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Immigrant rallies born on air

Across Central Florida, Spanish-language radio stations were the key to organizing thousands for immigration protests.

By JOSE CARDENAS and ERIC DEGGANS
Published April 12, 2006

FORT MYERS - With immigration protests spreading around the country, Hispanic leaders in Fort Myers decided it was time for them to get involved.

They sought help from a key link to the Hispanic community: Spanish-language radio station WWCL-1440 AM, known as Ke Buena.

For days, disc jockey Rosy Arciga implored Central Florida immigrant workers to show up Monday at a flea market on Ortiz Avenue.

The station's efforts helped turn out a pro-immigrant rally estimated at 75,000 men, women and children, the largest such gathering in Florida.

"Without radio it would not have been possible," said Jose Rodriguez, secretary of Immigrantes Latinos Unidos de La Florida, an organizer of the event.

As the immigration debate has heated up in Congress and around the country, Spanish-language radio stations have been instrumental in informing immigrants about current events and directing them to rallies and marches.

Melissa Gonzalez, one of the founding members of the group that organized Tampa's rally Monday, Immigrants United for Freedom , credited coverage on area Spanish-language radio and TV stations for about half of the estimated 3,000 people who showed up for the rally.

"Whenever we know something is happening, we call them and they come," Gonzalez said of stations such as WLCC-760 AM (La Ley). "As I told them, today this is for us. Tomorrow, it might be for you."

It hasn't always been a smooth road. The diversity of immigrant groups in the Tampa Bay area has encumbered communication and slowed the momentum of what some are calling the new civil rights battle.

Tampa Bay area Spanish-language media outlets may not have moved as quickly to mobilize their audiences because they serve a wide range of cultures, some of whom don't feel as strongly about immigration issues, said Victor "El Pache" Manuel, programming director and on-air personality at WMGG-820 AM (Mega Clasica).

"Our listeners from the Caribbean, the people from Puerto Rico, it's not a primary issue for them," said Manuel. He said WMGG may have only mentioned the rallies a handful of times.

But regional Hispanic radio stations, as well as TV and newspapers, are picking up the pace.

Gonzalez said she hopes to work with WYUU-92.5 (La Nueva) to bring music to a rally planned May 1 in Tampa, which could help draw more people.

To help area Spanish-language print outlets decide how they will spread word about future rallies, Luis Baron, editor and publisher of the Sarasota Spanish-language newspaper Siete Diaz, has asked editors from about a dozen print outlets to convene for a meeting today.

Gathering at a Tampa restaurant, they will talk with organizers of the Fort Myers rally and discuss how to spread information more uniformly, balancing their goal of serving as the voice of their communities with journalistic professionalism, Baron said.

"We might have the same ad with the same information and run it in all our media," he said, noting that area Spanish-language media rarely work together on such issues. "More or less, the idea is to discuss what we can do to help the Hispanic community. Once, we were like spectators. Now we are going to do something."

While TV and newspapers play key roles, the relationship between Hispanic radio stations and their listeners is unusually close, largely because they share the immigrant experience.

"The commitments that our radio stations have to the community are different" than the general market, said Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which promoted the April 10 events.

"When you have disc jockeys talking about their own stories . . . how they have friends and families and co-workers that will be affected, I think they directly connect with the community."

To get the Fort Myers turnout, Immigrantes Latinos reached beyond Lee County.

Luis Ibarra, a 32-year-old tomato picker who is the group's leader, got a dozen or so radio stations in Central Florida to publicize the event. People came from Ocala, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach and places in between, he said.

The day of the event, radio station Ke Buena (very good) urged people to attend, bring American flags and be peaceful. Radio reporters gave updates from different points during the march.

"This radio station believes that Hispanics united can accomplish a lot," said Arciga, the disc jockey. "Almost every day we had (Ibarra) on the air to say hello to the public, and more than anything to publicize the march."

Blanca Gonzalez, whose 2-month old organization turned out an estimated 3,000 to the Tampa rally, reached out to WQBN-1300 AM, where disc jockey Jorge Capdevila took up her cause.

Capdevila allowed Gonzalez, the 40-year-old mother of Melissa Gonzalez, to appear on his show three times to talk about the developments in Congress. He publicized the rally the week leading up to the event.

"The difference is that this affects our community," said Marc Vila, the station's vice president and general manager. "We empathize . . . and perhaps the general market may sympathize."

Maria Rodriguez, director of the Florida Immigration Coalition, which helped organize seven events around the state Monday, used an anecdote to demonstrate how much Hispanic immigrants rely on radio stations.

Last year, she arranged to bus several people to Tallahassee to lobby the Legislature. But the bus was running late and still had to pick up people in Fort Pierce.

Instead of trying to reach the Fort Pierce people by phone, she had another organizer call the local radio station, which alerted them over the radio.

"Even that type of information, a minor thing, you can relay on the radio," Rodriguez said. "That's how close-knit it is."

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:08:07]