Latino Public Radio Consortium

 

Chisme from the Stations

Many of the Latino Stations are involved in the StoryCorps Historia project and have been instrumental in collecting the oral history of our communities. KRZA/Alamosa, CO; WDNA/Miami, FL; WIPR/San Juan, PR; & WRTU/San Juan, PR started the ball rolling. Also scheduled are Radio Bilingue/Fresno; WRTE/Chicago and KDNA/Granger. They have worked with numerous community partners such as the San Luis Valley Health Centers, Miami-Dade Community College and El Comite Para el Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques. Although all of the thousands of conversations/oral histories gathered throughout the county are archives, only a small percentage are edited for national broadcast on National Public Radio. In an unprecedented, record-breaking achievement KRZA had two stories broadcast on NPR. WDNA was slated to have one of their stories broadcast but it was postponed because the death of J.D. Sallinger prompted a re-broadcast of one his archived stories. Haven’t we been telling everyone for years that Latinos have pretty interesting stories to tell?

Everyone knows how really good they are; if you have any doubts just listen to their programming. So guess what Santa brought them for Christmas? During the holidays, WSBL/South Bend, IN sponsored a successful fundraising event with numerous bands. With the proceeds from that event, Director Eliud Villanueva reports, the station bought its first ever professional on-air sound board. Their wonderful programming sounds better than ever.

There are new general managers in the Latino public broadcasting system. WRTE/Chicago, Il welcomed the return of Jorge Valdivia who had previously been general manger of this Spanish-language, youth-oriented broadcast entity in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago Jorge fills a vacancy created by the departure of Silvia Rivera, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Latino Public Radio Consortium.

After several months of searching, KUVO/Denver, CO has found a new CEO. This English-language, jazz station will be headed by Alfredo Cruz. A veteran of public radio, Alfredo is moving to Denver from San Antonio, Texas where he was GM for Trinity College’s jazz station.  He’s also been involved with jazz and public radio in New Jersey and California.

Meanwhile, KBBF/Santa Rosa, CA still seeks a General Manager. If you’re interested in applying to lead this station that is in the midst of wine country, take a look at their website

Latinos, Hispanics, Guatemaltecos, Cubanos, Mexicanos – we serve them all. To have a program on this station you have to be bilingual and pan cultural and you have to either be enrolled in or a graduate of an institution of higher learning. We expect our on-air staff to perform at the highest levels and that our programs highlight the achievements of Latinos and impart information to Latinos that will equip them to aspire to greatness. That is the philosophy of WELH/Cranston, RI and according to their General Manager Reynaldo Almonte, they carry out that philosophy in all their programming. Just give them a listen.

KOCA/Laramie, WY has a new Board of Directors that is now almost entirely Hispanic. Besides it’s on-air work, Connie Coca member of the Board and on-air volunteer points out, KOCA collaborates with the community to increase Latino participation in civic life as well highlight the contributions of Hispanics to the history and development of the state. In May, KOCA plans to unveil a mural by Denver, CO artist Stevon Lucero that depicts historical moments and people in the Latino story of Wyoming.

Mural by Stevon Lucero-Denver, CO

 

About the LPRC Website

Our Mission is to build partnerships with you!  How can we help you?  In this site you’ll find Projects and Resources to help you and your station.  Contact Us today to become part of the LPRC consortium. We have over 40 Latino Public Radio Stations who are in the consortium. Learn how to be a Partner or join the Board by contacting Flo Hernandez-Ramos, Project Director!

Do you have a Latino Station Highlight you want us to announce or an upcoming event you want on our Events Calendar? Do you have a press release you want to share—we can post it in our Media Room. Looking for someone to fill a vacancy, or are you offering some training? Let us get this Employment and Training information out for you!

Find out how to Get Involved and how the Latino Public Radio Consortium can help your station be its best. Sign up today to Get  Our Newsletter!

 

New LPRC Board Member

Magaly Rivera has been named to the LPRC Board. Rivera is currently the Development Director at the Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network (HITN) .  Rivera oversees development and fundraising activities with Government, Foundations and Corporations, as well as building a Donor base program for HITN. 

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Latino Station Highlight

 
LPRC & WIPR Go To Washington 

LPRC and WIPR made the best use of their time to the national launch of the Historias program in Washington by visiting friends and allies. Meetings were held with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, APTS, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and International Center for Journalists, National Public Radio, and WAMU 88.7 fm. And because this trip was not all work and no play, we had fun riding the Metro, finding bargains at Filene’s Basement and sampling Rosa Mexicana’s outstanding margaritas. 

The first meeting was with the Executive Director Ivan Roman and the Director of the Parity Project, Kevin Olivas of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. We received valuable suggestions for the content, marketing and distribution of CPRDP’s Puerto Rico News Program as well as an extensive list of potential contributors, consumers, or publicists.

Patricia Harrison, CPB President; Ileana Rivera & Pedro Hua, WIPR

Training Opportunities

 
International Center for Journalists

Lanaea Featherstone and Julian Urdaneta of the International Center for Journalists met with LPRC. The ICFJ had just completed its digital news training in which four LPRC stations participated (KDNA, WRTE, Radio Bilingue, KPCN) and one contact of LPRC (KUVA – internet radio) was also a trainee.

A follow-up project to the training is PRX Spanish-language program depository which is essentially a group membership for the trainees in this program. Only members of PRX can access or deposit programs. Future joint projects between LPRC & ICFJ may include the World Affairs Project in 2010. Chosen participants are given a fellowship for traveling to a foreign country to develop a report on a given topic.

Funding Opportunities

The California Council for the Humanities—California Only

California Documentary Project (CDP) is a competitive grants program of the California Council for the Humanities in partnership with the Skirball Foundation. CDP supports humanities-based film, radio and new media projects that document the California experience and explore issues of significance to Californians. The grant guidelines call for projects that enhance our understanding of California and its cultures, peoples and histories, and are suitable for California and national audiences. 

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Leadership Opportunities

Volunteer Board Member
Portland Regional Educational Telecommunications Corp. (PRETC), an Oregon non-profit established in the early 1980's.The PRETC board has decided that it wants to focus on board candidates with the following qualities: knowledge of philanthropy, experience with non-profits, experience with education (as it is relevant to wireless broadband data service), and, of course, availability for PRETC board work. Not every person has to have all the preceding attributes. Naturally, good judgment is essential for board members, and the organization is interested in diversity for its board. 

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Industry News

LP FM: Powerful Force

You know what they say: 
Size doesn’t matter; it’s how you use it. Low Power Stations are so designated because they can have only 10 watts of power and their broadcast range is smaller than that of a full-power station. Compare this to a full power station that can have upwards of 25,000 watts and broadcast ranges of hundreds of miles. But there is nothing small about the impact of a low power FM station in the life of the community it serves. It personifies localism; its well-defined listeners utilize the LP FM to stay in touch with what’s affecting their community both from the neighbors down the street, their city government, as well as from the world outside of their broadcast area. Five of the LPRC constituent stations are LP FM: KOCA/Laramie, WY; KPCN/Woodburn, OR; KZAS/Hood River, OR; WCIW/Immokalee, FL and WSBL/South Bend, IN. Just like the Latino full power stations each of the low power stations are very involved in making their communities better places in which to live. They ensure that their listeners are well-informed and entertained and reflect their constituents. Some of the LPs are licensed to social justice organizations; others are organizations that want to ensure the presence of Latinos in a media landscape that does not address their concerns, issues, or cultural preferences.

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BUILD YOUR OWN STATION!

Low Power Radio Triumphs over Big Broadcasters in Washington
Local Community Radio Act Sweeps House Subcommittee in 15 to 1 vote

The Local Community Radio Act was passed out of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet this morning in a sweeping 15 to 1 vote. The Act would allow for the creation of hundreds of new, low power FM (LPFM) radio stations that would broadcast community news and local perspectives to neighborhoods across the country.

“All I can say is, it's about time,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), a co-sponsor of the bill. “It was absurd and ridiculous that broadcasters went to such great lengths to block the public from having some small measure of access to the airwaves, and disgraceful that we had to spend more two million dollars to prove what the FCC already had shown—that LPFM would not interfere with full power stations.”

Big broadcasters have historically opposed the Local Community Radio Act, claiming that LPFM could cause interference to full power stations, a concern later disproven by a congressionally mandated study. But with unanimous FCC support, strong bipartisan co-sponsorship, and grassroots momentum, even industry news is now predicting a win. “We do not expect that there is any stopping it at this point,” the Radio Business Report commented this morning.

“The bill still has a long way to go in the legislative process, but I am optimistic that by the end of the year the Local Community Radio Act will be signed into law,” said Congressman Doyle (D-PA), lead co-sponsor of the bill with Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE).

The bill gained the support of former doubters of LPFM, including Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), a former lead co-sponsor of anti-LPFM legislation and ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the only former broadcaster in Congress, and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who called for the study of LPFM interference in 2000.

“Today’s vote signals a policy shift towards more local and diverse media,” said Cory Fischer-Hoffman, Campaign Director for the Prometheus Radio Project. “We need to use this momentum to push for full passage of the Local Community Radio Act so groups working tirelessly to have a voice in their communities can start building stations.”

Hundreds of groups—including schools, churches, and emergency responders—were denied licenses in 2000 after Congress blocked the FCC from handing them out in crowded media markets.

Advocates point to the successes of existing low power FM stations to prove their value to communities. “When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf, low power radio was the only source of emergency information in a number of counties. Residents in East Texas tuned their battery-operated radios to KZQX-LP while they waited a week for power to be restored,” said Andalusia Knoll, Community Station Director at the Prometheus Radio Project. “In Louisiana, KOCZ-LP has proven essential to the cultural survival of Zydeco music, which is rarely heard on the airwaves. And low power station WRYR-LP hosts public debate about the environmental impacts of development on the Chesapeake Bay.”

“Congress should act swiftly to pass LPFM and support the families, workers, and places of worship that serve as the anchors in our communities,” said Joel Kelsey, Policy Analyst at Consumers Union.

Nancy Zirkin of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights added, “In an era of mass media consolidation, we in the civil rights community believe that it is critical to promote diverse ownership and diverse viewpoints over the public airwaves, and we look forward to the passage of this bill into law.”

The Local Community Radio Act is now poised to move to the full Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by longtime LPFM supporter Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).

The Prometheus Radio Project is a Philadelphia based non-profit that advocates for greater public access to the airwaves through the licensing of low power radio stations.