PORTLAND,
Ore. - Four Hopi High radio students gave presentations at the 34th
annual National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) Conference
at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower. Approximately 350 people
attended the conference.
Students
Nicole Sockyma, Fawn Marie Lomakema, Paul Quamahongnewa and Tarrah
Tewanema kicked off the youth section with their performance.
Sockyma
and Quamahongnewa gave a presentation to the youth section that
included groups from Boston, Mass; Oakland, Calif; and Washington
State.
The
presentation focused on the Hopi High Teen Show, which is the only
live remote Native American teen talk show in the nation on KUYI,
the Hopi community radio station.
Lomakema
interviewed Eitan Stern-Robbins from Terrascope radio (http://web.mit.edu/tyr)
out of Boston. Stern-Robbins said their radio program focuses on
scientific environmental issues.
"I
like radio because I like talking and I get paid," he said.
"I want my voice to be heard."
Lomakema
received many positive comments from radio critics in the room.
Jones
Franzel, project director of Generation X for Public Radio Exchange
(prx.org) said it took courage for Lomakema to interview somebody
in front of a roomful of radio folks.
To
start the youth session, Tewanema led icebreakers. One icebreaker
involved naming movies. When Jerome Edge missed the answer he performed
the chicken dance for the crowd.
Edge,
who has a radio show on KSVR (www.ksvr.org) in Washington, earlier
said, "Radio is poetry in motion." The chicken dance may
not have been the motion that he had in mind.
The
Hopi High students were among the youth that received training from
June Fox, Franzel and Brett Myers, producer of youth programs at
Youth Radio in Oakland.
Franzel
spoke about how to do pieces for PRX, which has more than 900 youth
pieces on their site. Quamahongnewa previously served on the PRX
editorial board where he reviewed six youth pieces a month. He is
in the advanced radio class, but also works at KUYI and serves on
the KUYI Community Advisory Board.
"It
takes courage to share and to give feedback," Franzel said
about Quamahongnewa and others who serve on the PRX Editorial Board.
Fox,
a national fundraising expert, helps community radio stations throughout
the nation. She has a special place in her heart for high school
radio students because that is where she started.
Fox,
who has a BA in journalism and radio from the University of Maryland,
told students that the most important tool in fundraising is to
ask because so many times people don't ask.
Fox
told the students that radio is an "addiction" for most
in the field.
"We
love what we do and we can't imagine doing anything else,"
she said.
Fox
said most of the money in radio is made by engineers, salesmen and
management. She said she doesn't consider her job work.
"I
never worked a day in my life because I play with friends each day,"
she said.
Fox
said about 280 radio stations pay her a fee to obtain the tools
and techniques about how they can raise funds.
Myers,
program director at Youth Radio in Oakland, (youthradio.org) told
the students that Youth Radio has offices in Atlanta, Ga.; Washington,
D.C.; Los Angeles and Oakland. They hope to bring a diversity of
youth opinions to the airwaves.
Shaw
Killip, also part of Youth Radio, talked about the Community Action
Program which teaches youth who were on probation to use radio to
help themselves.
Denise
Tejada, another member of Youth Radio, told about how Youth Radio
covered the recent shooting of a 22 year old by a transit officer.
Myers
told the students that it's important in today's world that they
use not just the airwaves but the multimedia of including the Internet,
so it's important to use a movie camera, a still camera and a microphone.
He noted that National Public Radio has been firing people at a
time when the Internet companies are hiring.
Youth
Radio recorded audio and video of the youth students performing
the moonwalk and the macarana.
Stan
Bindell, radio teacher at Hopi High, praised the radio students.
"I
am extremely proud of my radio students. I think they put their
best foot forward to express themselves, but they also act in a
professional manner. They are doing a good job of preparing for
the radio world whether it's majoring in radio or working at a radio
station."
Hopi
High Principal Glenn Gilman said he thanks Bindell for taking the
students to the conference.
"I
appreciate his dedication and commitment to the Hopi High School
radio and journalism program," he said.
Principal
Gilman said he believes the students benefited extensively from
the exposure they received at this conference.
The
Hopi High students also had a chance to get out in Portland including
a trek on the river walk where they happened to run into Channel
12 Newscaster Bill Hyde.
Hyde
shared his thoughts with the radio students, telling them that Portland
is the 24th largest television market. He said Portland is a good
city with plenty of culture including art galleries.
They
also had a chance to meet with many radio professionals including
Burt Poley from Native Voice 1, John Gregg, Victor Aronow from Arizona
Community Foundation and Brian Brashier from Chickasaw Community
Radio.
The
Hopi High radio students thank the funders for the trip which included
Hopi High School, Apollo College, Navajo Hopi Observer, former Hopi
Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma Sr., fundraising expert June Fox, Cynthia
Yurth, Tom and Jane Scholes, Greg and Sandy Schnirring and Navajo
Nation Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan.
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