Tune into KNVC 95.1 Carson City Community Radio on a Wednesday night, and you might catch 17-year-old Waylon Parr interviewing a fellow Carson High student about school, sports, the arts, and being a 21st century teenager.
The radio program ‘Waylon’s World’ debuted in November. Parr invites Carson City teens onto the show to highlight what they’re up to in the community.
“The kids I pick are kind of, I’d say undervalued talent here in Carson City,” he told 2 News Nevada during an interview at Carson High School.
It was radio host and social studies teacher Mr. Will Houk who recruited Parr to start the show. Houk says KNVC’s station manager was looking for ways to better incorporate the voices of Carson City teenagers over the air.
“He just catches on so quick,” Houk said. “He’s a really, really bright kid, and he’s just done such a great job with the whole thing.”
He knew Parr would be a shoo-in after seeing his work in Carson High’s announcements, with comedy skits that he wrote in the hope it would zhuzh up the show.
“I did a sitcom for the school where I played a British exchange student, and it was about going through the American high school lifestyle,” Parr said.
In one episode, he describes learning about American culture, including playing football and trying Arizona Iced Tea – with both adventures quickly souring. He takes a football to the knee hard, and falls down with perfect comedic timing. After trying the tea, the video cuts to a closed bathroom door, where viewers can hear Parr retching and gagging dramatically, shouting, “Who in the bloody hell calls that tea?” in his spot-on British accent.
But it’s not just through his comedy skits and his radio show that people in Carson City might recognize Parr – he and his family have also started a thrift store off Hot Springs Road, called Goods For Charity. Parr is hoping that project will also benefits the city’s teens.
“We’re trying to raise money to help kids learn how to sew, to learn how to make their own fashion and hopefully sell those clothes at GFC,” he said.
Parr plans to stay in Northern Nevada once he graduates. He says he’d like to study journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno so that he can keep telling stories through film.
