The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices is WYSO’s award-winning public radio training program and storytelling initiative. Through intensive hands-on workshops, participants learn the craft of audio journalism—from interviewing and script writing to editing and voicing. The result: powerful, personal stories that reflect the diversity, resilience, and creativity of life in southwest Ohio.
Since its founding in 2010, Community Voices has trained hundreds of local residents, educators, students, and nonprofit leaders to tell stories from their own communities. The series centers voices often left out of mainstream media and uplifts first-person narratives that deepen public understanding.
Whether you're hearing a story about immigration in Dayton, a family legacy in Springfield, or a local artist’s journey, Community Voices brings you closer to the people who shape the Miami Valley.
Want to become a storyteller?
Learn more about Community Voices workshops
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Air Force veteran Daniel King uses lens-based art and workshops to help fellow veterans express complex feelings. He showcased his work at Ohio's Veterans Art Exhibition. -
Photographer Dan Patterson recalls his extraordinary 1990 flight aboard a B-17 bomber from the film "Memphis Belle" — and the moment the pilot let him take the controls. -
Will Davis with The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices tells WYSO listeners about the focus of the new season of Veterans' Voices. -
Queernecks hosts Beck & Dash share their mission to amplify queer Appalachian stories, break stereotypes, and reclaim redneck culture through humor and authenticity. -
A century ago, the Navy's USS Shenandoah met a tragic end in rural Ohio. WYSO Commentator Dan Patterson explores this largely forgotten chapter in aviation history. -
Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg discuss their decades-long project documenting Vietnam War GI resistors, including rare interviews with Donald Duncan and Howard Levy. -
Festival director Eric Mahoney previews the 2025 lineup honoring Rod Serling. Plus a rare interview with legendary filmmaker Jim Jarmusch on collaboration. -
The initiative brings strangers with different beliefs together for a conversation — not to debate politics — but to simply get to know each other as people. Sign up now. -
Navy veteran Monica Helms explains how she created the iconic transgender flag in 1999, its symbolic meaning, and how it became a rallying point for the trans community. -
Springfield, Ohio, High School sophomore Emerson Babian created a PSA urging teens to trade social media time for daily movement to improve sleep, mood, and brain power. -
On May 4, 2025, transgender people and allies gathered in Dayton, Ohio, for a rally to demand transgender rights and resist anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and systemic erasure. -
In this WYSO Youth Radio episode, high schooler Tobias Ashlock interviews his mentor Tracey Schalk about navigating life with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC).
