Antenna Dilemmas: The Rise of an Indigenous-Language Low-Power Radio Station in Southern California

Abstract

This article documents the legal and technological struggles of indigenous Mexican farmworkers (Mixtec and Zapotec) and a partner non-profit as they worked to apply for and build a low-power FM radio station in Oxnard, California. While there is much research on the development of U.S. community radio, scholarship rarely captures the experiences of low-income immigrant communities. With a focus on the FCC application, siting the antenna, and establishing Internet radio, this article highlights the limitations of new media (mobile phones and Internet radio) in bridging information gaps for low-income immigrants and argues that the need for FM radio persists.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the openness and support of MICOP and the Radio Committee for this project. Special thanks to Lisa Parks, Cristina Venegas, and Erika Polson for their help on earlier versions. A kind thanks to fccdata.org for permission to use their images. Lastly, the author would also like to thank the editors of Journal of Radio & Audio Media and the anonymous readers who provided constructive feedback on this article

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