MPR: On the Air in Winona

On the Air in Winona
by Art Hughes
February 8, 2000

A small charter school in Winona is reviving the all-but-lost art of original radio drama as a business venture. In addition to writing, producing and marketing regular five-minute features, the students are responsible for sticking to a business plan which requires that the enterprise support itself.

THE 17 STUDENTS in Winona's Bluffview Montessori Junior High School make up Brushfire Radio Productions. It's a real-life business run by the students who create and produce five-minute radio dramas from scratch.

The students and their teachers were taken aback with the bill for $900 - including the discount - from their first studio session, so they're looking for ways to trim overhead.

Click here for larger image.

Student 1: I think there's kind of good and bad about having the ending like this. The good part is people don't really know that it's going to end. And it's also good if we're going to have another show about them, which I think is a good idea. But it's not really a definite ending. People are going to be, like, "Wait a minute. That's the end?"
Student 2: If I was a listener and I heard this, I would think there's going to be a sequel to this and we're not planning a sequel.

The students also act out the story, so lots of time goes into rehearsing.

Like many school-to-work programs, Brushfire aims to engage students by creating a venture they have a stake in. The business naturally requires the seventh and eighth graders to use classroom lessons in English, communications and, because they must also raise money from advertising sponsors, math and accounting.

Student: Hi, my name is (name deleted) and I'm from Bluffview Montessori School and I'm calling about Brushfire Radio Productions. It's a student-run radio show and I was wondering if we could set up an appointment.

Brushfire currently relies on grants from the state, the Initiative Fund, and the Winona County School-to-Work Partnership. But once that money runs out, it will be up to the students to generate the funds to keep going. So far Brushfire has three sponsors. Teacher Najib Schlosstein says it's not hard to see the benefits of hands-on learning.

Schlosstein: You know, they're in charge of finances. They get real-life lessons. And why do we need to do this in math class has been answered a few times, finally. That's been nice to see.

Project coordinator Trudy Balcom says the learning curve for building the radio drama company was particularly steep in the beginning, so the adults had more of a hand in it. Now she says the students are much more in control, and so they're learning more.

The "staff" of Brushfire Radio Productions. Listen to a sample of their radio drama.

Click for larger image

Balcom: Since we're, right now, doing original radio drama. And so what we do is tell stories. And the students are learning the challenge of telling a story that is sort of short, has a beginning, middle and end, has interesting characters. It's really a great writing experience to be taking on no matter what they do.

A local studio, Vanguard Productions, gives the school a discount on recording time. An engineer mixes the dialogue, music and sound effects. The local light-rock FM station agreed to air the shows twice a month early Saturday morning.

The students and their teachers were taken aback with the bill for $900 - including the discount - from their first studio session, so they're looking for ways to trim overhead. The students are making similar decisions about their enterprise every day, and learning about ways to ensure future Bluffview students will also be in the radio drama business.

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