Volunteers for Youth Radio work on-air as DJs and news reporters or behind-the-scenes, doing audio editing, post production, social media, and writing. Courtesy photo

By Nanette Esseck Brewer

Every Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m., Bloomington’s airwaves are alive with the youthful vitality and the ideas of south central Indiana’s teens. For nearly 30 years, WFHB-FM has provided an open forum for young people to share their voices and as a training ground for broadcast journalism. 

Youth Radio started in 1995, two years after the station began broadcasting. Under the direction of Sarah Flint, the original Youth Radio (YR) had a strong connection to Rhino’s All Ages Club, where youth between the ages of 13 and 20 met weekly to write and produce a radio show. After Rhino’s closed in 2019, followed by the pandemic, YR experienced a lull, but rebooted in 2023 with the hiring of Jessie Grubb, a full-time youth radio director, made possible by a three-year grant from a private donor. The position not only enabled the program to continue but to expand its outreach and services.

Grubb notes that they have built partnerships with community groups, such as Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County, Girls Rock Bloomington, Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington, Banneker Community Center, and local schools. In addition to the weekly radio broadcasts, there is an after-school podcast club at Harmony School and a Youth Radio Summer Camp.

Volunteers work on-air as DJs and news reporters or behind-the-scenes doing audio editing, post-production, social media, and writing, with older teens training the younger kids. Their shows include music and talk on a wide variety of topics, including government, the arts, the local music scene, health, and on-the-street interviews. 

Grubb, 27, who started her career in media as a volunteer with YR while a Bloomington High School North student, says that even if they go into different fields, participants gain valuable life experience and often become future community radio listeners. DJ Lena Swayze, 18, says, “I’ve learned how to meet important deadlines, speak clearly, manage public speaking anxiety, and deal with unexpected technical problems.”

The station also provides a nonjudgemental “third space” for young people to connect and find their passion. More than 200 youth from the WFHB listening area have participated in this program over the past year.