The BBC will soon post on PRX four pieces from its ambitious,week-long international series called Generation Next. BBC reporters and producers spent a yearlistening to youth in countries all over the world in order tobring young people’s perspectives to the air. The series and avariety of live, global programs are truly groundbreaking. As theBBC puts it on their web site: “With Generation Next, the [BBC]World Service will give young people a chance to set the agenda,will put their issues centre stage and give them a chance toquestion those in positions of power.”

If you’re one of the thousands who’s already subscribed to YouthCast,the Generation PRX podcast through alt.NPR, you already know it’sspecial: each week, a piece of great youth-produced radio, chosenby the Youth EditorialBoard and available on PRX, is delivered to your computer’sdoorstep. In February, YouthCast goes live. An experienced youthproducer will be hosting the podcast and blogging about the pieces,so you can learn more, read interviews with the producers, and seepictures from the story. Stay tuned!

Each year, the Center forDocumentary Studies in Durham, North Carolina, organizesTheDocumentary Happening. Scores of documentarians come togetherto discuss their film, audio and video, participate in panels, andenjoy new works. This year, Youth Noise Network,the in-house youth radio group of the CDS, is organizing its ownpanel on youth-produced radio. They’re asking youth radioproducers to submit their work for consideration.

If you would like to have your work considered for The Happening,make sure it’s available on PRX, and send an email to YNNCoordinator Tennessee Watson at tennessee_watson[at]duke.edu. Staytuned to PRX for updates!

If Audacity isstarting to get on your nerves and you’ve got an extra $350 lyingaround, then you’re probably ready to start using the same audioediting software used by musicians and film sound technicians: ProTools. Diving into it can be a little daunting, but thankfully thekind folks over at transom.org have put together a A Beginner’s Guide to Pro Tools, geared to the audiodocumentary crowd.

• The Generation PRX Youth AdvisoryBoard gives project feedback, makes decisions and advises onfuture directions. Last month we were happy to welcome Dulce Mora, an experienced youthproducer and leader at RadioArte in Chicago, as the newest member of the board.
• 
  
• Besides being one of the newest youth radio groups on PRX, andhosting the only live remote Native American high school show inthe nation, Hopi Highwas also recently recognized by the Arizona Interscholastic PressAssociation. Four students were awarded for journalisticachievements. Go Hopi High!
• 
  
• You were wondering what a stint on the Youth Editorial Board mightlead to? Veteran Youth EBer Eilis O’Neill recently usedher review experience to snag a position as an arts critic inSeattle’s ‘Emerging Critics Circle’ – which provides opportunitiesfor youth to attend theater performances, get trained in writingplay reviews and potentially be published in the SeattleTimes.
• 
  
  
  

Photo: John Harvey

Try some of these upcoming events for inspiration and as a tool topitch to stations.

Martin Luther King Day – January 15
Academy Awards – February 25
Black History Month – February
Mardi Gras – February 20
Ash Wednesday – February 21
St. Patrick’s Day – March 17