Unscripted teen talk straight from Thompson Valley
Rotating student hosts at Thompson Valley High School sit down with no set plan and pick a topic on the spot. One episode runs on critical-thinking prompts, the next argues about ghosts, conspiracy theories, video games, or the school dance.
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Eagles and Airwaves is produced by students at Thompson Valley High School, and it makes no attempt to sound like anything else. Most episodes begin the same way: a welcome, then a confession that nobody planned the topic. Someone offers a question. The group runs with it. What follows is a conversation with all the seams left in — overlapping voices, restarts, teasing, and a joke that hijacks the thread before somebody steers it back. The topic list has no through-line, which is part of the appeal. One episode is built entirely from critical-thinking prompts the hosts ask each other, starting with describing a perfect day from the moment you wake up. That answer turns into volleyball training and time with family, then into a small argument about whether three hours counts as a full day. Superpowers get a round, with telepathy repeated several times before anyone settles on the word. Video games and anime take up another episode, tracing childhood Lego Harry Potter and Lego Batman up to a current horror game one host has to explain to the other. Ghosts get a serious hearing — whether they're real, whether younger kids see more of them, and a story passed down from a host's mother that comes with a goosebumps warning. Conspiracy theories arrive after a host thinks one up mid-sentence, landing on a TikTok rumor about the government cloning celebrities, which the hosts try to debunk using vaguely recalled special-effects makeup work. The Sadie Hawkins dance prompts the show's most grounded stretch: what the tradition is, why fewer students go, whether student council promotion actually reaches anyone, and how a host remembers her brother's friend group making it look like the best night of the year. Mistakes stay in. A mic keeps cutting out and the host says so on air. A brand-new guest gets introduced with applause and one word. The final minutes of an episode dissolve into cross-talk about somebody still being on air before the group lands the closing line about staying bold and staying gold. Nothing is smoothed over in post. For anyone outside a high school hallway, it works as a fairly unfiltered sample of how teenagers argue, joke, and change their minds in real time. For students, it's closer to a mirror. The show trades polish for presence, and that trade is consistent enough across episodes to feel like a format rather than an accident.
Made for: High school students who want to hear people their own age talking honestly, and anyone curious about what teenagers actually discuss when no adult is shaping the conversation. It also suits listeners who prefer messy, real conversation over produced interview shows.
What sets it apart: There is no script, no research, and no editing polish — topics get chosen live on air, and the hosts leave in the mic problems, tangents, and disagreements. It's student media that sounds like students rather than a rehearsal of adult radio.
Voices and topics from Thompson Valley's High School students.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
EAGLES AND AIRWAVES captures students forming opinions in real time across school life, technology, language and cultural difference.
EAGLES AND AIRWAVES lets high school students think aloud, change direction and test opinions against one another. Conversations move through German expressions, cultural comparisons and everyday school life, while other episodes take up technology, social media and questions…
German slang meets hot-glue philosophy when your ears crave the chaos of a lively lunch table.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A technology debate settles into a thoughtful look at curiosity, consequences, and parenting imperfect kids.
Technology enters Eagles and Airwaves as a question about when young people should begin using it, then turns toward the harder work of parenting when curiosity moves faster than judgment.
A ghost wedding dream becomes folklore talk, skepticism, and a lingering question of proof.
Thread Talk opens with a haunted-house dream and settles into an easy, eerie exchange about ghosts, grief, and the soft voice that makes a bloodied bride feel sorrowful instead of frightening.
A poisonous flower story becomes a lively example of horror reshaped by group banter.
Thread Talk turns a Reddit story about accidentally eating angel's trumpet seeds into a brisk study of how a frightening account survives inside group conversation.
German slang, food talk, and a loose conversation about what sticks.
Eagles and Airwaves opens with a student host eager to learn German, then moves through pronunciation, dialect, and the joke-like reach of digga, a word that seems able to slip into nearly any sentence.
End-of-year student chatter grounded by ballet levels, camp prices, and teacher memories.
The episode reads like a loose end-of-year checkpoint, with Elena, Briley, Alex, Ethan, and Oakland talking through summer school, ballet pre-point, and the cost of summer programs.
A loose school conversation where hallway hearts lead into AI worries, daily plans, and teenage uncertainty.
The episode turns a school conversation into a casual map of student life, starting with a permit test passed after 10 tries and ending up near Valentine's Day hearts pulled from a hallway wall.
Big questions about love and procrastination run into volleyball, Waterworld, and Roblox.
Eagles and Airwaves turns critical thinking into a group exercise, then lets it drift into the students' own routines and opinions. A prompt about a perfect day brings in volleyball training, sleeping in, time with family and friends, and a cheerful defense of Waterworld.
NHPR's Jason Moon investigates the Bear Brook barrel murders and a New Hampshire wrongful-conviction case.
High school hosts Emily and Bebo, with guest Mara, discuss Valentine's Day heart vandalism at their school.
High school students from Thompson Valley engage in an unscripted discussion on critical thinking questions.
This episode features a conversation where a high school student teaches German words and sayings, starting with the commonly used word 'Digger'.
Mara frames Eagles and Airwaves as a “get to know you” session, with Savannah and Bebo trading favorite matcha flavors and Calero songs.
Two Thompson Valley high school students trade prompts such as "Describe what a perfect day would be" and "Do you think euthanasia is moral?" in this Eagles and Airwaves episode.
High school students from Thompson Valley discuss superpowers, starting with telepathy, in a casual, unplanned podcast episode.
Two high school students discuss their childhood and current favorite video games, including Lego titles and Resident Evil, while joking about being anime fans.
Two high school students discuss conspiracy theories, specifically exploring whether the government is cloning celebrities, with examples from TikTok about Jim Carrey.
High school students debate whether ghosts are real, sharing personal stories and perspectives on paranormal encounters.
Eagles and Airwaves hosts Emily and an unnamed co-host debate when children should receive phones, suggesting ages around 10 or 11 with restrictions on social media.
The hosts discuss a school Valentine's Day tradition where hearts are hung in hallways, and someone has been tearing them down, with a potential culprit possibly involved.
Casey and Tamara kick things off with a Reddit ghost story about a dream, an old haunted house, and a young woman in a long white wedding dress with a wound across her throat.
Angel's trumpet seeds caused hallucinations, blackout gaps, and a 4 a.m. hospital room.
Eagles and Airwaves episode “Backpacks & Big Dreams” follows Angelina and a friend through an improvised exchange-student vlog covering ASMR, German pronunciation, travel to Aspen and a planned trip to Wyoming.
Avery starts by trying to learn German, and the microphone mix-up shows up right away.
The students start out trying to choose a topic and quickly drift somewhere else.
High school students discuss the Nuggets vs.
This episode features an interview with teacher Mr.
High school students discuss the Met Gala, sharing favorite outfits, celebrity moments, and fun facts about the event.