Carolina Hidalgo is the senior producer for Radio Rookies, WNYC’s award-winning youth radio program, where she works with teens and young adults to report personal stories about their lives and communities.
Carolina joined WNYC after covering justice reform, social movements and the aftermath of the uprising in Ferguson at St. Louis Public Radio. While there, she also photographed daily life and developed the station’s visual voice as its first staff photojournalist. In 2020, Carolina received a Third Coast International Audio Festival award for a 70 Million podcast episode she reported and produced about the fight to shut down a notorious St. Louis jail.
Previously, Carolina worked as a staff photographer at the Naples Daily News and the Tampa Bay Times. In 2018, she was named one of The Lit List’s “30 photographers to watch.” She has also reported from the United States-Mexico border as an International Women’s Media Foundation fellow and has taught at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Carolina grew up in Queens and lives in her home borough.
Carolina Hidalgo appears in the following:
Radio Rookies 2023: Changes Coming to Public Housing
Friday, September 15, 2023
Radio Rookie Fanta Kaba shares her story on how her family found stability in a NYCHA apartment and residents wariness around NYCHA's privatization plan, PACT.
A Bronx teen grapples with a controversial plan for NYCHA apartments
Friday, September 15, 2023
For Fanta Kaba, living in NYCHA means stability. But now, a controversial plan is changing the way public housing operates. Fanta sets out to find out what this plan means for residents.
Radio Rookies 2023: Learning What it Means to be Tibetan
Thursday, September 14, 2023
A WNYC Radio Rookie learns how to be proud of her Tibetan heritage.
A first-generation Tibetan in Queens finds her way home
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Saldon Tenzin knows she needs to help keep her culture alive — but how do you hold onto something you feel so far removed from?
Radio Rookies 2023: Gentrification Comes to The Bronx
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
A look at gentrification in the South Bronx through the eyes of young people today.
As the Bronx gentrifies, teens lose sense of stability and belonging
Monday, September 11, 2023
In this love letter to the South Bronx, Christina Adja examines how gentrification can affect teenagers’ sense of stability and belonging.
Half of My Parents, All of Me
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Folashade Olatunde, a WNYC Radio Rookie, shares a series of open and honest audio diaries, inviting listeners on her journey to rebuild a relationship with her dad.
A journey to reconnect with an incarcerated father
Friday, April 08, 2022
Folashade Olatunde shares her journey to rebuild her relationship with her incarcerated father, following her first visit to the prison in more than a decade.
Imagining a world without police
Thursday, April 07, 2022
Years after she witnessed a domestic violence incident in her home and called the police, Kayla Ollivierre starts to question the role of police in our communities.
Taking a restorative approach to youth justice
Wednesday, April 06, 2022
Deborah Ugo-Omenukwa looks at how restorative justice can give young people a chance to take responsibility for their actions while avoiding the larger legal system.
Finding ways to feel safe as a young Black girl in America
Tuesday, April 05, 2022
Betsy-Jane Paul-Odionhin explores what it means to feel safe — or unsafe — as a young Black girl growing up in America.
How a secretive police database affects young Black and brown men
Monday, April 04, 2022
Rainier Harris looks at how the NYPD uses a secretive database to label people as gang members — and how it affects the lives of young Black and brown men.
Our Feelings Are Not Our Fault: How Science Can Explain Our Emotions
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
When the pandemic caused fear and anxiety to overwhelm her mom, Guadalupe Ortega turned to science.
WNYC Announces the New Class of Radio Rookies
Tuesday, July 06, 2021
Next class of young people to create audio documentaries through station’s youth journalism program to tell personal stories about policing in their lives.
A student’s perspective on the first week of school
Friday, September 25, 2020
Atika Kaisary convinced her parents to let her attend classes in-person. But after multiple delays, she’s learning remotely — and her first week of distance learning has surprised her.
From Quarantine at NYU, a Freshman Waits to Start the Next Chapter
Monday, August 31, 2020
Madison Hall’s college experience started with a two-week quarantine. As she waits to step outside, she reflects on the difficult decision to move away from home during a pandemic.
Expecting the Unexpected: Graduating High School During a Pandemic
Sunday, June 21, 2020
When a global pandemic canceled end-of-the-year milestones for the class of 2020, Radio Rookie Madison Hall learned an important lesson about expectations.
Why Covid-19 Is Killing Black People
Friday, April 24, 2020
The pandemic has hit black communities uniquely hard. To understand why, we explore how racism shows up in black bodies — all the way down to the cellular level.
A History of Style in a Pandemic
Wednesday, April 08, 2020
Here’s how black women in Chicago used lace and jewels to turn their mandatory face masks into works of art, more than 100 years ago.
