Left to right, Peri Wildcat and Shelby Hornbuckle
(Front) and Driver Blythe and Cole
WIldcat (back) clearly enjoy participating
in Cherokee Youth in Radio
Residents
of the Qualla Boundary and surrounding
area have begun to hear young voices
over the airwaves, thanks to the Cherokee
Youth in Radio (CYIR) program taking
flight at the Cherokee Youth Center
Boys and Girls Club. CYIR’s
mission is to promote young Cherokees’ intellectual
and creative growth through the production
of high quality radio programs for
local and national outlets.
Made
possible by planning and implementation
grants
from Cherokee Preservation Foundation,
CYIR is the third Native American youth
radio program developed by Jackie Stringer,
a member of the Ojibway Nation who
now makes her home near the Qualla
Boundary. Given the importance of storytelling
to Native American people, Stringer
views radio as a good avenue to teach
Native American youth not only communications
and research skills, but also something
about their heritage. Getting behind
the microphone can fuel their career
aspirations as well. Additionally,
through the
programs the kids create, they erase
Native American stereotypes and the
community at large learns more about
Native Americans and issues that are
important to them.
Creating
a studio and a classroom were the first
order of business for CYIR, which outfitted
the facilities with state of the art
equipment and software that students
will encounter in universities and
radio stations if they pursue studies
and/or a career in radio.
Now the
training program is in high gear. Approximately
50 teens
and pre-teens work in the studio after
school to improve their writing, reading,
computer, thinking, and team-building
skills, as well as learn how to edit,
so they can become skilled reporters.
Technical assistance is being provided
by Western Carolina University’s
(WCU) Electronic Media program.
Each Saturday,
listeners of WWCU-FM (90.5) are hearing
Cherokee One Feather News, a 30 minute
broadcast that features news articles
printed in the One Feather newspaper
that are read by high school students
participating in CYIR. WWCU is owned
and operated by WCU.
Soon
public service announcements on topics
such as anti-smoking and
staying in school will air on Channel
28 on the Qualla Boundary and WCVP
in Robbinsville and the students
will produce five minutes newscasts
each week day for Channel 28. The young
reporters are also working on a series
of interviews with World War II veterans
from the Eastern Band about their war
experience. The interviews will be
formatted and edited, and copies will
be evaluated by National Public Radio
for possible use in a series. The interviews
will also be sent to Channel 28 and
to the North Carolina Archives to become
part of its permanent military collection.
Parents
are excited about how their teenaged
children are growing as a
result of their participation in the
Cherokee Youth in Radio program, and
they aren’t the only ones noticing
their kids’ improved skills and
greater interest in what’s going
on in the world. Recently Patty Talahongva,
the host of the popular Native America
Calling live call-in program heard
by more than 37,000 listeners each
week, visited Cherokee and stopped
by the CYIR studio. After listening
to newscasts produced by the students,
she told them, “I’m really
impressed with Cherokee Youth in Radio
and what all of you are doing.”
Cherokee
youth don’t have to
want a career in radio to be part of
CYIR. Students get poise and polish
through the program, and they learn
how to present themselves and be confident
in what they do. All things considered,
radio is a powerful medium for young
people who want to explore its possibilities.
