Londonderry radio station features local kids

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March 17, 2010

Tune in for Londonderry kids' voices

By Suzanne Laurent

LONDONDERRY — Even in this day of high-tech gadgets and YouTube, kids love to hear themselves over the air.

Londonderry families have a new entertainment option on weekend mornings, thanks to students in the radio program at Londonderry High School and New Hampshire children's musician Judy Pancoast.

Beginning Saturday, March 20, Pancoast will host "Judy's Tune Room," a radio program for kids and families, on LEO-103, the Londonderry School District's radio station.

Karen Robinson, a TV and radio broadcasting teacher at the high school, approached Pancoast in December about collaborating on a production of "Judy's Tune Room," which had previously aired on another New Hampshire radio station.

"Judy was looking for a new home for her show, so it fell into place," Robinson said.

The show is being produced by Londonderry High junior Jordan Shea, who is doing independent study with Robinson this year.

"I love my students to be working with real clients," Robinson said.

Last week, Pancoast and Shea visited Pattie Murphy's fourth-grade class at Matthew Thornton Elementary School to interview students for the April show.

After an introduction to the radio program by Pancoast, students were interviewed individually in the hallway.

"Now, you can't tell anyone what the question is," Pancoast said. "We want the answers to be spontaneous."

The students were asked, "If you could plant anything in your garden what would you plant?"

"I'd plant a car," Ryan Barrett said. "Then my parents could sell them."

Nathan Sullivan said he'd plant money, and Abigail Whitcomb said raviolis.

"Raviolis?" Pancoast howled into the tape recorder. "Why?"

"Because I eat them every night," Abigail replied.

Shea was having fun listening to the answers. She plans to go into education and the fourth grade is her favorite age group, she said.

For the March 20 show, Matthew Thornton second-graders in Judi Lynch's class shared their thoughts on what they would do with a pot of gold.

Working closely with Pancoast, Shea records the pieces of the program, then edits them together with the finished piece just under an hour in length. Each program includes music, jokes, a community calendar of family-friendly events and activities, and short interviews with local students.

Each month a child will be featured in The Throne Room. It could be a child new to the school or someone who has just made a notable accomplishment. The show will eventually include the other elementary schools in the district.

Pancoast and Shea are looking for contributions to the show in the form of kids' jokes, birthday announcements, nominations for The Throne Room and notices of family-oriented events for "The Activity Room" calendar. Contributions may be e-mailed to judystuneroom@comcast.net.

"Judy's Tune Show" can be heard at 8 and 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in the Londonderry area at 102.9 FM, and online live and on demand at www.londonderry.org.