From WYSO Youth Radio, to Blue Skies and Tailwinds, and more, our community producers have created some incredible podcasts this year.
All of these podcasts were created through WYSO's Eichelberger Center For Community Voices. The center is a collaborative space for audio training, production, and storytelling. Our mission is to amplify community voices.
Here are our top five most listened podcast episodes to come out of the center this year.
1. Gov. DeWine doesn't want a 'whitewashed version of history' in schools
In this bonus episode of The Ohio Country podcast, we hear from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine.
The Ohio Country aims to provide a perspective on the history of the region we now call Ohio that very few of us learned in school. It puts the experiences of Miami, Shawnee, Wyandotte, and other American Indian people at the center of a refreshed version of the state’s complicated past and undecided future.
2. Queernecks: Amplifying Queer Appalachian voices with Beck & Dash
On this episode of Translucent, host Lee Wade speaks with Beck and Dash, co-hosts of the Queernecks podcast, about their mission to amplify queer Appalachian voices and reclaim the word "redneck" from its use as a slur. The conversation explores how Appalachia is stereotyped in mainstream media, why representation matters beyond trauma narratives, and how queer and trans people are leading grassroots activism throughout the region.
Translucent amplifies trans voices, humanizes the transgender community, and creates space for the real everyday conversations that don't make headlines.
3. Valérie André, French 'Helicopter Heroine' and army medic, dies at 102
Long before air ambulance companies like CareFlight and TV shows like China Beach and M*A*S*H, Valérie André flew air rescue missions in combat zones for the French army.
In his series on WYSO, Blue Skies and Tailwinds, Dan Patterson employs his skills and talents as a designer and photographer to look at aviation in the Miami Valley in a different light.
4. 'We're perfect the way we are,' students talk social media, self-image
Teenagers want their voices heard, especially about issues that they see in their communities. A teen-led group called BATS, or Bringing Awareness to Students, in Clark County, visited WYSO in February to create public service announcements (PSAs). In this episode, we will hear from BATS members Anaiah Westmoreland and Armani Montgomery. First, we'll listen to Anaiah's PSA, and then we'll hear them discuss social media and self-comparison.
5. Ohio student poet confronts racism and injustice in powerful verse
For this episode of WYSO Youth Radio, Springfield School of Innovation High School student Omaria Ali shared a poem confronting systemic injustice, racial inequality, and the complicated promises of American freedom.
Ali said she was first inspired to write poetry by a teacher in eighth grade.
