Syndication Partnership With Local Community College Boosts Role and Reach of KJTZ (“JETS”) Radio Station
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STORY OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND:
Interview and text by Larry Freeman
When it comes to the concept of “diversity” in California Public Schools, focus usually centers on a socio-cultural emphasis to promote values of equal access, opportunity, and a sense of belonging for all students regardless of racial, gender identity, religion and other differences.
But AUSD is noted for a different type of diversity when it comes to its manifold offerings of different types of schools attuned to student strengths, needs and preferences, a host of creative and pragmatic activities and a wide range of learning opportunities through course offerings that reach beyond the standard bill of fare in most districts.
A shining example of that brand of academic diversity is seen through Encinal High School’ s Radio Broadcast Journalism program.
The actual radio station itself bills itself as a “low power FM radio station” due to the nature of its transmitter, but the course and people behind it are quite high power, even moreso now that KJTZ is now in a ‘syndication partnership’ with Laney College.
The academic alliance, just recently completed, allows select EHS Broadcast students to earn advance Community College Course Credits while still in High School.
The station and arrangement are the brainchildren of former professional, local broadcast radio personality, and perennial fireball AUSD teacher, Kevin Gorham, who envisioned creating an actual, live, on the air radio station for his students: KJTZ radio, at 96.1 FM.
Gorham’s Radio Broadcast Courses I and II provide an innovative, sequenced offering that underscores how schools can mesh high powered academics with real world, in the here and now, performance based learning, a perfect answer to the course ‘relevance to my life’ problem that has long hindered academic learning and instruction for many a student.
Broadcast students prepare to take to take to the airwaves through hands on –or rather voice on– learning through a variety of research, writing, audio recordings, sound engineering, marketing, programming and other basics of the radio broadcast biz.
Two of KJTZ’s lead broadcasters, and now radio news reporters for Laney and KJTZ’s audience at large, are Mirabelle Kruger and Giuliana Means, both Seniors.
In this audio interview with the duo, you will get to hear the two youth broadcasters tell about the program, the partnership with Laney College, their passion for the program , and more.
ANN apologizes for the various audio imperfections due to the recording device used at the time, ironically in a recording studio! The station sounds better, for sure.
LOOK FOR AN ADDITONAL, IN-DEPTH STORY ON THE KJTZ/LANEY PARTNERSHIP IN DAYS TO COME