By many or by few

The past two weeks have been rather disappointing considering that two or three of the Upstarters showed up. This past Friday Xabiso and Reggie were the only two to arrive, while the weekend before the two of them showed along with Aphiwe. Our first show should ideally be this coming weekend, and if that’s going to happen, we as a team have a great deal to do if we’re going to make it come together. Let me walk you through what we did manage to do and my current thoughts.



Reggie and Xabiso searching through old Upstart editions for content.

Let the Production Begin

We had our first session for the term with the team last week Friday but had some more glitches. Also, with the long weekend coming up, there are some implications for our production and the day of sessions with the team. Let me take you though a few of the thing that occurred over the weekend with the Upstart Radio team.

The End of a Term

The first term has come to an end and I’d like to reflect on the a few things that have come out of the research phase. When we embarked on this project I remember thinking about how abstract it all felt. With every week, Tom and I have planned each session, but because this is still new to us and the Upstart team, we have been feeling our way through some of the research phase. Standing at the end of the first phase we now have a good sense of what we need to accomplish in the second phase that will be about implementing the things we have found out in the first phase.

Tom and Xabiso in the studio looking at the levels while someone records their radio talk

The beginning of something great

Last week we short listed ten of the Upstarters, based on essays that they had written for this purpose. On Wednesday, we called in the children who ended upon the short-list for an interview. I think that, for most of them this was probably the first time that they had to take part in an interview. And there was, of course, a fair amount at stake, since only six out of the short-list of ten would make it onto Upstart Radio! The whole time, I kept thinking about how I hated being the one who would crush their radio dreams.