Anecdotally, radio
production among young people appears to be growing, in line with the
growth of hands-on digital media as a whole: when talking to parents,
teachers or community groups it is not uncommon to hear of a school or
youth group participating in an RSL (short-term radio station), doing
a video-conferencing project, or recording drama, artwork or project
work in audio visual form.
With the development of
digital radio production has come an increase in affordable,
accessible equipment and technology. From recording an interview to
broadcasting a complete programme, non-professionals can make radio
for themselves more easily than ever before.
However, radio still
appears to lag behind the visual electronic formats as the medium of
choice. In addition, where they do exist, many radio projects appear
to be carried out in isolation, or perhaps within a small or local
environment, with little awareness of the range of possible approaches
and starting points in the making and broadcasting of radio, or of
what kind of support is already available.
During 2004 Children
and Radio carried out a small research project to explore the
extent and ways in which children and young people are participating
in radio in schools and community/youth groups around the country and
to make the information available to others who wish to do the same.
The project focused
mainly on desk research to explore and analyse the various types of
radio activity carried out by schools, community and youth
groups, by licensed broadcasters and by partnerships between these,
backed up by visits to some of the individual projects and supporting
organisations in England.
The research was
financed by a grant from Voice of the Listener Trust
(VoLT), with
support in kind from the research company ChildWise. Initial results were reported to
the Voice of the Listener and Viewer's conference on Children and
Media in London on 8th October 2004. This published report includes updates on
developments which have taken place since then, where applicable, plus
several new case studies.
Click here to download
a copy of the full report (PDF 232KB)
Or click on the links in the Making Radio section of this website for examples of what the different schools
and youth organisations are doing.