Radio Bilingüe's Public Radio Journalism Breaks into SF
[Source: Radio Bilingüe, November 18, 2011]
Línea Abierta (“Open Line”) is the first and only Spanish-language talk show in the public broadcasting system. While it is produced daily out of studios in Oakland and carried by more than 100 affiliates nationwide, they had not achieved a broadcast platform in the SF Bay Area. Thus Latino audiences in the region have missed 16 years of crucial programming on politics, education, health, the environment, employment and the arts - as well as the chance to dialogue on air with the top newsmakers, decision makers and Latino community members throughout the nation. Now a door has opened to remedy this gap.
After 16 years serving communities throughout the U.S., Radio Bilingüe's flagship national talk show Línea Abierta will at last reach audiences in San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento as they launch a pilot partnership for broadcasting the program on KIQI 1010 AM San Francisco and KADT 990 AM Sacramento. Their opening special on November 19th at 2 p.m. PST will offer a multi-station simulcast on Alabama, where what some are calling a humanitarian crisis is developing in the wake of the state's recently passed anti-immigration law.
Alabama’s HB 56, dubbed the “Papers Please” law, has been called the harshest in the country and has made the state ground zero in the immigration debate. African-American veterans of the civil rights movement, congressional representatives and others have joined immigrants in calling for repeal of the law, as parents keep their children home from school and families choose between the risk of work or having no food on the table. The law’s proponents say immigrants are draining the state of resources and jobs, while opponents say it is a new form of sanctioned racism in the South.
Airing via satellite for radio stations throughout the country, the Línea Abierta special will be hosted from Radio Bilingüe studios in Oakland, California and feature conversations with radio personalities and listeners from Alabama’s Radio La Jefa as they conclude a 14-day/14-city walk through the state gathering public reaction to the law. In ensuing weeks, KIQI/KADT will feature a selected Línea Abierta program of the week each Saturday from 2-3 p.m. PST.
Hugo Morales, founder and executive director of Radio Bilingüe, says, “The urban Latino Spanish-speaking residents of Northern California are among the most underserved in terms of the mission and mandate of public broadcasting. Radio Bilingüe has been producing meaningful journalism on Latino issues ignored by other media for 25 years. At last audiences from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Santa Rosa and beyond can join in the national dialogue.” Morales says the pilot partnership with KIQI will run initially for three months, during which Radio Bilingüe will gauge audience response and seek funding to continue or increase the scope of access to the broadcasts in the highly competitive local San Francisco Bay Area market. The partnership at KIQI is being facilitated by the station’s Hecho en California, a group of independent radio producers programming out of this AM station that broadcasts Spanish-language talk and public affairs programming for a potential audience of 1.5 million Latinos throughout the San Francisco Bay area. KIQI’s signal is simulcast on KATD 990 AM in Sacramento.
