Young people on the airwaves in Rosslare
A LUCKY 13 young people broadcast their own live radio show in Cois Mara housing estate in Rosslare Strand after completing a week-long radio production workshop held in a converted studio in Cois Barry Community House.
The students, four boys and nine girls, ranging in age from 11 to 16 years were drawn from Cois Mara housing estate and Yola Farm Youth Project in Tagoat.
The workshop was run by MediasKool, a young start-up media company based in Gorey School of Art and was funded by Wexford Local Development in association with Cois Barry Community House and Yola Farm Youth Project..
The half-hour radio show was broadcast to listeners in Cois Mara estate and included interviews, vox pops, music and advertisements. The students scripted and presented the content, conducted interviews, made the ads and used the mixing desk and editing and sound equipment to produce the programme.
Parents and friends gathered at the community house to hear and watch them conduct the live broadcast.
‘I couldn’t believe it was my shy little girl sitting at the microphone talking like she was on the radio every day of the week,’ said one impressed mother.
Fran Ryan of Wexford Local Development said the aim of the project was to expose young people to the possibility that they could create content and tell their own stories and improve their critical faculties about how media is made rather than being passive consumers of it .
‘We also wanted to foster the idea of learning by doing outside of the classroom in a fun way. You never know, we could be looking at the next Sean O’Rourke or Marian Finucane’, he added.