August 2016. We here at Radio Tierra hope you are enjoying the bounty of the summer harvest now available in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.

New shows. We are delighted to welcome two new DJ’s to the Radio Tierra team this month–Nubia Contreras and Mike Nichols. Nubia Contreras program on employment opportunities is undergoing a change, but will air Tuesday from 1-3 p.m. However, it will become a 30 minute program beginning Aug. 23.

In the News. Gorge Magazine featured an article on our July 3, Mayor’s Independence Eve. The Hood River News printed a full article about Mike Nichols’ enriching our programming for the community we serve. We are delighted to be in the limelight in this way.

Equipment woes. We’ve had a few technical problems this month with our equipment. The main broadcast board has been acting up – sometimes one of the channels is not functioning, so you may have heard a mono sound instead of the full stereo sound. We are researching a new upgraded board, so please be patient with us.

Spanish and/or English language programing? I understand there is a discussion about the merits of Radio Tierra having programs and content in both Spanish and English in our broadcast community. There are those who say the station should be all in Spanish. Below I’m writing to clarify this issue and to correct the mistaken beliefs.

How Radio Tierra began. In 2006 a group of local individuals had an organization called the Multicultural Trust. They learned of an opportunity to apply for a low power public radio station. In order to apply for a license to operate a radio station, the group had to have a legal organization recognized by both the federal government and the State of Oregon government to be responsible for the radio station. This new board of directors became that responsible group, and went through all the steps necessary to become a legal organization. They applied to both the U.S. Government and the State of Oregon to become a “public” non-profit business corporation. They submitted their articles of incorporation and their bi-laws to the state and federal government. These documents were approved by both governments and are a matter of public record. Anyone may see them. They are in English.

Becoming a licenced station. Once these steps were taken, the board then prepared an application to the Federal Communications Commission of the United States to become a low-power public radio station. The application was accepted. Several years ago, I helped the station reapply for a renewal of the license showing that we were continuing to follow all laws and regulations of the Federal and State governments as well as complying with the many regulations of the Federal Communications Commission. By law, our radio station has to comply with our Articles of Incorporation and our Bi-laws as they were written by the founders of the organization.

Radio Tierra became incorporated as a public nonprofit corporation. Not a Spanish speaking corporation. Not a commercial station.

Article 1 of our By laws states and I quote: “The purpose of this organization is a public benefits organization, noncommercial, charitable, scientific, cultural, educational, listener-supported and COMMUNITY radio broadcasting station emphasizing in Spanish and outreach to area youth. Radio Tierra will air programs of interest to the whole community. Radio Tierra will especially target the Latino community and most of the programming will be in the Spanish language.”

In other words, we were accepted as a station that would serve the entire public of the Gorge community with an emphasis on reaching the Spanish speaking audience. We were not established as a Spanish speaking only station. We have to, by law, serve the entire community. Many people do not speak Spanish. Radio Tierra is very proud to say that we are doing exactly what we were established to do.

We are currently on the air 24 hours a day 7 days a week–that is 168 hours a week. The majority of our programming is in Spanish. We currently have only or 4-5 hours a week in English. Additionally, all of our DJ’s do their best to find a volunteer to translate, when they have a guest who speaks only one language.

If you have any questions, opinions, or concerns regarding this issue, please give me a call at the station, I would love to talk with you.

Thank you to all our underwriters. KZAS wishes to once again acknowledge our current underwriters whose generous donations make it possible to keep our equipment up to date, pay our bills, and keep Radio Tierra on the air. Remember, Radio Tierra is a public radio station so we cannot advertise, but we may mention those individuals and organizations that support us with regular generous donations – you too can make a tax deductible donation to us anytime. Our thanks to our current underwriters: Gorge Rebuild it Center, Puerto Angeles 3, Hood River Country Prevention Department, Chicken Teriyaki, Ortigoza Auto Service, Casa Mirador, Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, Parkdale Fire Prevention District, Carniceria y Verdularia La Mexicana, Ixtapa Mexican restaurant, Aly’s Gift Shop, la Michoacana, and The Next Door.

Board of Directors meetings. A reminder that we hold our monthly board meetings the first Sunday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at The Next Door. The public is always invited. Our next meeting will be on Sunday, September 4 at 5:30.

Come volunteer. Radio Tierra’s mission is to entertain, educate and inspire our community. And we are a volunteer organization. We would love to grow our station – we are always on the lookout for more volunteers – both English or Spanish speakers. We welcome diversity. You can contact us on our website at www.radiotierra.org or call us at 541-387-3772/541-645-5159. I personally am now carrying the KZAS cell phone which gets the calls that are forwarded, when there is no DJ in the studio, and I promise to return your calls promptly.

Again thank you all for your support and thanks for listening to the Beat of the Gorge, Radio Tierra, KZAS 95.1 in Hood River, 95.9 in Stevenson, WA , 107.1 in Parkdale, OR107.7 in The Dalles, and 96.7 in Carson, WA.  We are delighted to be broadcasting to you in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. We are your station and everyone has a voice!