UF’s New “Family Album Radio” Series Debuts Oct.4

Source(s):
Larry Arrington lra@ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1761
Donna Davis dzdavis@ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-2202 ext. 260
Suzanna Smith sdsmith@ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-2202 ext. 255
Ashley Wood amwood@ufl.edu, 352-392-2411 ext. 293

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GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Topics ranging from marriage and divorce to raising children in today’s changing society and caring for your elderly parents will be discussed on the University of Florida’s new “Family Album Radio” series, starting Oct. 4.

Produced by UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in cooperation with WUFT-FM in the College of Journalism and Communications, Family Album Radio is a two-minute radio series, featuring different topics each weekday. The program will be broadcast on the UF station Monday through Friday at 12:10 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. during “All Things Considered.”

“This program will help our listeners develop a better understanding of the changes and challenges that families face,” said Larry Arrington, UF/IFAS dean for extension. “People rely on the broadcast media as a primary source of news and information, and this will be a cost-effective way to deliver our research-based information to the residents of Florida.”

Based on the format of two other UF radio series that are distributed to National Public Radio (NPR) stations across the nation — “Recess” and “Health in a Heartbeat” — the new Family Album Radio series will cover virtually every aspect of family life.

Planning for the new program began two years ago in the UF/IFAS family, youth and community sciences department, and production began recently when Donna Davis, a Gainesville radio personality, agreed to host the program and help produce it.

“When I was asked about serving as the on-air voice for this project and developing material for the radio series, it was a great opportunity to combine my journalism background with my passion for family studies,” Davis said. “We want to help others develop a better understanding of contemporary issues in their own families and communities.”

Suzanna Smith, an associate professor in the family, youth and community sciences department, will produce the Family Album Radio series, which will be offered to public radio stations throughout the state. She said future plans include marketing the program to other public radio stations across the nation, much like Recess and Health in a Heartbeat.

“In our department, we have a vast amount of research-based information on contemporary family issues, and this new radio series will allow us to eventually reach millions of people,” Smith said. “People want good, useful information that will help them understand their own families, including their children, spouses and partners, and parents.”

In addition to airing on WUFT-FM in Gainesville and WJUF-FM in Inverness, and other NPR stations in Florida, the broadcasts and scripts will be available on the Web.

Ashley Wood, director of IFAS Communication Services, said the broadcasts will be available to other radio stations through RadioSource.net in MP3 and WAV formats so they can download them and use them in their own programming.

RadioSource.net is a nonprofit Web site that provides broadcast quality audio — in both English and Spanish — on research and education at 20 land-grant universities across the country. Print versions of the scripts will be available through the Family Album Radio Web site, as well as the UF/IFAS online research database EDIS.

“We hope that Family Album Radio will become a trusted and valuable source of information on family issues,” Wood said.

For more information on the program, visit http://www.FamilyAlbumRadio.org.

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Posted: September 29, 2004


Category: UF/IFAS



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