Radio Arte - Chicago, Illinois, USA
WRTE-FM, known as "Radio Arte," is a youth project of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. Run almost entirely by people under the age of 21, the radio station is located in Pilsen, a mostly Mexican neighbourhood just west of downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA. A two-year training programme is designed to prepare these youth to offer a fresh perspective and a new sound. The goal is to provide young people with a forum to express their diverse musical preferences (often, Latin sounds), perspectives on issues impacting their community (like urban housing), and personal experiences (which are often unconventional).
Communication Strategies
Radio Arte is the result of a two-year training programme designed to educate local high school and community college students in radio production, broadcast writing, and voice technique. After a few months of coursework, students go on the air for 9 months - broadcasting in English or Spanish - with the support of a mentor. In their second year at the station, they produce a larger project (a music programme or documentary series, for example).
The internet is a tool for finding new and different music with Latin roots, as well as for sharing this music with the community. With a low 73-watt transmitter, WRTE's signal can be hard to pick up even a few miles from its broadcast booth. However, Radio Arte broadcasts 24 hours a day on the web. To seek out up-and-coming musicians, young producers search the internet in order to spotlight artists who play "Rock en Español" from around the world (especially South America and Europe). This website also features a message board and an events calendar.
The station stages two or three live music events a year, which draw visitors from across Chicago. For example, in 2002, the station invited Nortec Collective, a D.J. collective from Tijuana, to make its Chicago debut.
Talk shows are also part of the programme. For instance, gay youth produce "Homofrecuencia," a weekly Spanish-language programme about openly describing oneself as gay as a teenager.
Radio Arte also provides news. Young producers air documentaries on subjects ranging from police shootings to teenage drug use. As of this writing, the station is in the midst of a 10-segment look at housing displacement in Chicago in a series called "Uprooting." "We see this from the perspective of people who have to leave their homes and communities," says Sylvia Rivera, 22, who is producing the series with four students, ages 16 to 22. "People in public housing are being forced out of their communities because the city is tearing down the developments. People in Pilsen have to move because they can't afford the rent after gentrification. We didn't know what gentrification was when we started this project," says Rivera, who was a member of the 1997 training class and has since worked part-time at the station. "We had never been to a public housing project. We really had no idea what was going on in our own city."
The internet is a tool for finding new and different music with Latin roots, as well as for sharing this music with the community. With a low 73-watt transmitter, WRTE's signal can be hard to pick up even a few miles from its broadcast booth. However, Radio Arte broadcasts 24 hours a day on the web. To seek out up-and-coming musicians, young producers search the internet in order to spotlight artists who play "Rock en Español" from around the world (especially South America and Europe). This website also features a message board and an events calendar.
The station stages two or three live music events a year, which draw visitors from across Chicago. For example, in 2002, the station invited Nortec Collective, a D.J. collective from Tijuana, to make its Chicago debut.
Talk shows are also part of the programme. For instance, gay youth produce "Homofrecuencia," a weekly Spanish-language programme about openly describing oneself as gay as a teenager.
Radio Arte also provides news. Young producers air documentaries on subjects ranging from police shootings to teenage drug use. As of this writing, the station is in the midst of a 10-segment look at housing displacement in Chicago in a series called "Uprooting." "We see this from the perspective of people who have to leave their homes and communities," says Sylvia Rivera, 22, who is producing the series with four students, ages 16 to 22. "People in public housing are being forced out of their communities because the city is tearing down the developments. People in Pilsen have to move because they can't afford the rent after gentrification. We didn't know what gentrification was when we started this project," says Rivera, who was a member of the 1997 training class and has since worked part-time at the station. "We had never been to a public housing project. We really had no idea what was going on in our own city."
Development Issues
Youth, Cultural Diversity.
Sources
"Young People Create a New Sound" by Ron Feemster, Ford Foundation Report, Summer 2003; and Radio Arte site.
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