Radio Show: Nelson Mandela Tribute

This Tuesday Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre was very busy producing three TV shows for our Interfaith Dialogues series, and producing a radio show for Radio Regent.


Originally, Tuesday’s radio show was going to be about current news and events in Toronto. However due to the sad passing of Nelson Mandela, Regent Park Focus decided to focus on the life and legacy of Mandela. The show was co-hosted by Omar and Oscar, with special guests Murphy Browne, Karen, and Adaku. We started the show off with an audio clip of how student’s from Nelson Mandela school felt about his passing. We then talked about Mandela’s life and the incredible legacy of
fighting for justice that he leaves behind. The show also included music that reminded us of Mandela and ended with the reading of a quote by him.

This Tuesday we were also in the process of planning and shooting three shows that will be part of the Interfaith Dialogues series on Regent Park TV. This series focuses on various religions, and explores their different cultures, values, and lifestyles. The shows we filmed were all hosted by Regent Park Focus volunteer Corrina Richard. On the first episode, our guest Murphy Browne talked about the holiday celebration of Kwanzaa, which runs from December 26th to January 1st each year. Although Kwanzaa is not a religion, Browne was quick to point out that it is an important cultural celebration honoring African Heritage.

The guest of the next episode was Noam Sienna, who talked about Judaism, and the culture surrounding it. He talked about the role of Rabbis in the religion, as well as some of the stereotypes people have about Jews. For instance, Sienna pointed out that many people see Jewish people as being the classic New Yorker, accent and all, whereas in reality Jewish people come from many different parts of the world. He also talked about what it was like for him growing up Jewish and how that played a part in his life.

The third episode was recorded and filmed for the purpose of using it on both radio and TV. This show focused on non-Christian perspectives of Christmas. Sienna was also the guest on this episode. In this episode he talked about how society’s focus on Christmas effects the Jewish community and other’s who do not practice Christianity. He also reflected about how Hanukkah, like Christmas, has become more commercialized  in recent years.

By Adaku Huggins-Warner