The Bermuda College has had its fair share of publicity ? good and bad ? but what?s coming next is going to be really ?bad? ? meaning ?good? in youthful parlance.

Beginning on Saturday, and thereafter on alternate Saturdays, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Bermuda?s young people will be able to tune in to Power 95 FM radio and turn on to ?New College Commentator?, where Raynelle Brangman, Maura Almeida, Calvin Hayward, Chris Ray, Jennell and Jade Ingham, Brendelle Hall and Kyle Jones will be putting out an hour-long programme of music, interviews, College news and social commentary.

There will also be call-ins and giveaways.

For those who still remember the original ?College Commentator? radio programmes, which ran from 1983 to 1991, please note the word ?New?, for these young students make it clear that they will be appealing in principle to a more hip audience ? guys and girls who have grown up in the ?new age? of technology with all its advances. Oh yes, and accompanying shorter attention spans.

?The old show was boring ? music and mostly talking, but it worked back then,? DJ Jason Rayner says.

?Today, people don?t want to hear interviews that are dry and boring.

?Everything has got to be short, hyped and slammin?. People who listen to radio today don?t want to hear somebody who sounds boring. They want to hear music.?

As an independent DJ whose professional sobriquet is ?Jamstarr?, Mr. Rayner is lending his expertise to help the neophyte broadcasters polish and present the show designed specifically for audiences aged 16 to 35, and he is getting no argument from the students on the style of presentation.

?We are going to slam it,? he says.

?We are going to cut down interview times and add soft background music and instrumentals so listeners will be interested in hearing what people have to say.?

With a projected emphasis on music, Mr. Rayner says the focus will be on dancehall and reggae.

Three DJs will do the spinning: Jason (Jamstarr) Rayner, and trainees Anthony (Lanky Boy) Johnson, and Kyle (Typhoon Sound) Jones.

Also lending her expertise is former ZBM employee Brendelle Hall, who also has acting and radio commercials experience. Currently a mature, part-time student at Bermuda College she has been working with the students on programme formatting.

The producers are playwright, founder and original producer of the earlier ?College Commentator? Rotimi Martins and Gina Spence-Farmer, co-curricular activities assistant at the Bermuda College.

The duo have been working closely with the students teaching them the vocal tricks of the trade, including voice projection, breathing exercises, ?A? and ?B? teams for the first two shows.

The two teams will have plenty of friendly rivalry between them, and are collectively focused on their mission to become good at what they do, and thus attract and hold their audiences since they know that Bermudians are tough judges of any entertainment.

The venture is a joint partnership between the Bermuda College and the Bermuda Broadcasting Company, whose ultimate hope is that a new crop of Bermudians interested in a career in broadcasting will emerge from it.

?If our students are serious this will allow them to get involved professionally in the media field, be it doing voice-overs for commercials or hosting a show,? Mrs. Spence-Farmer says. ?Bermuda Broadcasting is looking for talent so this is an opportunity for our students to get involved at a professional level if they choose to do so.?

The project also fits in with the students? technology and applied science course since everyone must also learn the technical side of radio.

Because Mr. Johnson is already studying information technology at the College, he will be training Ms Hall and all of his fellow students in the appropriate areas.

?We are going to work with computers in the Media room on campus, which involves leaning how to edit our material from the computer to a CD,? Mrs. Spence-Farmer says. ?Modern technology allows us to produce a short, sharper quality programme right here on campus.?

Each week, all of the students working on ?New College Commentator? will rotate the responsibilities, including field reporting, on-air announcing, as well as organising, setting up and coordinating interviews.

?The group is divided into ?A? and ?B? teams consisting of a DJ, announcer and technical person, and each team will be responsible for developing a programme format for its one-hour show, so they have to think about how to deal everything from the intro to the wrap-up,? Mrs. Spence-Farmer says.

Of course, timing of every component in a show is critical, so that is being learned as well.

?We put together a log on how a one-hour show has to be run, and we basically decide how long everything should be,? Ms Hall says.

An experienced singer, events coordinator and hostess who formerly worked at the Bermuda Broadcasting Company, she is enjoying sharing her expertise with her fellow students.

?I have been setting up all the paperwork, contacting students and letting them know when we have meetings, and telling them how it should be done,? she says.

?It is exciting because even though I have been there they bring a new flavour ? what?s new, what?s ?now? and all the ?in? things.

?When they bring that in I tone it down so it fits.

?They are a very talented group and have wonderful ideas, but presentation is key. Not only do we represent Bermuda College but also we are taking pride in ourselves.

?Once you go on air people know you and you have to represent a good standard.?

Indeed, in order to participate in the ?New College Commentator? project at all, students must maintain a 2.0 grade point average, otherwise they are out, and they will earn extra college credits for the enterprise.

The ?A? team is producing the first show, which is entitled ?Rewind? and will showcase the original College commentators and highlight their successful career journeys post-Bermuda College.

The ?B? team will produce the second show, ?Future Flavour?.

Special guests will include Bermuda College president Dr. Michael Orenduff speaking about the new vision and mission of the College.

As for the overall aim of the programme, Ms Hall sums it up as ?being informative with a variety of interviews?.

?Basically, we?ll be covering what is going on in our island ? the issues of today.

?We want to be a voice for the young people so a lot of the things we are going to be bringing are what they are interested in.?

As they say in broadcasting: ?Stay tuned?.