11-05-2025
Saturday Light Brigade Studio provides experience and life lessons for students
Students like Northgate High School senior, Olivia Rajakovic, find a natural passion for radio and even more so, in journalism inside the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and the Saturday Light Brigade studio.
"I was like, oh my gosh, I just get to keep learning about people and keep interviewing people, and I completely fell in love with it. SLB made it so easy and so attainable to do," said Rajakovic.
Now, graduating soon, she's going to Boston University to major in journalism. She said, "I wish I knew about it a few years ago when it started."
This non-profit, SLB Radio Productions Inc., opens its doors to her and hundreds of 6th through 12th-grade students each year. They come to this studio after school and learn to interview, produce radio shows, and develop media skills.
Larry Berger founded the non-profit with his passion for radio. "It doesn't matter what you look like or how your hair is, or what you happen to be wearing," said Berger.
It's a medium that's connecting everyone in our community. Berger said, "If it's audio, podcasting, radio, youth voice, there's a place here."
"Through SLB Radio Productions, students interview people in our community, like the elderly and holocaust survivors; develop communication skills, and produce hour-long radio shows that build bridges for students," SLB Director of Programs, Deanna Baringer, said. "We get students from all different school districts, neighborhoods, and towns."
This non-profit's mission is to amplify youth voices.
"So students are creating work that they're passionate about," Baringer said.
It might not mean a career in journalism for every participant, but it develops skills that are necessary to use in a professional setting and as adults in the community.
"Above all, becoming good, engaged, understanding people who know who they are and feel confident," said Berger.
"Giving kids that outlet is so important. I think there's a lot of, within school hours, having there's a lot of cut your communication, don't talk to your classmates," said Rajakovic, "I'm happy that there's someone to listen now."
It's a non-profit putting power in the hands of younger generations that's building life-long skills for all involved.
SLB Radio Productions, Inc. provides free programming after school Monday through Thursday, 3-6, and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. You can listen to the 24-7 stream of Youth Voice and Saturday Light Brigade and find more details here.
