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The Harlem Radio and Photography Project

WNYC and Columbia University offered a six-week radio workshop to a group of Harlem-based teenagers in the summer of 1999. Students aged 12 to 19 learned to report, write and produce radio stories and also how to compose and take pictures at the Photographic Center of Harlem. "The Harlem Radio and Photography Project" was partially funded by the Open Society Institute. Its young participants were given the tools to find and tell the stories most important to them.

The series was awarded First Place by the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association for "Best Local Documentary Program or Series". It also won the "Heart of New York" award from the New York Press Club. Our ongoing series, Radio Rookies, grew out of this workshop."

The HRPP was a collaboration between WNYC, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and The Photographic Center of Harlem (PCH). The goal for the workshop was to give students the skills to tell compelling stories through sound and pictures, but also to give the public a chance to hear and see their perspectives. For the radio component of the HRPP, the students gained a basic understanding of reporting: how to identify stories of interest, how to approach a story with balance and integrity, how to record sound, how to write for radio, and how to produce radio programs using digital editing equipment. At the Photographic Center of Harlem, students learned how to compose, light, shoot, develop and edit photographs for print media.

With help and instruction from WNYC reporter Marianne McCune, producer Joe Richman (of NPR's Teenage Diaries series), and photographer Jim Belfon, students translated their personal visions of the world into the language of radio and photography.

In March of 2000, members of the Harlem Radio and Photography Project traveled to New Orleans for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) Youth Radio conference. They went to workshops and met with more than a hundred youth radio producers from all over the country. Our airfare and lodging was paid for by the NFCB.

WNYC's Senior Producer Gene Bryan Johnson was the primary editor for the project.
Antoine Bazilio listen      download MP3
Antoine Bazilio, the youngest member of the workshop, is 12-years-old and lives in East Harlem. He's a DJ at a local community radio station and did his report on the show he hosts: The Literature Show. "I think a show like mine is important because I am trying to bring our literacy rate up in the Projects." Antoine is an advocate for pirate radio and almost secured a meeting with the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission while he was reporting his story, but the Chairman had to cancel at the last minute. Antoine will try again.
Danielle Beckom listen      download MP3
Danielle Beckom is in the 11th grade, but she's 15-years-old and the youngest in her class. Her brother is a member of the world-renowned Harlem Boys Choir, and that inspired her to report on a lesser-known choir: The Harlem Girls Choir. One of its members told Danielle, "People think of Harlem as this bad place, where people just kill and take drugs and stuff like that. But in the middle of Harlem there's a school called the Choir Academy of Harlem where they teach people who live in poor neighborhoods how to not just think of yourself as poor, but to have a goal in life. And in life you can achieve it."
Marc Delgado listen      download MP3
Marc Delgado is 14 and in the 10th grade at a small public school in Harlem. Marc didn't have to go far to report his story -- it takes place at his own home. He lives in Washington Heights, with his mother and a sister who is severely disabled. Candice was born with Trisomy 13 - she can't walk or talk. The doctors thought she would die before she was two, but somehow, she's made it past her 13th birthday. Marc's report walks listeners through a day of life with Candice. Sadly, Candice passed away after the initial airing of Marc's story.
Kady Bulnes listen      download MP3
Kady Bulnes,14-years-old, took on an important and under-reported topic for her story: What is it like to be a gay or lesbian teenager in a neighborhood like Harlem? Kady reported night and day: she went to a Harlem AIDS clinic (she discovered there were scant other resources for gays and lesbians in Harlem) and a Chelsea nightclub. She was always full of respectful, but probing questions about a very sensitive topic.
Jimmy Belfon Jr. listen      download MP3
Jimmy Belfon is 15 years old, goes to high school in East Harlem and used to have an iguana named Igzilla (they're illegal in New York City now). His report is on the Graffiti Hall of Fame, which covers the walls of his school playground. Jimmy says traveling the streets of New York City is like visiting a museum. In his story, Jimmy asks listeners to look more closely at graffiti and think about where to draw the line between art and vandalism.
Janelle Lewis listen      download MP3
Janelle Lewis' mom thinks she has a split personality. That's because Janelle was born in the United States, but likes to identify herself as Trini. Her mom, dad, and sister were all born in Trinidad, and Trinidadian culture is everywhere she looks in her Brooklyn neighborhood. Janelle is 19 years old, and her report tracks her lifelong quest: figuring out whether she's American or Trini, or both - and why.
Latia Miller
Lalita Miller is a Jehovah's Witness, like her parents. But her grandparents, aunts and uncles range from Baptists to Buddhists. Latia is in the 9th grade and has been reporting on what it's like to have so many religions all in one family. There's a lot to talk about and a lot to think about, so her story is still a work-in-progress. When she finishes, we'll post it here.
Kourtney Freeman
Kourtney Freeman is 15 and just started the 10th grade. She lives part-time in Harlem and part-time in the Bronx. Kourtney reported for weeks on a serious and important story: runaways in New York City. Unfortunately, the tape on which she recorded 5 central interviews with former runaways disappeared just before the last week of the program. So instead, Kourtney did the promotional spots for the Harlem Radio and Photography Project.

The Harlem Radio and Photography Project, aired daily on Morning Edition during the week of November 1, 1999 on AM820 and FM93.9, 7:30-8:00 AM and 9:30-10:00 AM.

Find out more about the Radio Rookies. Radio Rookies is a WNYC program that trains young people to use words and sounds to tell true stories about themselves, their communities and the world. Through a series of workshops, each held in a new neighborhood, Radio Rookies gives teenagers the tools to become radio journalists.
©2009 Radio Rookies
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