Kids Radio in NZ
I was asked to write a letter of support for something today. Here’s what I wrote:
I write in support of the proposed Children’s Radio Network in New Zealand.
I campaigned for KidsNet in 1999-2000 when the Youth Radio Network was a hot topic on the NZ political landscape. While the aims of the teenage Youth Radio proposal were laudable – and it is to this government’s shame that no Youth Radio services were established (Kiwi FM does not begin to address the issue) – the YRN proposals under consideration did not address the area of greatest and most urgent need.
There is still not one radio station in the country that specifically targets the needs of 400,000+ primary and intermediate school-age New Zealand children, and this is a tragic missed opportunity on so many levels. The ability to share ‘our songs and our stories’ with those most eager to hear them; the chance to provide in-school music lessons with some of New Zealand’s finest performers (and much more besides); the opportunity to have our kids grow up in a media environment that values and respects their interests is one we would be neglectful to turn up. Not having a non-commercial public media outlet for New Zealand children denies them their cultural birthright.
