I left Brazil a tad bit early because opportunity fell in my lap. I was offered a chance to work in the BBC Worldservice news room for a few weeks. I figured this would be good for me personally and also for the community radio station we are building in Rio.

It was a very exciting time as I left Rio at the end of June. We were just beginning to purchase equipment for the studio. That last week, I took a donor to see the vacant room where the studio will be. The room is ready. An empty room filled with possibility. We worked out the layout with an engineer: where the DJs will sit, where group discussions will be, how the wires will run, and how to soundproof a cement room in busy building, near a highway and bustling streets and much more, all very exciting. The donor will pay for the entire studio installation and construction!

Since I have left Rio I met with some other potential funders. We are still in need of the money for the operating costs for the year. In fact, for at least the first two years we will need to run on grant money. We plan to eventually be self-sustainable. If we want to train at-risk 17 year olds to produce quality radio that boosts the self-esteem of a neighborhood, then we need to do it right. We need to invest in many hours of hands on training in a quality studio.

We will have the quality studio, and we have a great training course planned out for 40 youths the first year. And, even more exciting, it looks like we may have the cooperation of some well known and experienced Brazilian DJs and recording artists who will come in to work with the youths on shows and training sessions. Imagine if you were a teenager and you got to spin a set on the radio with your favorite artist – or even just a well known one. That will get them hooked and build a name for the station in no time. So things are looking up.

©www.vivafavela.com.br
In the Rocinha district of Rio de Janeiro.In the coming months I will be in the USA searching for funds for this project and improving my own radio skills. I plan to be in DC as a temporary producer at a radio program for one month. Papers aren’t signed so I won’t name it, but it will be a wonderful experience in radio program production to complement my freelancing history. At the BBC I learned how they organize and manage teams of journalists, and how to deliver the short news stories in a way that resonates. I hadn’t spent much time before that on shorter news bulletins myself, but I am sure they will be a regular production item for our station in Rio. So, it was good to see how they are made in one of the best newsrooms in the world. Not to mention that I think I may have piqued the interest of some of the BBC editors about our soon-to-be station. Maybe they will want to help us out, or do a story on us in the coming months. Maybe that’s just dreaming. But what is wrong with that? That’s how most big ideas start.

I feel good being home and even better that I already have reminders of my work in Rio for all to see. A short radio feature about Juvenile Prisons in Rio is airing nationally this week in the USA on the show Making Contact. You can find the stations or listen online at radioproject.org My story is the third of three in the show. Take a listen. Let me know what you think.

In the meantime, back to building a station in Rio, this time, the financial side of it from the USA.