Welcome back to New Day Northwest.
A new book looks at one of the first
full-time Spanish language community
radio stations in the country.
Feminista frequencies highlights KND a,
a station that went on the
air 40 years ago in Yakima,
and we're joined now by the
author of Monica de la Torre.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for having me. I have to say,
I love how you found out about this.
You went to school in the area and
you said this is a great story.
I have to tell
it yes, exactly. So I came to school
at the University of Washington.
And I had a background in community
radio and my dissertation advisor was
like this is great have you heard of the
station radio Cadena and I was like no?
What is it? She's like it was radio
station started by Chicana Chicano
farmworker activist in the Yakima
Valley and I just was so excited
to learn more about the history,
but also my own lineage of being
a radio broadcaster.
I think this is so awesome.
So, your book centers around
K DNA and it's tremendous.
Impact in Yakima. And by the way,
how do you used to kidnap
Kevin? So yeah, so when you say
the letters in Spanish OK DNA,
it means chain or link so the radio
station acting as a link for the
community and the Yakima Valley.
OK, that is awesome and it was
a tremendous link, right? Yes,
it definitely was.
It was one of the first full-time
Spanish language community stations in
the US and it went on air in December
79 and we know that in May of 1980,
Mount Saint Helens erupted
and the radio station was.
The only Spanish language media
outlet to be able to tell farmworkers,
exactly warn them that Mount
Saint Helens erupted to go home.
And to be safe. Oh
my gosh, that's intense.
Actually though got it.
Start in Seattle,
it did so the project was
started by two farm workers,
farmworker activists and two radio
producers that came from Michigan wanting
to do radio in Seattle in the area.
And they got together and they
started airing shows that on Krab
Krab FM which was Seattle's first
community radio station and from
there they realized that they
would have more of an impact if
they went out into the valley and
there was just more resources.
More community support for them
to move out into Grainger in 1979.
And there's a specific group
of women that was interesting,
like instrumental in getting
Cadena off the ground.
Talk about these ladies.
Yes, so I've worked with one
of the first station managers,
the only woman cofounder.
Her name is Rosa Ramon.
She was instrumental in gathering
a lot of the information from the
station early on and archiving it
and documenting and taking pictures.
And so she led me to learn about the
women who learned how to produce.
They taught each other how to edit,
how to write segments.
They were really supportive of one
another in an industry that sometimes isn't.
You know exactly that's
a bit competitive,
but it was definitely inspiring
for me to learn that women were
at the forefront of this station.
Because Media is a place
that we really don't see.
A lot of Mexican American women in
charge and behind the microphone,
and being amazing radio producers,
so the women were able to really
lead the station.
To create, you know,
really vibrant programming
for the community,
the wonderful environment.
It sounds like the type of programming
being produced there as well is pretty
unique for radio at the time, right?
Right exactly so they had everything from
children shows in the morning to music they
had a woman's show called mohead or Woman.
They also had an HIV AIDS prevention program,
a radio drama they took on a lot of
the health issues in the community and
made these radio dramas, or rather,
novellas so that people could learn about
these issues but also be entertained.
Did you get recognition like did
Dolores Huerta ever come up? And
yes, actually Cesar Chavez came to
the station and he was inspired
by their work and actually
created their own network.
The UFW created their own network
of radio stations that are still
on air to this day. That's
amazing. So what community radio it
continues to be an important resource
for Spanish speaking communities.
I worked and lived in
Bakersfield for a long time.
Yes, I know that it is important.
Why does that continue to be the case?
Well, it still is a very reliable
resource that is something that
people can listen to on the job.
But it's also still one of the only
ways that communities can learn
about the news in their language.
Unfortunately, yeah,
mainstream media doesn't really
provide that type of information
for Spanish speaking communities,
but we have things like Radio
Cadena that are there to inform
the Community and keep them in
the loop on what's going on.
I know that it's important
to let people know that.
Video is still alive.
It is still something.
How can people maybe get in more
involved young people who who want
to know more about this and and
be part of this? Yeah I mean I
think now with our technology
anybody could be a producer right?
We have our phones,
we can record stories and edit them.
I think that if you have an interest
in learning more about broadcasting,
radio is still very much an
important part of our culture.
Is English radio and Spanish
radio. I am. I'm really
excited to read about this.
What do you hope people take
away from your book? I hope that
people learn about Latinos
in the Pacific Northwest.
I think that the region has such a
rich history of Mexican American
activists and cultural producers,
and I hope that people that
are interested in the area will
learn more about Latinos and
what they've done. And media.
Thank you so much. Monica,
thank you. Thank you.