“We wanted to showcase what BAM actually is. The honesty, the laughter, the realness of those circles, but through a platform the students already connect with.”
— Raymond Byrdsong, BAM Senior Youth Specialist
LOS ANGELES — On a quiet Saturday morning in January, when most high schoolers might still be asleep, five teenagers filed into a podcast studio in Culver City. They slipped on oversized headphones, leaned into the microphones, and exhaled. The red recording light blinked on.
They called themselves The Starting Five.
Over ten weeks, these young men — all participants in Youth Guidance Los Angeles’ Becoming a Man (BAM) program — would transform The Network Studios into something like a second classroom, one without desks or tests, but full of light, laughter, and self-discovery. Together, they would launch Youth Voices Amplified, a new podcast that reimagines what it means to listen to and learn from young men of color growing up in Los Angeles.
The idea came from Raymond Byrdsong, a senior youth specialist with BAM, and Kenyon Ates, founder and CEO of The New Sound Initiative, a nonprofit of The Network Studios that teaches middle and high schoolers real-world skills through podcast production. The two met through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Black Student Achievement Plan at Westchester High School nearly two years ago and began dreaming about how to capture the emotional power of BAM’s school-based circles — where young men meet weekly to talk about anger, accountability, and identity — in a new medium.
“Anything that God blesses me with, I’m always thinking about how I can give back,” said Ates, a digital media and marketing professional who was exposed to creative storytelling at an early age. “Because I believe that’s what we’re here for—to serve each other.”
“We wanted to showcase what BAM actually is,” Byrdsong said. “The honesty, the laughter, the realness of those circles, but through a platform the students already connect with.”
A podcast made sense. His students were already fluent in TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. “Why not use a medium they’re already comfortable with?” Byrdsong said. “A student newspaper would’ve been boring. I wanted something vibrant, visual, alive.”
Recruiting The Starting Five
Out of more than 20 applicants across BAM’s eight Los Angeles schools, Byrdsong and Ates selected five: Kieshawn Brown, Corie “CJ” Byrd, Danari Golden, Kadumu “KJ” Griffin, and Bryenn Pryor-White — all students at Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnets.
It was, Byrdsong admits, “almost like a job interview.” Each candidate had to prove they’d show up — literally. One, KJ, took three buses each Saturday to make the 9 a.m. call time. Another showed up on his birthday.
“I thought, no way are high school boys giving up their Saturday mornings,” Byrdsong said. “But they did every single week. They said, ‘If Mr. B is doing this, we’re there.’”
The ten-week program, from January 20 to March 29, 2025, met from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. The sessions were part classroom, part creative lab. Students learned lighting, sound mixing, mic technique, and editing — and, more importantly, how to translate BAM’s six core values into stories that felt personal.
The Sound of Growth
The first few sessions were quiet. “Once those lights came on, they froze,” Byrdsong said, laughing. But within weeks, confidence replaced caution.
“By the end, they were butterflies,” he said. “Talking, laughing, creating. They owned that space.”
Each student chose a core value to explore: Integrity, Accountability, Self-Determination, Positive Anger Expression, Respect for Womanhood, and Visionary Goal Setting. Byrdsong resisted assigning them; he wanted the connection to be genuine.
Bryenn Pryor-White, who has long channeled emotion through music, gravitated toward Positive Anger Expression.
“I’ve built up anger for a long time,” he said. “I find it inspiring to put my anger into a craft I like. It takes my mind off it.”
His episode opened with the hum of a beat he produced himself.
KJ, the group’s artist and visual designer, created the graphics for the podcast’s title card and two episodes, including Boss Up and Visionary Goal Setting. “He’d work on them after the sessions or late into the night,” Byrdsong said. “That was his superpower.”
And Kieshawn Brown, the gregarious student who had initially stumbled over his words in front of the camera, later conducted one of the season’s standout interviews — a conversation on Respect for Womanhood featuring psychologist Dr. Asia Goodall and poet Monique Mitchell.
“To see a 17-year-old interview a 33-year-old doctor was mind-blowing,” Byrdsong said. “That episode gave me goosebumps.”
The pilot season’s opening episode, Boss Up, captured the chemistry of the group — part podcast, part BAM circle, facilitated by Byrdsong. The students joked, debated, and reflected on what it means to “boss up” in life: to lead, to grow, to show integrity even when no one’s watching.
“It felt like we were back in the classroom, just talking — but this time, the world could hear it,” Byrdsong said.
Beyond the mics, the project built deeper trust and new skills. “They left with more than podcasting knowledge,” he explained. “They left with self-awareness — with the ability to walk into a space and use their voice.”
A Model for Expansion
As the season wrapped, Youth Voices Amplified became more than a creative experiment — it became a model. The partnership with The New Sound Initiative remains entirely pro bono, sustained by shared purpose and an agreement between the studio and Youth Guidance Los Angeles.
“Kenyon loves what BAM represents,” Byrdsong said. “He wanted to give back, to make space for young men to talk, vent, and be themselves.”
Now Byrdsong is gearing up for second and third seasons of the podcast. He and Kenyon have chosen 19 students out of 27 who interviewed for a spot, drawing a new crop of budding podcasters from Westchester High. He envisions new pairings — two students per episode — and new topics that link pop culture, sports, or relationships back to BAM’s values.
“If Season One was about finding their voices, Season Two will be about using them,” he said. “I want middle schoolers involved, maybe even students from other cities. Imagine BAM Chicago and BAM LA on the same episode.”
He’s also exploring ways to expand the podcast’s reach — from YouTube to Apple Podcasts and Spotify — and to attract funding to sustain future cohorts. “When funders ask, ‘What is BAM?’ this is something they can see and hear for themselves,” he said.
The Echo Beyond the Studio
For the students, the lessons reached far beyond production. “It helped me find calm and confidence,” said Bryenn. “It’s not just about BAM values. It’s about what I value.”
And for Byrdsong, who has spent more than a decade in youth development, the project reaffirmed why he chose this work.
“Proud is an understatement,” he said. “To see my boys grow, to see their joy — that’s everything. A year ago, this was just an idea. Now it’s real.”
Listen to Season One of Youth Voices Amplified on YouTube, and hear how BAM students turn values into voice. Follow the podcast on Instagram to stay connected with the students behind the mic and get updates on Season Two, which will run from January 24 through March 21, 2026. A third season is planned for April 14 through June 7, 2026.