Would your kids love to share their voices with the world?
In this Kidsburgh Podcast episode, you’ll find out about the creative ways that young Pittsburghers can build skills and share their voices as writers, podcasters, video-makers and more through free student programming at SLB Radio’s remarkable studio inside the Children’s Museum on the North Side.
You’ll also meet Larry Berger, who shares the origin story behind Saturday Light Brigade — the remarkable nonprofit that he launched back in the 1970s when he was just 17 years old.
Thanks to a supportive mom who went with him by public bus to a local radio station, Berger got a volunteer job at age 13. At the time, “all I wanted to do was solder wires and work with gizmos and play with things,” he says. But “after about three or four years, I got interested in developing a radio program.”
Kids notice things, Berger says, and that’s one reason why amplifying youth voice is so important. At his radio station job, he noticed “that public radio typically assumed a certain kind of elite audience.”
Back then, he says, “radio in general put out its B-listers on a Saturday. ‘Nobody’s getting up and having to go to work, and we don’t need to put as many resources into things as we would Monday through Friday.’ So, part of me as a radio nerd said, ‘We ought to be doing something more down-to-earth on public radio. You can be down-to-earth and professional.’”
That was the spark that led to decades of creativity at SLB.
On Episode 11 of our third season, you’ll hear this whole conversation, plus real talk from local teens about the valuable things that happen when they know adults are listening to them.
Listen to this powerful conversation on Apple Podcasts, Pandora and Spotify, at the SLB website, or LISTEN RIGHT HERE. You can also download the episode right here.
Our podcast is hosted by the Kidsburgh team — Kristine Sorensen, Melissa Rayworth and Yu-Ling Cheng — and recorded by SLB Radio Productions. Get all the details here.
Photo by Eric Nopanen via Unsplash.