It began with a change of heart. In 1996, the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (MFACM), a Chicago arts organization dedicated to the preservation and education of Mexican culture, was asked by the Chicago Boys and Girls Club if it would be interested in purchasing their radio station. Carlos Tortolero, founder and executive director of MFACM, said no.

But when another organization expressed an interest in purchasing the station, with plans to eliminate its educational programming, MFACM stepped forward and purchased the 8-watt station, for $12,000. Today, the station is the only bilingual (Spanish/English) youth-operated community radio station in the country. It broadcasts at 73 watts, reaching a potential audience of 500,000 in the greater Chicago area, primarily serving the Latino community with a mix of music and news programs produced by young people.

A teacher by trade, Tortolero has had a special commitment to the young people in the Little Village/Pilsen area, a Mexican community where the high school drop-out rate averages 30 percent, compared to an average 6 percent for the rest of the state, and where 95 percent of the youth attending schools are low-income.

Recognizing the power of the arts to engage young people, Tortolero had already launched plans for the Yollocalli Youth Museum, providing arts education and training to local youth, when MFACM purchased WRTE.

"The radio station was a perfect fit," said Yolanda Rodriguez, WRTE general manager. "We felt that a media project was not much different from what we wanted to do with the youth museum, which was to create programming to empower young people."

Lessons in Mixed Media
So Rodriguez set out to create and implement a curriculum—one that would involve using the arts as a foundation for creating a radio program. She sought to provide balance, giving students a high degree of freedom of creative expression and a relationship between student and teacher based on trust and honesty—all while teaching the basics of station operations, marketing, responsibility and teamwork.

"Sometimes it's a very raw approach, other times it's very abstract," Rodriguez said of the station's curriculum. "I think that what makes it unique is the entire product is created by young people. They write the script, they produce the piece, they do the interviews. We have nothing to do with that entire process."

The curriculum provides instruction at no cost to over 200 15-to-21-year-olds annually, offering short-term classes during the summer on audio art, event production and Spanish broadcasting, as well as an after-school two-year intensive broadcast training program. Participation in the program fulfills a community service requirement of the Chicago Public School System, as well as internship requirements for college programs.

The broadcast training program, which is offered in both Spanish and English, is broken down into three phases, offering students instruction in writing, production, critiquing, voice training and Federal Communications Commission regulations. By the third phase of training, students are producing their own radio programs, as well as working collaboratively on one of the station's several committees, where they develop mentoring relationships with other students to create original productions about health, arts and social issues.

From Learning to Doing
One such committee, Radio Vida, reaches out to Latino and Latina youth about health and social issues by including young people's voices and experiences in the programming. Radio Vida is supported by Sound Partners for Community Health, a national initiative to support partnerships between public radio stations and local organizations in order to better inform and engage communities in problem solving on local health care issues.

"It's not one of the typical radio shows that often only have music. It takes a higher level of creativity to inform and entertain at the same time, " said Jesus Ortiz, the 20-year-old producer of Radio Vida. "It's a challenging but rewarding task."

The program is currently producing a 12-month series of 24 one-hour programs on substance abuse, including programs on illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol. The segments include interviews with substance users, both current and recovering, nonusers, doctors, counselors and police officers, and are creatively entwined with music, drama and poetry. A seven-member team shares responsibility for the production of Radio Vida, including determining formats, writing scripts, conducting interviews and selecting music.

The students, most of whom reside in the Pilsen/Little Village area, come from a variety of socio-economic and academic backgrounds. The only requirements for participation are that students are between the ages of 15 and 21 and are fully committed to the program.

The training program offers instruction to between 20 and 30 students each semester, out of as many as 100 applicants. The program is demanding—on average, five students will drop out within the first few months. About 80 students have completed the program since its inception in June 1997. Many have pursued their interest in communications, through further schooling or related careers.

Powerful Voices
Rodriguez believes WRTE has had a positive effect on the young people who participate. Many find themselves getting better grades in school. Participants have become more active and interested in their community. They have come to understand the power of communication, and the value of creating a community-wide discussion of issues that affect them, their peers and others in the area. They have discovered their voices are valuable and powerful.

"There is such an immediate need for local change in our community, and there aren't very many programs for young people in the arts that just take any kid that walks in the door and wants to do it," said Rodriguez. "I hope that these kids—wherever they go, no matter where they move to in life, whatever road they choose to take—that they are responsible to whatever community they are a part of."

• The WRTE Web site [1] provides more information about the station's activities.
• Learn more about MFACM from their Web site. [2]
• The Benton Foundation's Sound Partners for Community Health hosts audio clips [3] from WRTE.