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caption: Hayden Andersen and Kea Lani Diamond on an audio scavenger hunt at RadioActive in 2022.

Changes are coming to RadioActive Youth Media

A message from RadioActive program manager Lila Lakehart, October 2023:

RadioActive Youth Media is changing in response to KUOW’s shifting content needs as the station works to connect with new audiences. The goal of these changes is for RadioActive program graduates to be better prepared to work in newsrooms, to contribute more regularly to KUOW daily news and podcasts, and to gain deeper skills in radio journalism.

So how will the program actually be changing? Here’s what we know so far:

  • RadioActive is evolving from a public radio journalism discovery program for teens to a public radio journalism career training program for young people interested in a career in journalism.
  • Instead of offering short, intensive workshops throughout the year, we will offer one 10-month fellowship program each year.
  • We will work with fewer youth each year, and over a longer period of time. Our curriculum will focus on building more advanced journalism skills.
  • We expect to run fewer “mobile” workshops with community partners. Outreach through community programming will continue to be an essential part of the new program.
  • We expect to expand the age range of participants admitted to our program to 24 years old. We anticipate continuing to work with teens and will likely increase the higher end of the age range to accommodate young people in more advanced stages of their journalism journeys.

This 2023-2024 school year, RadioActive is pausing all programming activities and will take the next several months to design the new program in collaboration with KUOW employees from different departments, RadioActive graduates and mentors, and external stakeholders.

We will not be offering a summer Intro to Radio Journalism Workshop in 2024. We expect to publicly announce the new program details and provide information about when youth can apply in early summer 2024. We’ll continue to do outreach throughout this school year to Seattle-area teens. We encourage youth and educators to sign up for the RadioActive newsletter so they’ll hear these announcements as soon as they come out.

We're still figuring out exactly what the new version of RadioActive will look like. As we work to plan this new program, we will remain focused on maintaining our core values and the things that make RadioActive so special. As we sit in this space of ambiguity and discovery, we ask for your patience and trust as we build the next generation of the RadioActive program. If you have questions or comments you can reach out at radioactive@kuow.org.

Thanks for being a part of our community,

The RadioActive Team