Sixteen young people with a disability have been given the opportunity to present their own radio program as part of the Youth Media Diversity Partnerships Program at SYN Media.
SYN is a media organisation that offers radio, TV and digital media opportunities to young people in Melbourne. SYN strives to provide inclusive media platforms that are open to all young people. For young people with a disability the media industry is still largely inaccessible and SYN decided to develop a 12 month project to help address this issue, supported by Gandel Foundation.
Over the year three groups of students completed SYN’s full radio training course and then went on to create a weekly radio program, greatly increasing the representation of young people with disabilities in the media.
The first program to launch was called Bazinga. Bazinga was a variety program that touched on pop culture, technology and issues affecting young people with disabilities.
Bazinga was followed later in the year by Youth Advocacy on Air – with a more political focus – and Browsing Now, a comedy and pop culture program. Amy Marks was a lead producer and host on Browsing Now; she said of the program “working on a diversity program at SYN with the help of a mentor gave me more confidence both within SYN and outside of SYN. It helped show me that I could do any sort of show and gave me the skills to broadcast.”
SYN’s community partners were vital to making this happen. SYN has worked closely with Northern Support Services and Beyond the School Gates to amplify the voice of young people with disabilities in the media.
To listen to the work of the young broadcasters from Bazinga, Browsing Now and Advocacy on Air many other programs presented by young Australians visit SYN’s website at www.syn.org.au
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