Every afternoon in the WESU office, Jess Jones ’08 and Mu Abeledo ’09 coax ideas from spunky Middletown kids. The children gain hands-on experience with radio broadcasting, learning how to produce and record their own WESU show.
Approximately 15 children, most of whom are residents of the Traverse Square housing complex, congregate here to participate in Middletown Youth Radio Project (MYRP), a community partnership Abeledo and Jones founded this past spring. Their broadcast premieres today.
“These kids have a great perspective of life that they can share on the radio,” Jones said.
According to Jones, the voices of the youth population are often filtered through adult media. Hoping to establish a space in which the youth of Traverse Square can safely express themselves and feel ownership and pride in their creation, Jones and Abeledo set up MYRP to offer kids an autonomous voice in the media.
On Tuesday afternoon, the two met with Ayanna and Clayton, two sixth graders from Traverse Square, at the radio station headquarters.
Ayanna, a ten-year-old who has been involved with MYRP since its inception, intends to use the youth radio program to build her career in singing and rapping. She points to Oprah, who rose to fame through radio.
“If you wanna be like me, you gotta have high professional experience,” she said.
In a song that she recorded with four of her friends, Ayanna raps, “You know this is simple / Some people got pimples / I got a little dimple / Don’t laugh in my face / I’ll put you up in space.”
Ayanna deftly maneuvered the controls at the sound panel during her scheduled time at the studio, with Jones and Abeledo close by to encourage her and offer help and support.
“It’s all about the process,” Abeledo said.
Abeledo hopes to impart a sense of responsibility, efficiency, and skills in radio production to all the kids involved. They are all held to a high standard, and must pass a DJ/Producer test in order to operate the soundboards on air.
Clayton, an eleven-year-old boy, also joined MYRP with a mission. Clayton dreams of being an author in the future, and during his time at MYRP has crafted a story about a boy possessing a mind-reading helmet. He explained his writing process: “I said it out loud, and Mu wrote it down.”
Abeledo and Jones’ idea for MYRP transpired one day after their WESU Latin American music radio program, Musica Pa’ Gozar.
“I was interested in media as a form of education and self-confidence building,” Abeledo said.
Abeledo and Jones began their efforts to organize in the spring, distributing fliers throughout Traverse Square and informing Wesleyan’s neighbors of their vision. They organized a brainstorming session, in which they realized that working with a large group of energenic kids, mostly between the ages of ten and thirteen, could sometimes present management challenges.
With high levels of curiosit and enthusiasm, the group worked with Abeledo and Jones to create a public service announcement. The PSA informed the local community about the importance of traffic safety, warning drivers about the dangers of indiscretion and fast speeds. The three boys narrating the announcement tell the story of a friend who was struck by a car. This PSA aired all summer on WESU.
Abeledo and Jones returned to campus early, on Aug. 20, to work on MYRP. The first-ever broadcast occurs today at 6:30 p.m. (on 88.1 WESU), and will continue throughout the semester.
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