Mutcho Radio celebrated World Radio Day on Friday, Feb. 13, with guest panelists discussing the importance of radio, connection to community and the impact that diverse voices on the radio can have.
Mutcho Radio is a radio network that has been sharing diverse stories across Canada and empowering journalists of African descent for the last decade. They hosted the event at King’s, in Alumni Hall, to bring together different members of the radio community and share their stories.
The event reflected this year’s African Heritage Month theme: “Strength in unity.” The two panel discussions honed in on how crucial radio is in community building as a source of information, storytelling and music.
The first panel featured audio instructors and students from both King’s and the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). They explored the importance of audio journalism and the future of radio.
One panelist was Williams Uzomba, a Nigerian student at NSCC. He said it’s important to diversify radio shows and showcase hosts with different accents and backgrounds so listeners can hear voices similar to their own.
“There’s nothing as powerful as when you hear a voice that resonates with you,” said Uzomba.
The second panel featured professionals in education, music and storytelling. They continued the discussion, digging further into the path toward radio-based careers — especially for young African Nova Scotians.
Both panels spoke to how journalism programs and radio stations can be more inclusive in outreach and programming.
For Ryan Somers, an audio instructor at NSCC, being able to access the world of radio so young kickstarted his passion. He said he got his radio start at 15 by simply going to CKDU, the King’s/Dal campus and community radio station, and asking to be a part of it.
Sylvia Parris, another panelist and CEO of the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute, said that the key for institutions is “intentionality.”
Radio strips away the physical aspects of storytelling, like appearance, and leaves nothing but the person’s voice, Parris said. It removes the threat of judgement that other mediums hold — which can be exactly the form of expression that an adolescent needs.
But to reach those kids, she says institutions need to look inward and make systemic changes.
“I think the [institutions] need to think about … not necessarily why someone isn’t there, why they’re not listening, but ‘what is it that we’re not doing in terms of barrier analysis and removing things so that people can see themselves there,’” said Parris.
Earlier this year, King’s announced its initiative to support African Nova Scotian journalism students. Starting this fall, the university will be covering the full tuition of up to three African Nova Scotian students enrolled in any of its three journalism programs.
