Success on the Dial
Woodburn, Oregon
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United)
Oregon’s union of farmworkers, nursery, and reforestation workers,
and the state’s largest Latino organization launched its low power
radio station in Woodburn, Oregon (KPCN-LP) in 2007. Its
Spanish-language programming serves the community as well as its union
members.
South Bend, Indiana
WSBL-LP regularly runs public service announcements for
early-childhood vaccinations, prostate cancer testing, and HIV
screenings, and can measure the results. “The statistics at local
clinics jumped from last year to this,” says Eliud Villanueva, director
of WSBL-LP. “We have really made a difference, and that surprised us
more than anyone else.”
Oroville, California
Marianne Knorzer is the station manager for KRBS-LP in Oroville,
California, where she coordinates more than 50 volunteers who
contribute to a sophisticated and vibrant community radio station
offering local programming to its rural community, including everything
from Hmong language programming to Reggae.
Immokalee, Florida
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers runs one of the first LPFM
stations to have gotten on the air, Radio Consciencia, WCTI-LP. During
Hurricane Wilma, Radio Conciencia was the only radio that was
transmitting information on where to go and what to do in Spanish and
in the indigenous languages spoken in the community. During the
construction period after the hurricane, some workers called the
station to say that they had not been paid by the construction company
that employed them. Through outreach on the station, CIW was able to
identify hundreds of similarly situated workers and use legal tools to
obtain their compensation.
Next Section: Lost Opportunities: Chester, Pa.; Puerto Rico; Chicago, Ill.; and Houston, Texas
