The NSW State Government has allocated $200,000 to Regional NSW community radio stations for a range of youth programs.
More than $200,000 in grants has been announced to support 15 new projects enabling young people living in regional NSW to lead and participate in youth radio and podcasting activities.
The Regional Youth Radio Program aims to increase young people’s participation in activities that strengthen their opportunities to have a voice, as well as their connection and belonging to their communities. It is an initiative of the Office for Regional Youth, administered by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.
| Project | LGA | Description | |
| 2BOB Youth Find Their Voice The Manning Media Cooperative Ltd |
Mid Coast | Two rounds of community radio training at the local community radio station for up to 10 young people, designed and run by former 2BOB Radio youth presenters, resulting in participants running shows independently in their final week. | |
| headspace Orange Podcast Project Marathon Health Ltd |
Orange | The project will be led by and provide podcast training to the headspace Orange Youth Reference Group, and result in a series of podcast episodes focusing on personal experiences of diverse young people and advice from clinicians relating to mental health and issues facing young people in regional communities. | |
| Betoota to Broken Hill – Regional Youth Podcast Council of the City of Broken Hill |
Broken Hill | Training for young people provided by the Betoota Advocate podcast team. The content created by the young people will be broadcast by project partner 2DryFM. | |
| Yarning on Country One Mob Radio (Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation) |
Coffs Harbour | One Mob Radio, as part of Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation, will take groups of young people out on Country to yarn and learn radio skills and techniques to empower young people to become stronger and prouder in cultural identity and learn parts of local Gumbaynggirr Language by telling their own stories. Content created will be played on One Mob Radio. | |
| TDT Talk Lab The Disability Trust |
Bega Valley Snowy Monaro Eurobodalla |
Free online podcast training and peer mentoring with coaching support for young people with a disability to create podcast episodes and connect with broadcasters to establish a live radio presence. | |
| Far West Youth Careers and Education Podcast Program Far West UC Ltd |
Broken Hill | Two-day training workshop for 10 local young people with a former ABC broadcaster and a podcast specialist in Broken Hill, followed by ten-week supported program to develop a careers-focussed podcast series. | |
| Youth Express Radio Project Tamworth Regional Council |
Tamworth | This project will enable UNE-Life’s TUNE!FM station to operate one day a week from ‘The Youthie’, and support up to 10 young people to complete Certificate III Screen and Media through the Community Media Training Organisation (CMTO) while being mentored by TUNE!FM’s Station Manager. | |
| Youth Cultural Identity (Y.Cult I.D.) North Coast Radio Inc (River FM) |
Lismore | The project will involve 10 young people between 14 – 24 to conduct a radio show and receive on-air and post-production radio training each week over 12 months. The group will also meet to collaborate and learn, and focus on progressing female artists through issues of inclusion, diversity and gender equality. | |
| Young Sounds of the Shoalhaven Shoalhaven Community Radio Inc |
Shoalhaven | Commission five up-and-coming Shoalhaven singer/songwriters under 24 to write and perform a song/piece of music reflecting their life and experiences in the Shoalhaven to be recorded and distributed through Triple U. Young people will be mentored by an experienced songwriter/musician and interviewed by Triple U youth presenters for downloadable podcasts about their experiences as young musicians in the Shoalhaven. | |
| #wehearyou Community Activities Lake Macquarie Incorporated |
Lake Macquarie | #wehearyou will provide training in podcast production to up to 10 young people and create audio interviews with community members with lived experience or field experts on issues important to young people, as part of a podcast series. | |
| KYS Youth Radio Project Kincumber And District Neighbourhood Centre Incorporated |
Central Coast | The project will employ and train a team of youth leaders to drive production of an informative and fun youth radio program of podcasts and other media for on-demand listeners. | |
| Creative Education and Employment Pathways South West Arts Incorporated |
Edward River | The project will train ten young people in communications, radio, marketing, storytelling, interviewing and podcasting and link them with local businesses and organisations to produce a podcast series about their roles in the local community, and build career pathways for the young people. The podcast series will be broadcast on THE ENDFM youth radio station and website. | |
| Listening on Country: Preserving Elders’ and Indigenous leaders’ stories Charles Sturt University |
Wagga Wagga | This project provides young people aged 12-15 with the skills to develop a youth-led culturally competent podcasting framework to produce a podcast series on Elders and Aboriginal leaders in Dubbo and Wagga Wagga. | |
| Shoalhaven YouthLocal The Dunn & Lewis Youth Development Foundation Limited |
Ulladulla | In this project young people will be enabled to develop and produce a regular youth-focused podcast. When they’ve completed training, young people will be responsible for creating weekly content and a feature story each month as individuals. | |
| ‘Young Legends’ Byron Youth Service Inc |
Byron | The project will provide 24 young people with the opportunity to participate in eight podcast workshops culminating in the creation of individual podcasts to be broadcast on BayFM Community Radio and available for streaming. |
Nationals Minister for Regional Youth Ben Franklin says “the projects funded under this program will give them the opportunity to discuss local issues and actively participate in their communities.”
First Nations internet radio station One Mob Radio in Coffs Harbour (pictured) is one of the stations to receive funding. The station, in Gumbaynggirr Country, successfully applied for funding under the program to grow its on-country youth broadcasts.
Founder of One Mob Radio Lachlan Skinner thanked the NSW Government and says the funding will allow them to better connect with their local youth audience. “We are very excited to receive this funding as it allows us to do more of that on-country radio work. Allowing us to connect with more communities and more young people is something we are very passionate about.”
Local Member Gurmesh Singh said: “Giving young people a voice will contribute so much to community life, and I can’t wait to hear more content that connects and empowers our regional young people.”
Applications were open from 9 December 2021 to 28 January 2022 and have just been announced.