DJ Rosario Chavez airs a program at Radio Tierra. Radio Tierra and Columbia Gorge News are working together to provide local news on the air in Spanish.
DJ Rosario Chavez airs a program at Radio Tierra. Radio Tierra and Columbia Gorge News are working together to provide local news on the air in Spanish.
Tune into “De Parranda con Rosario” Friday mornings on the nonprofit Radio Tierra, and you’ll hear news stories featured in that week’s Columbia Gorge News.
DJ Rosario Chavez shares newscasts scripted in Spanish by Radio Tierra Station Manager Bridget Naylor-Komyatte, who selects stories of interest to listeners.
Naylor-Komyatte said that health-related items are the first priority — like COVID or the RSV vaccine being approved — followed by local stories and events, and political news.
“Anything that could be particularly impactful overall, but especially to individuals who might be using the radio as their only source (of news), I prioritize,” she said. “That constitutes the main part of the newscasts, and then we do community events for the second part.”
Radio Tierra volunteer and DJ Nubia Contreras has also translated Columbia Gorge News stories into Spanish for the newspaper to share on its online En Español tab (columbiagorgenews.com).
“I think that’s so important — that’s part of the reason why I’m so excite about this budding partnership and collaboration, is that this is the first regular official newscast in Spanish (in the Gorge),” Naylor-Komyatte said. “Just to be able to share news that’s so important and impactful in so many ways, and focuses on community members — it’s so crucial to have that also available in Spanish. And I think it’s also an issue of equity and justice to have access to information.”
Radio Tierra Station Manager Bridget Naylor-Komyatte (left) and DJ Rosario Chavez sit together in the Radio Tierra studio.
Chelsea Marr photo
“It’s really great to be able to serve an entire population, not just a segment,” said Chelsea Marr, Columbia Gorge News owner and publisher.
“We try to educate,” Marr added. “That’s really our goal, to try to disseminate as much information as we can, and that it’s understood.”
Though the radio station began out of a garage on the Heights in Hood River in 2004 (and is still located on the Heights, with a recording booth at The Next Door), there are now additional transmitters in The Dalles, Parkdale, Stevenson and Carson — and since a live radio stream is also available online, that means anyone, anywhere, can tune in at radiotierra.org.
The mission at Radio Tierra is to provide high quality, innovative programing to the Gorge area — and the world — while bringing together diverse populations to promote mutual understanding, community support and opportunities for community development, said Juan Reyes, former volunteer, board member and board president at Radio Tierra, during a Hidden History talk at The History Museum of Hood River County last fall.
“So much of what the radio station does it could not do without community partners,” he said. “Because they provide a lot of the information, the educational material that we share with the community. A lot of people don’t have access to Facebook, they don’t have access to websites, they don’t check their email or don’t have email, so really, broadcasting is the only way for them to see that information.”
Naylor-Komyatte noted that while Radio Tierra has grown a lot in its almost 20 years on air, it still relies on volunteers, grants and donations, and its success is thanks to the generosity of others.
Radio Tierra DJ Rosario Chavez airs a program.
Chelsea Marr photo
“There’s always a need for more manpower. But we also recognize that as a station that is built on volunteer labor, there is this desire to move towards more paid positions, like Rosario’s newscast,” she said. “And to make it more equitable for people who have knowledge about the Latinx experience in the Gorge — the wide diversity of experiences in the Gorge. We could always use more volunteers, but we also want to move towards more paid positions and valuing people’s time in an explicit manner.”
With the partnership between the two organizations comes a broader focus on the people who live and work in the Columbia River Gorge.
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Chavez, who has worked at Casa del Mirador in The Dalles for 23 years, began volunteering as a Radio Tierra DJ in 2015 and also served on the board for a time.
With Naylor-Komyatte translating, Chavez said that, while the newspaper is available, listening to the news is more accessible for some.
One recent Columbia Gorge News story that caught the attention of her listeners is the Oregon Motor Motel slated for renovation into a 54-room, 100-bed transitional housing shelter in The Dalles, as reported by Alana Lackner.
“A lot of people were in favor, but a lot of people were not,” Chavez said. “That was more controversial … The shelter will bring in people who are trapped — it’s for people who want to keep moving forward. It’s hard to have an opinion while you’re not in their shoes.”
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