The University radio station WTJU is hosting its third year of “summer radio camp” for local middle school and high school students.
The station’s General Manager Nathan Moore said he was inspired by some public radio stations’ efforts to engage with their communities around the country, and he brought the idea of a camp to WTJU several years ago.
Each year the camp is open to host 24 students — 12 from middle schools and 12 from high schools — although this year only 22 students participated.
The curriculum has evolved to become more hands-on and project-oriented throughout the years, based on students’ feedback, Moore said in an email statement.
“At their core, the summer radio camps are about students having fun, but also getting a taste for interviewing and audio production, exploring new music and presenting it through on-air media,” Moore said.
In addition to the station’s staff, two University students also worked as camp counselors.
The one-week camps include a tour of the station, informative sessions on college radio, exploration of downtown business venues and a visit at The Sound, a recording studio.
Michelle Kislyakov is one of the camp counselors and an intern at WTJU. She said the trip to The Sound was one of the favorite activities of campers.
“Mark, the guy who runs the studio, is really entertaining and it’s really interesting to see what goes into producing music,” Kislyakov said in an email statement.
Students learned production skills through a variety of sessions, and they had the freedom to decide what their shows would look like.
“We want students to get out of the camps what they are most interested in. Many really like doing the music show prep, some are more into talk radio,” Moore said. “But we also try to expose students to all different sides of radio production and different parts of the local music scene.”
Kislyakov said the high-energy middle school students were more invested in their projects than expected, and high school students were given more freedom to demonstrate developed tastes in music through their shows.
One new feature of this year’s camps was to have students serve the role of music director.
“We receive dozens and dozens of new CDs each week from bands that want airplay,” Moore said. “So we had students go through the process of reviewing the new music and deciding whether it should be added to our library.”
Another new feature is to have students go live on WXTJ 100.1 FM.
“The camp is Monday-Friday and by Friday, the kids produced a pre-recorded, themed radio show using CDs, vinyl, and MP3s. They also wrote out scripts and carefully edited their shows before displaying their final products,” Kislyakov said.
Conducting intensive research, students experienced the real process of producing a radio show.
“It was actually on the radio, not just webstreaming,” Moore said. “Students and their parents were pretty psyched about that.”
The overall evaluation from students is positive, Moore added.
“The students loved being on-air, loved being able to choose their own music for airplay, and loved being on the radio. A few of the students wrote that the wish the camp lasted two or three weeks instead of just one,” Moore said.
Kislyakov said she enjoys being a camp counselor for the station.
“I was always busy with things to do and it kept me active and engaged,” Kislyakov said. “It made me really hopeful and broke some of my stereotypes of younger people's music tastes!”
Moore said he believed hosting the camp was one of the crucial ways that WTJU could foster a strong connection with the community.
“The goal of these camps is very much the same as the overall mission of WTJU: enrich the culture of Virginia and extend U.Va.'s educational mission by bringing people together through exceptional music and conversation,” Moore said.
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