In an office overlooking a busy int...

In an office overlooking a busy intersection in Pilsen, Jorge Valdivia has sufficiency to remind him of the achievements of his radio station, Radio Arte. Across from his desk a shelf keep possession ofs about a half-dozen plaques and statues awarded to the station throughout the years.

Among them is a framed picture of Valdivia, the station's general manager, posing with First Lady Laura Bush. It was taken in 2003 when Valdivia l a collection to Washington, D.C., to receive the "Coming Up Taller" award, which hailed the station as a national original in empowering youth through the broadcast media.

The award ruminates the growing influence of Radio Arte, individual of a handful of Latino-owned public radio stations in the native land For more than nine years, it has provided a place for young race to learn the art of radio within a one-year program that trains them upon the basics of broadcast journalism and production.

onward the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Radio Arte's programming moves the gamut. "La Femme," for instance, is individual of the station's flagship programs that reports onward women's issues. "Homofrecuencia," which received a special honor from Mayor Richard M Daley in 2004 is devot to covering gay and lesbian issues.

Valdivia says these programs, which scholars help develop and produce, exemplify the station's willingness to take upon the issues considered "taboo that the bigger stations are not going to talk about."

Chris Davila, 18 who works at Starbucks in addition to producing and hosting "LaFemme," said she appreciates the opportunity to research and write her acknowledge stories on community issues. "I actually learned more about the community," she said. "Not that I was blind--I just didn't care. Radio Arte exhibited my eyes more."

Valdivia himself began his career at the station as a pupil In 1995, when the station was called WCYC Valdivia, then 21 signed up for training classes, which were in the same manner poorly run that he essentially taught himself to use the radio equipment.

A year later, the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum bought the station to move on as part of its youth initiative. Valdivia was brought onward board to help transform the station from the same that just played "cool stone en Espanol" to a "program that trains youth to become communicators, to mobilize and talk about issues," he said.

Valdivia freshly talked with The Chicago Reporter about Radio Arte.

to what extent did you get involved with the station?

Before it was Radio Arte, I was a listener of the station. I just remember listening when I was like 20 years of advanced age and thinking how different and recent and innovative the programming wholeed I could tell it was different from the other radio stations still being a very uninformed listener, I couldn't quite inflict my finger on it. And then it dawned forward me that there were no commercials. And the music-I was able to identify with it because it was youth-focused. to such a degree one day as I was listening, I heard about the classes and I joined.

When I started on the outside I'll be honest, I idea 'Oh, I have all these great ideas for radio. When I finish my own radio program, I'm going to be playing this kind of music because nobody otherwise plays it.' And I think that's what a accident of the students here think. still as I grew older, that mentality evolv It did unroll because I started a documentary upon Latinos with HIV and MD That was the true first time we had done a program like that. It was me and a leash of other students from the station, and we were interviewing the community who were HIV-positive. I remember sitting in this swing interviewing people who were talking about what it meant for them to be HIV-positive, to be Latino, all these different things. And I walked on the outside of there really emotional--the three of us did. And we weren't prepared for that experience.

further that was a turning point for me because I realized it was a great deal more about the information you provide your listeners with than the music. When I sat in the studio putting the programs together, I pondering about how powerful the message was going to be. It really was about the radio, about music, if it were not that it became much more than that. The reasons for being involved with the radio station became frequently more meaningful. It went beyond the music. It was more likewise about the information we were providing and the potential to help educate clan about issues that were impacting us as Latinos, as young people

I learned in like manner much, and I am likewise happy that I did. The station has grown and I've grown with it. I was a young living body who was merely curious about radio and, when I became involved in the radio station, I began to understand the potential of radio--the power that radio can have forward people, communities, how it can influence populace to mobilize, to come together, to advocate, to do all these different things, and for what cause interwoven radio is in our everyday lives. I realized for what cause much responsibility we carry forward our shoulders as young broadcasters, because, when you're behind the mic, you can do the same of two things: You can go on on the air and say nothing in 15 secondarys or you can go onward the air and you can speak about who you are as a young [i]role[/i] as a Latino, as a woman, as a gay or lesbian, as an immigrant. And that carries in the way that much power in it. When you speak about your experiences, other nation identify with you, and that's to what extent communities are built. When we listen to the radio, we want to identify with what we're hearing.