Blunt Youth Radio Project

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WMPG’s Blunt Youth Radio Project brings together Maine teenagers to produce audio stories and interviews on topics that matter to them. Finished work is aired on WMPG or made available in podcast format.

The young people handle all aspects of audio production: story development, contacting interview subjects, reporting, recording, editing, on-air hosting, broadcast engineering, podcast production, and sharing and promoting finished audio pieces. Whether youth are participating in Blunt-hosted workshops or are long-term audio correspondents, there is room for everyone to be part of our audio team. 

Blunt Youth Radio Project is the winner of thirteen regional and national broadcasting awards. Blunt has been on air for 20 years, and our work has aired on various NPR programs, the BBC, Marketplace, and This American Life, as well as many stations around the country through the Public Radio Exchange. Our broadcast can be heard Tuesday nights from 7:30-8:30 EST on WMPG-FM, Greater Portland, Community Radio

Series

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4 Pieces

Blunt Presents Special Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election

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3 Pieces

Teens and their families talk about S-E-X.

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3 Pieces

Blunt youth producers explore the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by documenting the displaced, and taking at hard look at the racial inequality exposed by the storm.

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22 Pieces

Incarcerated youth from the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, Maine tell stories of life behind bars.

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8 Pieces

Blunt goes to the Maine Women's Lobby Economic Summit.

Caption: Messges from Japan, Credit: Eleanor Graf
9 Pieces

Blunt Youth Radio is trying to give Japanese people a way to tell the story of their experience following the March 11, 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Messages from Japan is gathering and sharing the stories of regular Japanese people since the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

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5 Pieces

Young people all over the country are deeply driven to be youth climate activists. One way they are doing this is by figuring out how to best use their voice to advocate for the issues that matter most to them. Youth producers from around southern Maine met virtually during the pandemic as part of a 12-week Blunt Youth Radio audio workshop focused on climate activism. These pieces are their final projects created during the workshop.

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13 Pieces

Youth Led Public Affairs Live from Blunt Youth Radio


Pieces

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Step inside the halls of this expeditionary high school in Portland, Maine

Bought by WMPG


  • Added: Jan 10, 2008
  • Length: 30:02
  • Purchases: 1
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Gabe Terracciano woke up one morning to find King Middle, his former school, the object of national scrutiny over a controversial birth control po...

  • Added: Dec 27, 2007
  • Length: 06:40
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Ed Paige had been homeless for twenty years. But now, thanks to an innovative housing facility in Portland Maine, Ed finally has a stable place to ...

Bought by WMPG and WXLV-FM


  • Added: Dec 06, 2007
  • Length: 02:28
  • Purchases: 2
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Blunt reporter Zoe High takes to the streets to unravel some of the prevailing perceptions of the homeless, and spotlights one organization in Port...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., WMPG, and WXLV-FM


  • Added: Dec 06, 2007
  • Length: 02:45
  • Purchases: 3
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Anna had always been interested in farming. So when she met Carolyn Snell at a farmers market in Portland, Anna decided to find out, once and for a...

Bought by WXLV-FM, WXLV-FM, and KOOP


  • Added: Oct 28, 2007
  • Length: 02:09
  • Purchases: 3
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Too young to get her license, Libby was forced to bum rides off people in order to get around - at least until she decided to bite the bullet and s...

Bought by WMPG, Remix Radio, KOOP, Space Gallery, and WXLV-FM


  • Added: Oct 28, 2007
  • Length: 04:15
  • Purchases: 5
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Weed, cocaine, morphine, oxycontin, crack, Ryan has tried them all. Once he developed a tolerance for one, he just moved on to the next. Now he's i...

Bought by Remix Radio and WXLV-FM


  • Added: Apr 12, 2007
  • Length: 04:53
  • Purchases: 2
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The 1998 "Master Settlement Agreement" was supposed to stop cigarette companies from marketing to kids. So why are those Marlboros right next to th...

Bought by WXLV-FM and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 29, 2007
  • Length: 02:39
  • Purchases: 2
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Emily and her cousin Sarah come up with a novel scheme to save her grandfather from his smoking habit. Rather than being rewarded, their efforts la...

Bought by PRX Remix, WMPG, and WXLV-FM


  • Added: Mar 15, 2007
  • Length: 06:06
  • Purchases: 3
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David Barber-Callaghan grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, listening to his parents and their friends play old-time music on sticky summer nights. Thes...

Bought by WMMT, PRX Remix, Troy Public Radio, WMPG, Remix Radio and more


  • Added: Jan 23, 2007
  • Length: 04:09
  • Purchases: 10