[cma-l] Recruitment: Research into Youth Engagement in Community Radio

[Benjamin Kyneswood]

Hello
My name is Ben Kyneswood and I am researching youth volunteering in
community radio.

I recently completed a pilot study with two stations that responded to
my appeal on the cma list. I am now in the process of recruiting
stations willing to give me access to a group of young volunteers who
create their own weekly programme for the main body of research from
September 2011.

Plenty of studies have looked at what it is young people volunteer for
and what they finally get from it. I'm concerned with the actual
volunteering process. I conceive this as a learning process that,
rather than be teacher led, is actually managed by the young people
themselves and is a social process. This social process may be where
young volunteers explore social, political and cultural conceptions of
the world in a shared, stable environment they, by and large, control.

My pilot suggests community radio offers the ideal case study to
examine this. Young volunteers are often very committed, work in close
groups and generate very creative broadcast content. There is clearly
a lot of learning going on but without much adult supervision.

What I'm after:

I'm looking for stations with teams of young volunteers (aged 15-19)
who will keep blogs on creating their programmes. The research is due
to begin in September/ October 2011 and last for about nine months. A
participants might make 25+ programmes in that time, so I'd hope to
get blogs on each one. The time commitment is for less than one hour
per week.

What participants get:

I can't offer any incentives or cash for being involved. Instead I can
tell them that from the pilot study feedback the reflective practice
is useful at an individual level for personal development and at a
group level for improving the radio programme. Participants may also
pick up some research skills on the way as there will be opportunities
to be more involved in the research than just keeping blogs.

For stations I hope the research will demonstrate some 'best practice'
models for community radio in dealing with young volunteers. I also
hope the research has a policy impact: that policy makers recognise
environments such as community radio, which provide safe frameworks in
which young people thrive, don't just happen but need their
recognition and support.

Any stations interested may contact me by this email. I have detailed
information available (pdf) regarding what undertaking participation
means to the station as well as the young volunteers. Finally, I'm
happy to answer any questions you may have.

Warm regards
Ben Kyneswood
Doctoral Researcher
TSRC
University of Birmingham