Werner, Xolelwa and Sibusio working hard behind the scenes.

Gcobisa, Xolelwa, Olwethu and Werner preparing for the show.

Documentarist Delimir Babic with Olwethu and Gcobisa in studio

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye...

The last two weeks of Upstart were probably the best and the worst of the entire experience. There were so many good things, so many frustrating things but mostly there was the overwhelming thought that it was coming to an end and we had all managed to work together, despite everything else, to make a sure that we had a show we were all pretty proud of.

Upstart on 89.7 fm!

It was a little surreal sitting in Dulce's for a celebratory breakfast courtesy of Shireen Badat, listening to the Upstart show on RMR. I felt nervous and proud at the same time, which is pretty understandable when I look back at all the Tuesdays and Thursdays (and the last tiring Friday)  that got us there.

The past week was probably one of the most challenging of the enitre series so far because we were juggling the first and second shows together with other deadlines we had to meet.

Onward March

Now that we had the experience of the first show underway, we were ready to tackle the second with more knowledge and insight.

 From the first show's recording, Ross and I learnt all the things that we needed to do before and after the show in terms of logistics and editing and we're quite confident that we're much better equipped for the second one. I think the Upstart members also enjoyed getting a taste of the live action and learning the way an actual show recording works.

Here is the absolutely amazing Upstart team having a young laugh in the studio right after our first recording.

They were just sensational and commanded the studio like pros.

Crunch Time!

This is the week that things started to get real. We were back fresh with the holiday glow and ready to put the teams hard terms work on air.

The Tuesday session was the final editorial session before the big First Record on Thursday.

What A Week

This was the week that we got right down to the ol' nitty gritty and started acting like an editorial group of journalists with an amazing radio show to put together.

I think the first reality smack of what we're actually doing here got to both me and the Upstart group.

Second Lot of Workshops-It gets good...

Wow.

I think the most important lesson learnt from the past two workshops we've had was (as cliche as this may sound) that the youth are definitely not to be underestimated and marginalised as they have been.

 Or maybe we just have a really group of kids with their heads screwed on tight.

The First Meeting

To be honest I'm not quite sure who was more nervous and excited-Ross and me or the Upstart members. We came in not sure what it would be like with this new group of people. I do think it is safe to say that after the introductions were over there was a feeling that this was the start of something good.

The proverbial ice was broken with a game of "Guess who I am" and it was pretty much off from there. My personal favourite activity, though, was the free writing exercises about what we love and what we hate. This made us learn more about each other and was also quite revealing.