Chico Speaks - Local arts, culture, and community stories produced through KZFR 90.1 FM.
"Chico Speaks" is a City of Chico Arts grant-funded radio and podcast initiative that helped local nonprofit organizations develop, record, and distribute original audio programming. KZFR partnered with the Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA) and GAME AMP P.L.A.Y. to produce two distinct five-episode series during the 2025/26 grant period.
Building Bridges Beyond Butte County premiered May 2026 Produced with GAME AMP P.L.A.Y., this five-episode series elevated youth, cultural, literary, and community-centered voices that are often underrepresented in traditional media. Click HERE to listen.
We asked student participant Fay Pillay what they thought about the experience.
- Did you enjoy creating a podcast? "Yes, I found it made me feel accomplished."
- What was your favorite part? "Learning, everyone I interviewed had valuable information in their retrospective subjects. It grew my mind and taught me about how everything from agriculture, housework, and parenting to things like music, fashion, spirituality, play a vital role in each of our lives and communities even if they aren't directly connected topics or subjects a common person may not care to know about or may even feel like some of those things don't play a vital role in their lives and that's okay but discussing how these subjects impact society felt like it opened my mind a bit."
- What was most challenging? "Making it comfortable, I am an awkward homeschooled teenage girl and I as the interviewer obviously had the role of guiding the conversations and making the person being interviewed feel relaxed so the conversation could feel smooth. That was scary and hard when I myself was nervous about the conversations. Sometimes there were moments that were downright awkward or embarrassing for me I felt but it's something you just have to move past so you can keep the conversation interesting for the person being interviewed and the audience."
- Do you think it was worthwhile? "A million times yes, i want to do social work and this has helped me learn to interact with people in a way where im learning to take more of a lead role to encourage engagement from others. It also just helped me be community involved and make connections. I’d love to do this again, doing an occasional maybe annual month long podcast could be fun. Even if its not something you wanna pursue as a career it grows your mind and gives you communication skills you may have not had before."
