Rutherford Radio

By Jennifer Ersalesi

Photo captions and photo credits: Brian Ersalesi

Recently children in fifth through seventh grade had the unique opportunity to participate in a Rutherford Recreation Program entitled "Rutherford Radio". Participants learned a lot about radio programming and six specialized areas (music, weather, traffic, news, entertainment, and interviews).

The students at Rutherford Radio meeting with 1010WINS newsman Glenn Schuck. Glenn talked to the kids about news gathering and his over 25 year career covering the top stories in New York and New Jersey.

Over the duration of six class sessions, all participants worked alongside two instructors, Rutherford resident and 1010 News Anchor Brian Ersalesi (radio name Brian Britain) and Matt Blezow, Station Manager of Radio Felician The Falcon, in the Radio Felician studios at Felician University in Rutherford.

The Rutherford Radio students had their first experience going "live and local" this week on Radio Felician University The Falcon! Thank you to DJ Dave Plotkin for sharing his insights into the job! Dave is also the production director for Audacy New York which owns and operates tons of radio stations all over the country!

The kids of Rutherford Radio with NEW 102.7's midday host Emily West! Emily joined us virtually to talk about her career and what it's like to be on the air in the number one radio market in the USA and interview people like Camilla Cabello, Charlie Puth, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran.

Their work can be heard on this YouTube playlist. The playlist includes each student's individual commercials and sweepers. As well as three larger files:

Rutherford Radio Final Product is a 35-minute compilation of their songs, intros, commercials, news, and sweepers. It sounds just like a radio station would sound!

News Report Everyone is a 5 minute "Top of the Hour" news break with each student presenting one story that they selected and wrote.

And Live on Radio is a copy of the 30 minutes when the kids were live on the air with DJ Dave on Radio Felician: The Falcon.

While attending the classes, participants got to learn from some of the best in the radio industry.

Students with Ben Mevorach (see below)

Brian Ersalesi explained, "The students at Rutherford Radio got the chance to talk to 1010 WINS big boss Ben Mevorach. He's the Brand Manager and Director of News & Programming for 1010 WINS news radio in New York City. He shared his insights on the importance of radio news. Our kids have been learning about how to write and broadcast the important news of the day from the man behind the 'most listened to news station in the nation'."