It started with an idea, an idea that nobody at the Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project took all that seriously.
A guest from a bilingual radio station was visiting and suggested the Oxnard-based service group start their own station.
It sounded cool, a platform to communicate to Ventura County's indigenous immigrant community. The thing is, nobody on staff had any broadcastexperience.
"We had no sense of radio," said Carlos Jimenez, who would eventually be a radio station coordinator. "When you visit other community radio stations, the vast majority are like ex-NPR affiliates."
Nevertheless, the idea was planted, and it didn't goaway. When MICOP floated the radio station possibilityto the community, it was met with much enthusiasm.
"We found out there was this indigenous community with dozens of bands playing Mixteca music with no venue," Jimenez said.
After a lot of fundraising and some rudimentarytraining, Radio Indígena, an online station, aired its first show in June 2015. This month, the station reached another milestone — a spot on the FM dial.
Audience appeal
Radio Indígena now broadcasts 40 hours of original programming six days a week on94.1 FM. The group of 24 DJs, most of them volunteers, speak Spanish and the indigenous languages ofMixteco and Zapoteco. There is also plenty of music on the air, including Chilenas, a stylepopular in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.
Listeners can tune in on the radio,on their computers atmixteco.org/radioand through the Radio Indígena app on Android and Applephones. They can also listen through the phone by calling (605) 475-0090.
Teresa Salazar, a stay-at-home mom in Oxnard, listens on the internet at home andin the car while picking up her children from school.
"The truth is, I never thought I would hear this kind of programming," Salazar said in Spanish through an interpreter.
Salazar said there is a stereotype that indigenous people areilliterate and without education. The radio programming challenges that.
"To be indigenous is to have roots, to have indigenous roots," she said.
One program that stands out to Salazar is the Wednesday show hosted by survivors of domestic violence. The female DJs discuss issues and resources geared for victims.
"Many indigenous women don't know how to seek help," Salazar said.
Eversince the station earned an FM slot, the headquarters on Fifth Street in downtown Oxnard has received phone calls every day.
Edgar Vicente, the current radio coordinator, said a man called from Florida recently saying he has lived in the United States for 26 years and never heard anything on the radio in his language. Anotherwoman called to thank the station for making her realize she was a victim of domestic violence.
"For me, it's one of the biggest complimentsI could receive," Vicente said.
The reach of internet radio is vast. Fans have expressed their appreciation from as far as Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
As for the FM station, the reach is technically a 3-mile radius from the antennae, which is located on one of the two high-rise towers in the financial plaza off Vineyard Avenue. Listeners, however, have received clear signals from as far as Thousand Oaks and La Conchita.
Radio station evolves
It's quite an evolution for the scrappy radio station. When it started as an internet station, programming fell onjust two days. Now, DJs are onair Tuesday to Sunday, discussing everything from social justice to Oaxacan history.
One segment informs listeners of their rights should federal immigration officials appear at their door. Don't sign any documents and know your right to remain silent, various DJs have said.
The station has also informed listeners of a community effort encouraging the Oxnard City Council to pass a resolution vowingnot to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Some who heard about it on the radio went to address the council during public comment period, said Genevieve Flores-Haro, MICOP associate director.
Mixteco and Zapoteco are oral languages, pointed out Flores-Haro, meaning that written methods of communication like passing out fliers just doesn't work for the indigenous community, many of them farmworkers.
An estimated 20,000 indigenous people live in Ventura County. Flores-Haro said the hope is the radio will reach those not already participating in MICOP programs.
"It's a 3,000-year-old language, but now you have a new medium," she said.
The annual budget for the station is $63,000, less than half of most community radio station budgets, said Flores-Haro. A portion of the budget goes toward monthly rent for the antennae,which costs $1,000.
Ideally, the station willraise more money to increase programming, hire another coordinator and compensate the volunteer DJs.
It's a labor of love for on-air talent like Luis Villanueva, who lives in Ojai but drives to Oxnard once a week to host the Spanish-language "Viva La Costa Chica." The show is about the food, music and traditions of Costa Chica, the coastal regions of Oaxaca and Guerrero.
Inside thestudio, a second-floor, sound-proof room about the size of a walk-in closet, Villanueva is a multi-tasker as he adjusts the audio console while looking at three different computer screens and two different iPhones.
Villanueva hasbeen doing this for eight months and says it was difficult at first.
"You didn't want to move anything because you think you'll make a mistake," Villanueva said. "But day after day, you get better."
Villanueva was plucked from a karaoke bar. His friend was a Radio Indígena DJ who often saw Villanueva with a mic in hand. He didn't need too much convincing for the job.
"This is the best time of my life," Villanueva said about his two-hour show.
Among his fans is his 6-year-old child who listens at home.
"My son feels like he can be a DJ, too," Villanueva said.
