is an online space for youth radio producers to share their work, write reviews and get licensed by stations across the country. Through PRX, visitors can listen to work produced by youth from Anchorage to Baltimore. They can hear stories about dating, racism, families and the war. They can hear what youth are talking about and find out how to get involved in radio, support others, or how to start their own youth radio group.

Why Radio?

Conventional media tells us who youth are, but youth-produced radio lets young producers speak for themselves. They offer a fresh perspective in a medium that dynamically incorporates music, technology, computers and art. Youth often have mastery over these tools and can creatively tell us who they are, how they see the world and what they hope to change. They experiment, express themselves and push the boundaries of what radio can sound like. As youth producers make their voices heard, they are changing the face of media.

Radio is cheap, accessible, entertaining, mobile and fun. For all these reasons, it is also a powerful tool for social justice. When youth producer Tania Unzueta at Radio Arte wanted to talk about Latina queer issues, she took a microphone and recorder to her family to ask direct questions and used her writing and research to bring the poetry and power of Sor Juana Inez de La Cruz to life. When youth producers at Alaska Teen Media Institute wanted to know what life was like in urban Anchorage and rural, indigenous Alaska, they switched places, and brought their microphones with them.

At Blunt Youth Radio young people learn the ins and out of creating their own radio pieces.

If you've heard good radio, you know how powerful it can be. Listen to the introduction to Jennifer Rowe's piece about obesity, produced with WAMU Youth Voices, and you are on the treadmill with her. The panting breath, the slow trod at 5 in the morning -- radio takes you there in a way that images can't. Because it relies on how you imagine what you hear, sound is visual without being image-based.

The Youth Radio Movement

The youth radio movement has been growing steadily. Pioneers like Blunt Youth Radio in Maine and Youth Radio in Berkeley first cropped up some ten years ago. Today you can find youth-produced radio all over the country; at places like Appalshop in Kentucky, Radio Rookies in New York and KBOO Youth Collectivein Portland, youth have been discovering the power of their voices to entertain, inform and mobilize. There is a growing demand for youth radio producers; as their voices reach the airwaves, they are changing the face of conventional media.

In the U.S. alone, there are over three dozen youth radio groups who are picking up mics and asking question of their communities, their families and themselves. Generation PRX supports this movement by providing a space for listeners to hear and connect to youth-produced work, and by bringing youth voices to radio listeners.

One of the newest youth radio groups on Generation PRX is Curie Youth Radio, an elective class offered at Curie High School on Chicago's Southwest side. Curie students post their work on Generation PRX and are now heard and reviewed by users across the country. Recently, a Kansas City station licensed Back to School in a Garbage Can, a collage of student notes that reveal how little students think about school. The group can now earn royalties off the license, and a whole new audience is discovering their work.

When you consider how many people listen to the radio, a single license means thousands of people hear what youth have to say. Students at Curie are making an impact beyond their community, and through Generation PRX, they're meeting other youth producers who are too.

Youth participants in outLoud Radio become the media by investigating their own stories.

Get Moving

Once you start making radio, Generation PRX helps your story get heard. You can ask questions through the discussion lists, listen to other pieces to discover what's out there, get feedback on your piece from youth and adult producers and maybe have your piece licensed by a station.

You can also join the Generation PRX Youth Editorial Board, a group of youth producers who are passionate about radio and issues that affect the lives of youth. They're trained and paid to give their feedback to other youth producers, and they're building a community of actively engaged youth.

Here's how to get started

Visit Generation PRX to find out who else is out there and what youth producers are saying.
Sign up for a free account so you can listen to stories, write reviews and share your own stories.
Surf the web to learn more about individual youth radio groups like Blunt Youth Radio, Radio Rookies, Youth Radio, Radio Arte, outLoud and more.
Ask your local station to air more youth voices.
Learn more: Contact project coordinator Jones Franzel to apply to the youth editorial board and get trained (and paid!) to write online reviews of other youths' work.
Attend the National Youth in Radio Training Project Conference.