Radio Camp 2012 – Day 18 – Radio Engineers

Already in Radio Camp, we’ve gotten a chance to be the host, the talent, the producer, the programmer… and now, we’ve also been engineers! Today, we built radios from scratch – just a few wires, some transistors, switches and BOOM – A Radio.

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 17 – My Radio Program

We did things a bit different today — our first block went to the radio station and did some recording. Some of our second graders got a chance to be the DJ just the way that Mr. Larry showed us how yesterday! Our fourth graders did some recordings with Miss Sarah (see below).

During second block, we talked about what a programmer does on the radio. We talked about what content goes on the radio, and then put together our own hour by drawing a pie chart! We also got to see the middle-schoolers from Art Activism rehearse for their peace rally tomorrow. Best of luck to them!

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 16 – Interview with Larry Berger

What a fun and informative day we had today! We went over to the Children’s Museum where we interviewed Larry Berger, host of The Saturday Light Brigade radio program for the past 37 years. We got a chance to ask him about how he started SLB, how the studio worked, and all the other questions we came up with yesterday. He gave us some great answers and taught us a lot about the studio, the radio program, and what it takes to be a DJ. Thanks, Mister Larry!

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 15 – What’s a Radio?

This is RADIO WEEK – we’re going to do a whole lot of learning and fun activities around what radio actually is! We went back to the studio today to talk about what we know so far: we certainly know how to use microphones well, as we all demonstrated beautifully. We also know about tuning a radio, different platforms radio can come on (digital, satellite, AM/FM), and a lot more about being in an actual broadcast studio now that we’ve been to Radio Camp!

Tomorrow, we’ll be interviewing Larry Berger, host of The Saturday Light Brigade, so today we came up with a few questions that we want to ask. Our questions were FANTASTIC. We are curious about how he got started, how the studio was built and how it works, what being a DJ (and executive director of a non-profit radio station) is like, how content is chosen, and much more. We can’t wait to ask Mr. Larry all these questions ourselves!

The Making of ‘The Green Compass’

Rising college freshmen from The Heinz Endowments Youth Philanthropy Summer Internship Program discuss the nine radio documentaries they produced in July at the SLB studios.

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 14 – Interview Time!

Today, we got promoted to amateur reporters! We interviewed Imagination Exploration and Art Activism, two other activities at Camp King. We ALL did such an amazing job, truly. The proof is in the pudding – give a listen and tell us what YOU think!

Making the Grade – Graduation Champions

In May 2012, we interviewed 23 high school students from various Pittsburgh Public Schools about graduation, and what it takes to succeed. These resulting features are a part of the Graduation Champions Campaign, an initiative of The Neighborhood Learning Alliance, which is founded in the belief that everyone can contribute to the success of our communities’ students; everyone can be a champion.

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 13 – Listen, Rehearse, Play!

!!!sremaerD remmuS, yad sdrawkcab yppaH!!! We started out today by listening back to some of the mock interviews we did yesterday. Overall, many of the recordings were really good! After almost three weeks at camp, we know how to handle the H1 recorders well, are very consistent with our microphone technique, and are quickly becoming seasoned interviewers.

We looked at the script we’ll be using for our interviews tomorrow, which used many of the ideas and questions we came up with a few days ago. We got done with that early and went over to Buhl Park for some fun in the sun. Tomorrow’s the big day – time to interview some middle schoolers – so get some rest, campers!

The Green Compass Season 4

Exploring the road to a better Pittsburgh. Where we are and where we are going…

In July 2012, twenty-three students about to enter their first year of college created these nine radio features as Youth Philanthropy Summer Interns at The Heinz Endowments. Because the Summer 2012 internship program focused on issues of sustainability, the resulting features cover a range of community, social and environmental issues. While SLB provided training and coaching, the features presented here were conceived and created entirely by the students in a single week.

Radio Camp 2012 – Day 12 – Mock Interviews

So, you think the pro’s always know what they’re doing? Classes today got to play a little game we called “Bad Ms Sarah”. Our trusty professional and resident teacher showed us what a BAD interview looks like… so that we could make sure we know how to conduct a GOOD interview! We practiced interviewing each other as we get closer and closer to our chance to interview another activity at Camp King.

So, you think the pro’s always know what they’re doing? Classes today got to play a little game we called “Bad Ms Sarah”. Our trusty professional and resident teacher showed us what a BAD interview looks like… so that we could make sure we know how to conduct a GOOD interview! We practiced interviewing each other as we get closer and closer to our real interview with other activities here at Camp King.

It was also Wacky Wednesday, if you’re wondering why we all have mismatched socks, shiny shirts, backwards clothing and PLAID (how wacky indeed!). We’re going to listen to our recordings and critique our style, so nothing to show here folks. Come back soon for more of our awesomeness.