Talk Up Radio
CREATED BY: Emprezz Golding, PARTNERS: Nationwide News Network
THE CHALLENGE
Create a space in mainstream media for youth voice
THE OUTCOME
5 years and almost 300 episodes of Talk Up Radio on Nationwide 90FM, a team of 30+ youth driving the programme forward with a steadily growing audience.
In 2014, I had just wrapped up an amazing couple months working with the Talk Up Yout School Tour. We were travelling to high schools in all 14 parishes of Jamaica, speaking with young Jamaicans about the issues affecting them and packaging their truths into reports and articles to amplify their voices to government and civil society stakeholders. One major takeaway from that project, hammered into every report I wrote was the repeated call coming from youth around the island for more spaces for youth voice, where young people have time and permission to speak candidly about the things they care about.
Existing youth engagement platforms tended to be seasonal or entertainment-heavy in their design, but it was clear that there was a gap in the media landscape for youth voices on more serious issues, given the significant challenges affecting Jamaican youth. So in January 2014 when Emprezz Golding told me her vision for a youth-led radio programme and asked me to become its Producer, I gladly accepted the role and we began to work together to build what would become the pilot phase of Talk Up Radio.
This first phase of Talk Up Radio was where I cut my teeth as a radio producer, learning the ins and outs of production while managing the programme. I produced every episode - selecting topics, guests, creating segments. I also managed a growing team of about 10 regular rotating youth co-hosts and multiple young DJs provided amazing, clean, youth friendly music. But most importantly, I was developing an awareness of the importance of feedback - spending time understanding why people listened and what they needed to improve the programme.
Following the pilot phase, we relaunched the programme in 2016 on Nationwide News Network. In this new partnership, we now had 2 hours to fill with content and I set about using the insights I’d picked up from the first phase to design a whole new programme with my whole new team.
The objective was to design a programme that would both entertain and educate our audiences while generating benefit (skills, financial, opportunities) for the youth team involved. It would serve as a consistent, expanding, evolving resource dedicated to and designed for and with young people.
Consultations with young people yielded strategic recommendations for the content of the programme. Each episode would include segments bringing together young people from different backgrounds to discuss major social issues and collaborate to develop solutions to them, segments highlight youth innovation, ideas, creative endeavours and opportunities for young people and segments purely for entertainment value.
In the process of redesign, I also recognized and decided to deliberately foster the growth of a community around the programme, made up of our team of co-hosts, volunteers, listeners of all ages, guests, and especially supportive older adults who contributed their wisdom, guidance and time to mentor the team, alongside Executive Producer and Founder Emprezz Golding and Nationwide’s staff.
Over 5 years I produced more than 250 episodes of the programme, staying abreast of youth trends, research and listening to our community to write the scripts, select the guests and create the segments that came together with the energy of our team and support of our listeners to make our mark on the Jamaican media landscape and the world of youth engagement.
We’ve done Collaborative Conversations where we collect questions from youth and get local and international leaders including ministers of government and even UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth - Jayathma Wickramanayake to answer them on air. We’ve done fun episodes looking back at childhood, literally hosting our own quiz shows and DJ showdowns or interviewing top recording artiste Shenseea. And we’ve done episodes highlighting young innovators and doing a month of episodes leading up to Jamaica’s 2020 elections - explaining our electoral process, campaign promises/manifestos and outlining youth priorities for development.
As the programme and the team has grown I’ve been honoured to work more closely with our community, as the Project Manager for our special projects including a community outreach project creating intergenerational conversations in innercity Kingston communities. Most importantly I am proud of what the team has been able to create - not just a space where we come together to discuss issues and create solutions, but where we develop and strengthen the capacity to critically engage with social and civic issues and access the community support to collaborate in building solutions and making change. Team members routinely pursue higher education, build social enterprises and projects, enter politics and serve on youth councils and advisory boards. Our community culture is one of active, global citizenship and friendship.
In 2019, my Co-Producer Andrica and I designed a phase 3 for Talk Up Radio which would involve a new generation of producers making the key decisions about the content of the programme while we took on more long-term planning for the community. We recruited and trained a Talk Up Radio JR team that has now joined the SR Team in 2021 and have already begun to make their mark. As we enter our 6th year, we’ve established solid footing, in our own unique space based on our own priorities.