Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 13, 2009 at 21:30:48:
For Immediate Release – November 17, 2009
Vocalo.org and Radio Arte Announce Collaboration
At an event this afternoon at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, Vocalo.org, 89.5 WBEW-FM, and Radio Arte, 90.5 WRTE-FM, announce a year-long collaboration to share content and resources in order to promote innovation in public media in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana region.
The two public radio stations will work together in several ways. Vocalo.org will rebroadcast Radio Arte's entire bilingual (Spanish) radio programming on Vocalo.org's HD-2 channel full-time, seven days a week. The HD signal increases Radio Arte's broadcast footprint to include much more of Chicago and Northwest Indiana and also allows them to transmit text data along with the radio signal to HD radios.
"The HD signal addition to our broadcast will allow us to bring programming made by Latino youth to a broader listenership," says Silvia Rivera, station manager of the bilingual, youth-driven public radio station, Radio Arte.
"This collaboration is another way that we fulfill our mission of helping to bring multiple and diverse voices to the public airwaves," says Wendy Turner, general manager of Vocalo.org, a public radio station whose broadcast is based around user-submitted content culled from their social networking website.
"Both Vocalo.org and Radio Arte are committed to building networks of media creators in the general public, so finding ways of working together is a natural fit," adds Wendy.
Besides sharing resources, the partnership includes content sharing as well. On Fridays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Radio Arte hosts will join Vocalo.org host Luis Perez on the Vocalo.org broadcast. During this broadcast, the hosts will create a new sound that will feature both Vocalo.org and Radio Arte interviews, discussions and themes. The hosts have collaborated since October, and are still working to find a sound that blends the aesthetic of the two stations. Finally, both Radio Arte and Vocalo.org will promote their collaborative efforts to their listeners on their respective stations, websites, social networks and newsletters.
"The collaborative broadcast on Fridays will expose Radio Arte listeners to the powerful and easy online multimedia creation tools on Vocalo.org, and likewise will expose Vocalo.org listeners to the content that Latino youth are creating. It's a win-win for both listener communities," noted Silvia.
About Vocalo.org:
Vocalo.org, 89.5 WBEW-FM, is a website and radio station committed to fostering conversation between diverse constituents in the Lake Michigan region. Vocalo.org was started in June 2007 as an initiative of Chicago Public Radio to make public radio more open to the public at-large. The station invites everyone to join the conversation by uploading stories, interviews, and text to www.vocalo.org or by calling the hotline at 888-635-1112. Vocalo.org broadcasts live from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and features all-night and weekend mix tapes of content during automated hours. Vocalo.org broadcasts on 89.5 FM to a footprint of 2.5 million residents in Northwest Indiana, Chicago and Southwest Michigan and streams online live to the world. As of 2009, Vocalo.org's online community has grown to more than 5,000 contributors.
About Radio Arte:
Radio Arte, 90.5 WRTE-FM, is an initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art and is a bilingual, youth-driven public radio station that works to advance the voices of our multi-layered society. Radio Arte does this by promoting socially conscious journalism, providing media-literacy training; and creating programming that showcases music, issues, and events that are not featured prominently by mainstream media. Their guiding principals are to:
1. Create and deliver high quality experiential learning opportunities that enable Latino youth to competencies and life skills to pursue careers of their choice, particularly journalism and media.
2. Build a strong national network of Spanish language youth media creators.
3. Support Latino youth as they become resources to the larger community through their involvement in media and civic engagement.