Transition Year Students will have an opportunity to create their own radio content through a week-long programme in a radio station as part of a media training initiative launched by Learning Waves & the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
The ‘TY Media Week’ project will offer Transition Year students a unique opportunity to get involved in the creation of content for broadcast on a radio station in their area.
Students will have the chance to research, produce and present two hours of radio on their local/ regional or national radio station.
This project will create a series of stand-alone programmes focused on media literacy and the impact of media on the lives of teenagers. The series of programmes will be broadcast on a range local, regional and national Independent Commercial Radio Stations.
These programmes will be created over the course of a week by transition year students local to each station. The programmes will be recorded and produced in house and with the support of station staff. In addition to this, Learning Waves will create a ‘TY Podcast ‘where all content from the programme will be made available to the public.
The programme will run for the academic years 2021-2023. The students will also have access to the Learning Waves Learning Hub which will give them inputs to training materials and content as they take part in the programme. All students will be presented with a Certificate at the end of the programme.
Applications for the programme will open from September 2021 and students will be able to apply to the following radio stations to take part in the TY Media Week over the academic year 2021 to 2022 :
- KCLR 9FM
- Radio Kerry
- Corks 96FM
- Midlands 103
- Beat
- Clare FM
- Tipp FM
- Highland Radio
- Galway Bay FM
- WLR FM
- Corks Red FM
- iRadio
- Newstalk
- LMFM
- Shannonside/Northern Sound
- Dublins Q102
- FM104
Commenting on the launch of the programme, Martin Howard, Programme Director, Shannonside/Northern Sound and Chairperson of Learning Waves said: “Albert Einstein once said “The only source of knowledge is experience”. The TY Media week initiative underscores the vision by Learning Waves supported by BAI Sound & Vision funding for the next 2 years to proactively collaborate with transition year students from all backgrounds and radio stations nationally in the enhanced sharing of knowledge, through theoretical and practical experiences which will bring about the delivery of new programming. We are delighted that this initiative will provide the formative steps for the next generation of broadcasters.”
Bernadette Prendergast, Head of News, Galway Bay FM and Learning Waves Board member said: “The Learning Waves TY programme allowed Galway Bay FM to give a stronger voice to the youth of our community while simultaneously introducing them to the workings of radio.
“The students took to the microphone to air their issues their way, and afterwards they told us they had a new respect for the medium of radio, and a new love for it. From the station’s perspective, we found a new and better way of connecting with our younger listeners.”
The ‘TY Media Week’ first ran in 2019 in conjunction with the Independent Radio Sector. Students got the opportunity to produce content on topics that mattered to them. Some of the programmes produced by students focused on Climate Change, Fast Fashion, Mental Health, Sports Opportunities for Male and Females, Young people in Politics, Surviving the Holocaust (an interview broadcast on Radio Kerry).
The ‘TY Media Week’ is run by Learning Waves and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Sound & Vision Fund through the licence fee running til 2023.
The programme will target schools and students from all areas and localities across the country and stations are encouraged to ensure the students selected will represent a diverse range of students from across the country.