On Air Training-Radio Rookies build students confidence

“I would not speak in public,” lamented Amina Tariq, 18, a student at Clara Muhammad School in Corona. She recalls a time - not very long ago - when she would sit in a corner not saying anything. Today, she is a completely different person, counting among her favorite activities acting and speaking not just in public - but also in front of a microphone broadcasting to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
Her transformation is because of WYNC radio’s new venture, Radio Rookies - a youth journalism program that Amina and five other fortunate Queens teenagers can credit with their stories of personal transformation and group-wide success.
The six members - Tariq; William Bryant students Yesica Balderrama and Edward Llanos; Prince Hunt, a senior at St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows; Jamaica resident Neil Ramkissoon; and Wen Ou of Millennium High School - are provided with the tools and training to create radio documentaries about themselves and their communities.
Aired on February 20 through February 24, the program’s senior producer Kaari Pitkin (who is the associate producer of WNYC radio’s Morning Edition), recruited the teenagers from South Asian Youth Action (SAYA), an East Elmhurst youth empowerment center, geared to developing the talent, skills and potential of South Asian youths from the ages of 11 to 19. There is no fee, and the program provides all the equipment and instruction needed.
The young broadcasters are paired with professional journalists as mentors to help them “create true stories about themselves, their communities, and their world.” The Rookies learn everything there is to learn about radio journalism, from how to conduct an interview and develop a story, to how to craft a script and digitally edit audio.
Tariq, who discovered that the most challenging aspect of journalism is “getting people to be truthful and answer questions that are personal,” confesses that the Radio Rookie program helped her with issues of low self-esteem.
Llanos, 17, of Long Island City shared with the New York audience the impact of Aplastic Anemia, a rare and potentially fatal blood disorder, had on him and his family. At twelve-years-old, Edward received a bone marrow transplant from his younger brother.
“People don’t realize that it is not just one person who is suffering, but all those around the person are suffering too,” he says. “I understand now what my family went through.”
Perhaps the most profound results of the Radio Rookies workshop and the opportunity to broadcast to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, is it has steered the Rookies onto a potential career path.
Neal Ramkissoon, 18, of Jamaica, is now a freshman at Hunter College majoring in film/media. A youth organizer with the Forest Hills Community House (FHCH) for two and a half years, he was involved in the production of a social action documentary and several public service announcements. It is through FHCH that he found out about South Asian Youth Action (SAYA), where he got involved with Radio Rookies, and discovered a love for technology. “I know Radio Rookies is going to help me with my future plans,” he posted on the Radio Rookies website.