Radio Rookies is WNYC’s Peabody Award-winning initiative that gives New York City teenagers and young adults the tools and training to create radio stories about themselves, their communities and their world.

Since 1999, the Radio Rookies program has conducted workshops across the city, training young people to use words and sounds to tell true stories. Radio Rookies documentaries give our listeners and readers a glimpse into what young people are truly facing, thinking and saying.

Rookie reporters learn everything about radio journalism: From how to develop a story and conduct an interview, to how to craft a script and edit audio. Participants receive recording equipment for the duration of the program and a monthly stipend.

The Rookies’ stories air on WNYC’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Some are broadcast on NPR and the BBC and on shows like This American Life. Radio Rookies stories have won many awards over the years, including the Peabody Award, Dupont Award, the RFK Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists Award, and several Murrow Awards. Rookies go on to use their media arts skills in school and in their future careers.

Sign up for an info session here or email radiorookies@wnyc.org for more information.

Radio Rookies is supported in part by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Epstein Teicher Philanthropies, the Margaret Neubart Foundation, and The Pinkerton Foundation.