Radio Bilingue to Broadcast Live from KWIT Studio
By Joanne Fox | Sioux City Journal
January 22, 2010
Sioux City will be one of three stops on Radio Bilingue's year-long series "Facing the Crisis," an in-depth coverage on the economy and its impact on Latinos.
The Linea Abierta on the Road series, which kicked off in El Centro, Calif., and Yuma, Ariz., in November, will broadcast from sister stations KWIT/KOJI, public FM stations based at Western Iowa Tech Community College.
Air times for the live Iowa shows will be 8 p.m. to midnight Sunday on KWIT-FM 90.3 and KOJI-FM 90.7 and from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday only on KWIT's HD3 channel.
KWIT/KOJI is the only small market station to participate in the series, explained Gretchen Gondek, the station's general manager.
"We were contacted right after Thanksgiving about this project," she said. "Radio Bilingue indicated that our work with them on Iowa's participation in the caucus and with issues in Denison, Iowa, particular to Latinos, Sioux City seemed a good place for the broadcasts."
Host Samuel Orozco, executive producer of the series, cited Radio Bilingue's long-running collaboration with KWIT as being another reason for the choice.
"Several years ago, our colleagues at this public station made a serious commitment to serve Iowan Latino audiences and for that they have used significant segments of Radio Bilingue's satellite-distributed programming," he said. "Currently, KWIT has dedicated a digital HD radio channel to run the full-time programming service of Satellite Radio Bilingue for local Latino audiences."
The focus of this aspect of the series will be the impact on local communities of the arrival of newcomers to the Midwest, Orozco added.
"The Midwest has made headlines nationwide for stories such as the deportation raid in Postville, and the rise of a thriving Latino economy on Main Street rural Iowa, and the passing of an English-only law," he said. "We thought by reporting up close on those developments, by getting insights on what's going on in Iowa, we would find some answers that may help shed light on current efforts to bring an economic recovery and the heated debate on immigration reform."
Orozco explained that the series began in California and Arizona because those areas are considered to be the hardest hit by the recession.
"When seeing these locations and talking with people, we have come to see how devastating the recession has been for many Latino working families," he said. "We have talked with families who have lost jobs, houses, who have being going through major mental health problems, families that have been shattered and separated because of the terrible stress of all those losses."
Those losses are complicated by the lack of access to information for Latinos, Orozco added.
"Many had not found information in their language to find job alternatives. Many had initiated proceedings to find help to prevent foreclosure only to become frustrated by delays and confusing paperwork," he pointed out. "There is a tremendous need of 'first-aid' bilingual information for many of the families who are the hardest hit by the recession.
Orozco will be joined by KWIT's Isaac Quinonez. The co-host, who has a bachelor's degree in mass communications from Briar Cliff University, airs a weekly bilingual musical program, "Frontera Sur," on KWIT/KOJI.
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