Quality Connections Launches 'Diverge Media'
Something special is happening behind the studio door at Quality Connections. Members are gathering around microphones, cameras are rolling, and voices that have sometimes never been heard before are finding their platform.
Welcome to Diverge Media, QC’s reimagined online radio station that has evolved into a full media production program where members create videos, podcasts, radio shows, and more.
Learning Through Creating
“These production studios are incorporated into what we teach throughout our daily activities in the day program,” explains Mo Burres, Day Program Director. “Diverge Media is one way we implement skills that they have in their current objectives.”
Those objectives include reading, writing, mathematics, social skills, planning, and time management. And Diverge Media’s super power is that practicing those skills is a lot more fun in a studio.
“It’s a lot easier to talk a lot of our members into going into our media room than it is to hand them out a math worksheet,” Mo says with a smile.
Mo and Casey Everett, QC’s Media Instructor, are both experienced broadcasters and now use that expertise to empower QC’s members – and help change people’s perceptions about individuals with disabilities.
“We serve a wide variety of individuals with a vast difference in abilities,” Mo explains. “Some people that have a more difficult time with things like reading comprehension have no problem going into the radio room and talking about all the things that they love. Or we have a person who is nonverbal who, as soon as that media room door is open, they come in and hop on the microphone and start singing along with the song that’s playing.”
Only Good News
The growth happening in the studio is tangible. Day program member Ryan is the anchor of “Only Good News,” a video series highlighting positive stories from the Flagstaff area. Mo and Casey note how he’s blossoming in ways they’ve never seen before while working on his memory skills through the project.
For some members, like Adam, hearing their own voice for the first time has been transformative.
Adam, who has a mild stutter, heard himself on playback and said, “Wait, I can hear my stutter right there. Let me do that again. I know I can do that again.” He practiced until his stutter was barely noticeable.
Member-led, Member-Driven
Members research, conduct interviews, write copy, film, and edit. Mo and Casey handle the technical aspects, but the creative vision belongs to the members.
“Our main goal is to let the members kind of come up with the ideas that they want to talk about,” Casey explains. “Whatever they want to do, we want to give them the ability to be like, yeah, go with it.”
The idea started years ago when QC members toured the KAFF studios to record public service announcements. They loved it so much that they lobbied QC leadership to create their own studio. Members researched equipment needs, created a budget, and presented their case to create the station. In its latest iteration, the name “Diverge” plays on the word neurodivergent while representing the idea of going off the beaten path and doing things their own way.
The studio offers members a stage without the pressure of performing in front of large crowds. “It’s a safer space that allows them something that they may not have gotten to experience before,” Mo explains. “They have this creative goofiness that they just let go inside the studio.”
Casey adds, “Because it’s all member-led, we just give them the tools to make it happen. The content is already here in the day program.”
What’s Next
“I’ll get emails from parents that are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just heard Mary talking about vampires for like 30 minutes on her podcast,'” Mo shares. (That would be “Vampire Talk,” which airs on Fridays.)
The Page program is gearing up to launch its own studio, with a member who’s deeply knowledgeable about the local sports scene already identified as their first potential presenter.
Back in Flagstaff, members make their enthusiasm clear daily. “Ryan literally follows me around every day, and he’s like, ‘Are we going in the radio room? When are we doing this?'” Casey says. “They’re very excited about it.”
