Local Tampa Bay area teenagers have the chance to learn about digital radio programming and podcast creation during a seven-week class at the Hillel Academy in Carrollwood.
Tampa Bay-based non-profit Forward Thinking Initiatives (
FTI), in partnership with
Life Improvement Radio, is teaching local students who range from 5
th through 12
th grades how to start their own radio podcast program at the Teen Radio Show: The Digital Entrepreneur program.
Students are learning “everything they need to know to create their own podcast program, including how to create scripts for actual guest interviews, how to use the technology, understanding how to finance their own show, how to create ads and sponsors, and how to interview exciting guests,” says FTI founder Debra Campbell.
Campbell hopes to see students take the skills they learn in the Teen Radio Show program, which began in mid-September and runs through mid-November, and apply them to other interests.
“When young people think about starting their own business, they typically don't think to begin with their own passions and interests,” she explains. “Although all of our programs are under the umbrella of entrepreneurship and innovation, we frequently theme the programs to appeal more to the young people we work with.”
During the seven week digital entrepreneurship workshop, students learn about:
- Technology used to create podcasts
- Conducting an interview
- Developing and writing scripts for guest interviews
- Financing a radio show
- Creating ads and sponsors for the show
- Interviewing live guests on the air
Podcast programs created by students in the classes will run on
Life Improvement Radio.
“What I hope the students will gain from the experience is a ‘no fear approach’ to learning something totally new, or even a bit intimidating,” Campbell says.
Parents might just learn something, too: “Last time we ran the program, many parents stayed for the classes as well,” Campbell explains. “We welcome parents! It fosters great dinner conversations at home.”
The two-month-long program takes place weekly on Friday evenings at the Hillel Academy in Carrollwood neighborhood of Tampa.
Students in the Teen Radio program are "gaining entrepreneurial skills such as budgeting, how to finance their programs and how to market them,” Campbell says, “but my hope is this will be the kind of learning kids gain when they get a new game that they want to learn how to play. They don't think about the learning, they just jump in.”
FTI aims to engage young students in after-school programs that focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership and creative thinking. A r
ecent FTI program hosted at the St. Petersburg Greenhouse taught students from local Artz4Life Academy about helicopter design and innovative thinking. FTI programs and partners such as the Greenhouse and the
John F. Germany Library have earned accolades including the
Kauffman Foundation Platinum Award and
The Freedoms Foundation Leavey Award for Private Enterprise Education.
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