Children prepare to produce their own radio show
It is not unusual to see Belizean children as the subjects of news stories on television, radio and in newspapers. But the National Committee for Families and Children is going beyond the concept of young people in the media by sponsoring a project which will have the children actually in charge of their own show.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The tour is part of a one-week media course the children have been taking to prepare themselves for a radio programme they will launch next month. The boys and girls have been visiting various media houses to get an idea of how programmes are produced and interviews are conducted.
Arreini Palacio, Acting Administrator, NCFC
“Our first goal is to start a radio programme for children discussing children’s issues from children. What we want to do is get them comfortable with the media and what we did was have special guests come in, we had them tour different media places, we had them handle the camera. They did a little promo at Krem, just to practice and of course they’re here at News Five and they’re learning a lot about here. They’re also planning their radio programme which should start in August.”
Arreini Palacio who is the Acting Administrator of the National Committee For Families and Children say there is a need for a programme that children can understand and enjoy.
Arreini Palacio
“There is no voice of the children… Actually there use to be radio programme that children were interested in, but they were coming from an adult’s perspective. There is nothing from a child’s prospective that a child would enjoy or want to listen to, bringing up issues affecting children. That’s the angle they are taking it from.”
Kayla Arnold will be one of the hosts of the radio show. Arnold says as the day draws nearer for the programmes’ debut, she is feeling very comfortable and knows that the show will be a hit.
Kayla Arnold
“I am not nervous at all, cause I’m really confident about the show and so far we’ve had a lot of people like Papa Mena and those people helping us, tell us what to do and just cheering us on about our programme.”
One tour took the children into the studios of Channel Five.
Although the children will not be seen but only heard over the airwaves, they could not resist the opportunity of practicing anchoring a TV newscast or being a cameraman for just a couple of hours.
(Girl reading news, while a boy is behind the camera)
These budding journalists say they are looking forward to the children’s radio show. The boys and girls say the programme will both educate and entertain.
Lucia Alpuche
“I think it will be good to have a children’s programme which would be only for children, and wouldn’t involve adults or adult issues, only children.”
Francis Palacio
“They could listen for music, requests, special guests and storytelling.”
Kiri Lizama
“At Krem FM we saw where we were going to do our show and it’s AC, so that’s okay.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Are you looking forward to doing the children’s programme?”
Kiri Lizama
“Yes I’m gonna be the one to interview our special guest and I’m gonna choose the persons to be our guests, so I guess that is going to be fun.”
The children’s radio programme which starts in August will be recorded at Krem radio and will air two Sundays each month.
Currently there are eighteen children participating in the programme.