Be Loud Studios turns kids into DJs, amplifying their voices across New Orleans

At Be Loud Studios in New Orleans, every kid in the radio and podcasting afterschool program gets a broadcast disc jockey name. Elix Mayeux, 11, is called DJ Frying Pan; Elix loves to fry eggs. 

In the span of two and half years of learning radio and interviewing skills at the nonprofit organization Be Loud, Elix has evolved from a tentative newcomer on the mic to a polished interviewer, with a captivating voice that blends confidence and earnestness.

DJ Frying Pan hits the streets for interviews, dispenses advice on a good night’s sleep (hint: seek out the fluffiest and largest pillow, relax in a hot bath and burn off some energy with a few jumping jacks), and creates entertaining skits like an interview with Jenny the cat discussing the impacts of climate change; through a cat translator, Jenny expresses her “very strong feelings” about “humans destroying her world.”

“It’s so wild how much you can change,” Elix said, adding that today it’s super “easy to pick up my gear, get into the zone and produce something beautiful.” 

Be Loud Studios, established in 2020 by educators Alex Owens and Diana Turner, is a radio and podcasting hub for children in third to eighth grade to explore and share their voices, build confidence, learn skills and network with the community through summer camps and afterschool programs. Owens, Be Loud’s executive director, said the organization’s mission is to “amplify confidence through radio production.” 

Owens, then a STEM teacher at a New Orleans charter school, came up with the idea behind Be Loud with Turner, during a lunchtime writing workshop for fourth graders.

“They just didn’t want to write,” Owens said. “It’s not that they were bad kids or dumb kids — they simply just did not like the work.” 

Trying to figure out a way to reach the kids, the answer hit him: “Yo, what if we started a radio show,” he asked the students. Immediately they took to the idea. The next day one of his students “scratched this script, it looked like a ransom note” for a show called New and Cool about how to make slime. 

Owens, whose only broadcast experience was hosting a radio show in college for two months, was captivated. Each time a student hit the record button, a palpable energy filled the room. Owens saw children who were not always present in academic settings pouring their whole selves into the project.

 “This is why I want to be a teacher,” he said. 

From there, Owens and Turner switched the writing group into a radio workshop. Owens bought a 100-foot range transmitter and did some illegal broadcasts in the early days. Kids ran up vehicles in the carpools, knocked on windows, and told parents to tune in. Be Loud was live.  

“There are no writing standards,” Owens said. “Whatever you want to talk about and how you want to talk about it is what we want to put on air.” 

About half of Be Loud’s budget is from individual donors and the rest is a mix of grants and foundation funding. A little bit comes from student fees: While afterschool programs are free, half of the summer camp spots are paid. 

Be Loud’s first summer camp, while loved by the kids, needed better organization, and Owens and Turner spent the following year refining it, Owens said. 

Drawing inspiration from Eileen Kennedy-Moore’s book “Kid Confidence: Help Your Child Make Friends, Build Resilience, and Develop Real Self-Esteem,” the program at Be Loud was structured around Three Cs: competence, connection and choice. 

Be Loud taught kids technical and social skills. Kids learned how to ask questions, take risks, be brave, and accept feedback as well as how to edit and write a script and use a mic, Owens said.  An internal survey revealed that kids reported feeling more confident, had an increased ability to express their feelings, a heightened trust in adults and an expanded ability to make more friends.

For Elix, the interview-savvy, egg-loving, 11-year-old podcaster, Be Loud made them a better communicator, helping Elix make more friends.  

Astrid Ortiz, one of Elix’s parents, has noticed how Elix is much more comfortable with themselves and “developed social and political awareness.” 

“Be Loud has been such a lifeline for Elix as an out queer and nonbinary middle schooler to have a place where they can connect with other queer kids, other gender nonconforming kids, and other kids whose values are more likely to line up,” Ortiz said. 

Elix has been a big fan of podcasts since age five. A long-time favorite is A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich. The first podcast Elix listened to was Story Pirates, which is about “a bunch of pirates going on adventures and stuff,” they said. 

“After that, I just liked to listen to people talk,” Elix said in an interview while slurping slime-green-colored Kool-Aid gelatin cups. 

Elix isn’t doing Be Loud to impress anyone or to be popular. Elix doesn’t even publicize or tell friends much about what DJ Frying Pan does on the air. 

“I’m not doing this for anybody else,” Elix said. “I’m doing it for me. It’s a place where I can go to share my voice if other people in my life aren’t listening.”

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Brian Rinker is a Pennsylvania-based journalist who covers public health, child welfare, digital health, startups and venture capital.