Transmitting joy at full strength

Operators welcome Hispanic radio station's premiere after years of work

By ALESIA I. REDDING, South Bend Tribune Staff Writer September 9, 2002.

SOUTH BEND -- The radiant smile that spreads across Eliud Villanueva's face during the first wondrous minutes of life for local station WSBL-LPFM (98.1) makes a mockery of the description "low-power'' radio.

Federal Communications Commission guidelines may have limited the radio station, created to serve the local Hispanic community, to broadcasting at no more than 100 watts.

But Villanueva, the radio project manager who never gave up on this improbable dream of broadcasting to and for his people, is transmitting joy at full strength.

"This is crazy!'' he said during WSBL's first broadcast, which occurred, somewhat appropriately, at about 1 p.m. on the first day of September. "Everything is working just the way it's supposed to.''

His statement is greeted with appreciative chuckles from the other three men jammed into the close quarters of the station's makeshift studio in the Marycrest Building on South Bend's west side. (The station will eventually move to the Indiana University South Bend campus.)

But his words also reflect the ups and downs that have marked a journey that began more than two years ago. That's when Villanueva, as a member of the local League of United Latin American Citizens, applied for a station permit from the FCC, which made low-power licenses available to schools, nonprofit groups and others whose voices are generally absent on commercial radio.

WSBL's goal is to use a variety of local programming to provide information, including basic English lessons, to area Hispanics. But at this point, about a month before the FCC-imposed Oct. 12 deadline for getting on the air, WSBL is playing Spanish music, sandwiching station announcements and appeals for volunteers in between songs.

And until the delivery of the computer that will allow for preprogrammed broadcasts and, eventually, a 24-hour day, WSBL is only on the air for several hours at a time.

For now, that's plenty.

"Ramon -- we've done it!'' Villanueva says, grinning at Ramon Rodriguez, the retiree who hosted a one-hour Spanish-language show on WSBT-AM and will work as WSBL's station manager.

The four men who witnessed WSBL's launch are beaming like proud new fathers. In addition to Villanueva and Rodriguez, there's Leopoldo Suarez, whose steady hands (he was a licensed surgeon in Mexico) and experience installing antennas were invaluable. Also present is Rogelio Cuervo, whose youth and strength made the difference in getting the transmitter installed.

Villanueva alternately fiddles with the control board and checks the CD of ranchero (comparable to country) music that's playing. Much of what he's learned about the technical side of radio has been through books and by trial and error.

Suarez stands nearby, a cell phone plastered to his ear, repeating the question of the hour:

"Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it?'' In its first day on the air, WSBL took its message directly to some of the people it will serve. The station's debut broadcast aired over the public address system at the annual festival at St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, a predominantly Hispanic parish.

LULAC board member Greg Ch?vez came up with the idea to beam the broadcast. "I figured we might get up on the air, so I took my radio along,'' says Ch?vez, who's been committed to the radio project from the start.

He says the response by festival-goers was great to see. "They were so glad: Finally, to have a station we can listen to. They were overwhelmed to get a station here.''

Ch?vez says he always believed in WSBL but admits that "for a while it didn't look good.

"It was a lot of hard work. A lot of different people helped out quite a bit.''

Along the way, contributions large and small have been made by many, including the hardware store owner who didn't charge for an essential piece of radio equipment and local disc jockey Alfredo Diego, owner of LA Salsa, who volunteered to take over the 9 p.m. to midnight shift.

The Rev. Christopher Cox, St. Stephen assistant pastor, listened to WSBL's inaugural transmission and later loaned the station his collection of Spanish CDs.

And last week Cox dropped by to bless the station, a tradition in the Catholic faith.

"It was a great opportunity to be invited to pray over the space and over the mission,'' he says.


Ramon Rodriguez, who previously hosted a Hispanic radio program on WSBT-AM (960), broadcasts from WSBL-LPFM (98.1) in South Bend, a new low-power radio station serving the local Hispanic community.