Audio

AMI is featured on the Public Radio Exchange. Listen to more AMI audio at PRX.org

Click below to learn about featured AMI audio pieces:

2006 ELECTIONS: RURAL VOTERS
Aired November 2006

AMI Producer Autumn Campbell's audio commentary on the issues facing rural voters was featured on NPR's Day to Day during the 2006 election season.

Here’s an excerpt from her commentary:

"This is my first time voting and I'll be doing it as a swing voter, whatever that means.  People like me in rural parts of the country are supposed to make a big difference.  So maybe politicians running for Congress will pay more attention to eastern Kentucky this year.

So, until I registered to vote, I always thought local officials took care of everything. I never thought once about who represented me in Congress, or in state government.  It seemed to me, Letcher County, like many rural places, was invisible to these higher elected officials.  The only time this part of the country gets attention is when we have devastating mine disasters."

LISTEN to Autumn’s piece at NPR
Read a transcript and see more photos at Youth Radio

ECONOMIC MIGRANTS: APPALACHIAN YOUTH SPEAK OUT ABOUT IMMIGRANTION DEBATE
Aired June 2006

AMI Producer Machlyn Blair's audio commentary on the dilemma of economic migrants is featured on NPR's All Things Considered.

Here’s an excerpt from his commentary:

"Seeing the immigration debates and demonstrations on T.V., I understand that big companies look at our families as dollar signs...as people who can pack coal out or bring the tomato harvest in.

Many people think economic migrants in our country had a choice. I can tell you there's no real choice in the decision to leave home."

LISTEN to Mach’s piece at NPR
Read a transcript and see more photos at Youth Radio

RX DRUG PROJECT
Produced Spring 2006

Through AMI's Rx Drug Project youth are working with community members to create media that examines the prescription drug addiction epidemic that is threatening mountain communities and propose community-based solutions for the problem.

LISTEN to youth produced audio about the issue.

 

SAGO MINE DISASTER: GROWING UP IN A COAL COMMUNITY
Aired January 2006

On NPR's Morning Edition, AMI youth producer Natasha Watts reflects on the mine disaster in Sago, West Virginia and what it's like to grow up in a coal community. "Growing Up in a Coal Community" was produced in collaboration with Youth Radio.

LISTEN to Natasha’s piece at NPR
Read Natasha's commentary and download it as a podcast at Youth Radio

 

ROCK LUNG
Aired January 2006

Even though Danny “Hoot” Campbell has developed “rock lung” from working in the mines, he still recommends the profession to the next generation. In “Rock Lung”, Hoot’s daughter, Autumn Campbell, describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a coal miner and asks her father what options young people in the area have for the future. "Rock Lung" is part of AMI’s Living with Coal Project and was featured on the national radio show, Living On Earth. 

 LISTEN to Autumn’s piece at Living on Earth

THE FAMILY PROFESSION
Aired January 2006

Josh Fleming grew up in a family of miners. In this piece, a part of AMI’s Living with Coal Project, Josh talks with his father about what being a coal miner has meant to his family and why he values the profession despite its risks.
LISTEN to Josh’s piece (MP3)

MINING TO EARN A LIVING WAGE
Aired January 2006

When faced with the prospect of working for minimum wage many mountain youth in eastern Kentucky choose to work in the mines rather than try to scrape by on $5.15 an hour. As a part of AMI’s Living with Coal Project, Machlyn Blair talks with Justin Caudill and Chris Howard about the choices eastern Kentucky youth face growing up in a coal community.

LISTEN to Mach’s piece (MP3)