The Oakland nonprofit shuttered in November 2024 after a debt-laden expansion collapsed its payroll. On June 22, staff unlocked the downtown headquarters for the first time in roughly 19 months, with a new cohort of 16 students arriving two days later.

The front doors at 1701 Broadway in downtown Oakland swung open again on Monday. Youth Radio posted an Instagram reel of the moment — staff unlocking the building where the organization has been housed since 2007 — after the nonprofit had gone dark in November 2024, roughly 19 months earlier.

The closure came when an expansion stretched the organization's finances past the breaking point. By fall 2024, Youth Radio, which had rebranded as YR Media, could no longer make payroll. Founder Ellin O'Leary told The Oaklandside last year that she and others were working behind the scenes on a revival. The first two new cohorts — high school students and young adults between 18 and 24 — arrived June 24, two days after the building reopened.

The organization is back under its original name, now led by Maeven McGovern, who first joined as health education coordinator in 2008, left in 2021, and returned a year ago as program evaluation consultant before being hired as executive director last November. The staff is lean: McGovern, three volunteer board members, three media instructors, a program manager, and consultants handling HR and tech. "We are being cautious and wanting to make sure that we're prioritizing the sustainability of the organization above all else," McGovern told The Oaklandside.

Getting back to this corner required paying off significant debt. O'Leary credited Community Vision, Elevate Youth California, and the California Wellness Foundation, plus support she called unexpected — from the organization's bank, its insurance company, and alumni. "This reopening was powered by alumni staff, students who came to try and ensure that the organization continued, and that it retained ownership of the building," she said.

Youth Radio was founded in 1993 by O'Leary to give young people a platform in media and music. The careers that started at 1701 Broadway include KQED culture reporter Pendarvis Harshaw, hip-hop artist Iamsu!, R&B artist 1-OAK, and Oliver "Kuya" Rodriguez of the HBK Gang collective. Leon Sykes, who spent years teaching at Fremont High, started as an intern and eventually hosted "Streets is Talking" on All Day Play. "This is a program that gave a lot of us skills to build careers and even teach others," Sykes told The Oaklandside.

An open house is set for Friday, June 26, from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1701 Broadway — live music, free food, and the building lit up again on a downtown corner that's been quiet for the better part of two years.