FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2010

EDITORS: A media availability hour will be at 5 p.m. following the live programs on Friday, April 16 in the studios of WMNF in Tampa (1210 E. Martin Luther King Blvd. – 813-238-8001).

Radio Bilingüe travels to Florida to report from rural areas hard-hit by the recession and natural disasters

Radio Bilingüe’s Línea Abierta on the Road visits Florida this week to bring to the national airwaves the voices of jobless construction workers who have returned to disaster-ravaged agricultural fields. The special multimedia programs will report on renewed efforts by farm-worker advocates to raise awareness on modern-day slavery and human rights abuses in the fields. This visit is the latest segment of the year-long series on the economy, “Frente a la Crisis/Facing the Crisis.”

In addition, as part of the ongoing series “Cuentas Justas/Fair Count,” the Radio Bilingüe mobile team will also look into the factors behind the slower response by Floridians in returning census forms.

On Thursday, April 15, The Línea Abierta on the Road series will broadcast from Immokalee from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT. The programs will be heard in Immokalee on 107.9 FM.

Then the team will move to Tampa on Friday, April 16, for a four-hour live broadcast from partner station WMNF from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT and Sunday April 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. EDT to provide a live account on the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ three-day march calling for an end to forced labor, poverty and human rights abuses in the fields. These programs will air live on WMNF’s digital HD3 channel, at 88.5 FM and as an audio stream on the website www.wmnf.org.

Samuel Orozco, executive producer, and Graciela "Chelis" Lopez, the host of Línea Abierta from San Francisco, will host the eighth and ninth stops of the series on the economy. Since it began in September, the tour has broadcast from southern California, Arizona, Iowa, North Carolina as well as Washington, D.C.

Radio Bilingüe is partnering with two community-based stations in Florida for a set of live broadcasts from the state that is suffering the worst unemployment in its history. Florida has also gained the dubious distinction of having more cases of modern slavery reported in recent years.  

WCIW, a farm worker-run station in Immokalee that has been a long-time Línea Abierta affiliate, will be the site of two roundtable programs, one about the slow response to the census forms in hard-to-count communities, and the other will look at the jobless crisis in the fields, aggravated now by a recent deep freeze disaster.

In Tampa, community station WMNF will host four hours of live coverage of a growing movement to end slavery in Florida’s agricultural industry by getting the largest food retailers to play under a code of fair treatment.

The special programs will air on Satélite Radio Bilingüe’s radio network. In addition, the live audio stream and podcasts will be available on Radio Bilingüe Internet: www.radiobilingue.org.

The series is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Ford Foundation, The California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, and the James Irvine Foundation.

Contact: María de Jesús Gómez, 559-455-5782, chuyag@radiobilingue.org

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

Thursday, April 15 -- 3 p.m. EDT. NEW LATINOS. The Latino population is growing fast and the fastest growth is among new, non-traditional Latino arrivals. Who are these new Latino groups and how are they changing the face of Florida? How are the new migrants impacting the state and why are so many being left out of the Census count? Why is it crucial to get to know these new populations? Aired from the studios of affiliate station WCIW in Immokalee, Florida, this program is part of our series “Cuentas Justas / Fair Count” on the 2010 Census.

4 p.m EDT.  JOBLESS IN THE FIELDS. In a state where new housing was once one of the hottest markets in the country, Florida’s construction industry is now among the hardest-hit in the nation. More and more construction workers are being laid off, and many former farm workers are returning to work in the fields. How does this affect those already struggling with low wages and difficult working conditions? This program, part of our series, “Frente a la Crisis / Facing the Crisis”, is aired from the studios of affiliate station WCIW in Immokalee, Florida.

Friday, April 16 -- 3 – 5 p.m. EDT . MODERN-DAY SLAVES. Modern-day slavery is alive and kicking in Florida, according to farm worker advocates. In an effort to eradicate forced labor, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is touring cities in Florida with the Modern-Day Slavery Museum, a replica of a truck in which farm workers were kept slaves. The CIW has worked with the U.S. Department of Justice on the successful prosecution of six modern-day slavery operations in Florida’s agricultural industry. In recent days, the coalition succeeded in striking a deal with the food service giant Aramark, the latest in a string of corporations to agree to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked under a strict code of conduct to protect workers' rights. These and other topics will be discussed in this two-hour broadcast, live from community station WMNF in Tampa.

Sunday, April 18 – 5 - 7 p.m. EDT. FAIR FOOD FIGHT. To address the poor wages and working conditions that make farm labor slavery possible, farm workers, students and consumer advocates have launched the Campaign for Fair Food. The campaign urges food industry giants to use their power to improve farm worker wages. This week, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers takes to the streets to march for three days to the headquarters of the number one supermarket company in Florida, Publix Supermarkets. Publix has refused to join the Campaign, which already has such high-profile corporations as Burger King, McDonalds, and Yum Brands, among others. This two-hour broadcast, live from WMNF in Tampa, offers a chronicle of the march and an overview on the plight of migrant farm workers in the South, with interviews with farm workers, student allies, company spokespersons, and top government officials.

Línea Abierta on the Road series background

Since The Línea Abierta on the Road series began in September as part of Radio Bilingüe, Inc.’s new national series “Frente a la Crisis/Facing the Crisis,” Línea Abierta has assembled news and reporting teams to go into the heartlands of the nation and unveil compelling stories about the impact on and role of Latinos in the recession and economic recovery. They are chronicling the effects of the economic crisis in the Latino community, particularly unemployment. 

The comprehensive, special multimedia series airs on Satélite Radio Bilingüe’s nationally-distributed news and talk services, Línea Abierta and Edición Semanaria de Noticiero Latino. Línea Abierta broadcasts daily at noon and Edición Semanaria airs weekly on Fridays at 4 p.m. -- each featuring weekly episodes of the “Frente a la Crisis/Facing the Crisis” series over a twelve-month period.

This national coverage foray into the communities hardest hit by unemployment and foreclosures portrays on the national airwaves outstanding efforts at the local level, including community-organizing initiatives, citizen ideas and government programs to help workers and homeowners get out of the economic crisis.

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About Radio Bilingüe

Radio Bilingüe is a community-based radio network with a satellite system that reaches 125 affiliates throughout the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as its own six stations in California. Radio Bilingüe provides audiences with news, information and cultural programming from its award-winning programs Noticiero Latino and Línea Abierta. Programming is also available via webcast on Radio Bilingüe Internet: www.radiobilingue.org. The network’s online service features links to program audio archives, podcasting multimedia files, timely news transcripts, several interactive blogs, hyperlinks to relevant organizations and more. 

Funds for Radio Bilingüe's news services are provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Ford Foundation, The California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The California Wellness Foundation, the ZeroDivide Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Our partners:

WCIW-LP, Radio Conciencia, Immokalee, FL.

WCIW is a low-power radio station broadcasting at 107.9 FM from Immokalee, Florida. It is licensed to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization representing farm workers. With 100 watts of power, the station has a range of 15 miles in and around Immokalee, bringing music and news to the immigrant farm workers from their homelands, in their own languages. The languages include Spanish, Haitian Creole, and some of the indigenous Indian languages of Central America.

WMNF-FM, Tampa, FL.

WMNF is a 70,000 watt non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station, licensed to the Nathan B. Stubblefield Foundation in Tampa. The station provides eclectic music as well as non-mainstream news, views and public affairs programming with a grassroots local emphasis. WMNF went on the air in1979, becoming Florida's first community radio station.