Signals for Change

Hugo Morales against the gritty backdrop ALUMNI of Fresno, California tecs—and others of Mexico’s native peoples—who work in fields, factories, and fast-food joints throughout California. Signals for Change Indigenous languages such as Mixteco, Zapotecan, and Triqui are heard on RB, along with Brazilian Portuguese and An alumnus dedicates his life to Latino radio. Hmong—“other linguistically marginalized populations” that he says are well rep- resented in Fresno. English is heard some- ith his flowing tiny highlands village, Miltepec. He was times as well, particularly during the white hair and Mix- last there, with his mother, in January. teenage program, La Paz. “RB creates most tec Indian physique, “Over 200 demonstrators are in jail,” he of its own content, so it speaks directly to Hugo Morales ’72, continued, “and there have been allega- the interests and needs of its audience,” J.D. ’75, spoke re- tions of torture. It’s a very unstable situa- says RB board member Viola Canales ’79, Wcently to a crowd, mostly prominent An- tion that has not been widely reported.” J.D. ’89. “For example, RB was the only sta- glos, in San Francisco. “Some of the city Except on his radio station. Radio Bil- tion that carried [last spring’s pro-immi- halls around the state were shut down ingüe (RB), which he founded in Fresno in grant] marches live from start to finish.” and more people were protesting. And is- 1976, is the nation’s only public Spanish- For 31 years, Morales has shepherded sues of race, class, and native languages language radio network. The talk he gave, RB—from an all-volunteer, mostly music have surfaced,” he said, referring to dis- to supporters of California Tomorrow, venue funded by the Mexican equivalent crimination and political strife in his na- which promotes social justice (he is board of pancake breakfasts to a $3-million tive state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Morales has vice-chairman), reflects the salient issues company with six stations in California lived in California since the age of nine, aired on RB, especially during segments and 90 satellite a∞liates throughout the but he returns annually to Oaxaca and his geared to the estimated 100,000 Mix- United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Photographs by Matt Black www.haa.harvard.edu Its programming is aimed at working His listeners are predominantly Latino his father, Rafael, crossed the border and “with listeners as agents of change and immigrants, he says, many raising families became a farmworker in Healdsburg, not merely as objects of change,” accord- on $30,000 a year or less. Contrast this to about 80 miles north of San Francisco. ing to its 2006 annual report. “RB is more the National Public Radio audience, near- That left his mother, Concepción, with than a radio station,” says California as- ly half of whom earn upwards of $75,000 a three small children. “We were very, very semblyman Juan Arambula ’75, a friend year. “Most of my classmates probably lis- poor,” he says, remembering his mother since college. “It is the culmination of ten to NPR as a way to connect,” he ex- weaving straw hats all day to buy the fam- who Hugo is and his contribution to the plains. “And RB could be an NPR service, ily a chicken. It was not until 1958 that betterment of society and to the people but we choose to serve the low-income they all boarded a Three Stars bus and, as that he cares about. He is a public servant population with intelligent, challenging resident aliens, reunited with Rafael, who and I think he has made more of a di≠er- programming in Spanish.” Farmworkers had become a naturalized citizen. ence in peoples’ lives than he would have represent a large chunk of RB’s audience. Morales spoke no English, but was as an elected o∞cial.” “Some concrete gains have been made, ahead in math (thanks to his Catholic To that end, Noticiero Latino—the news but, relatively speaking, they continue to schooling in Mexico). During recess, his service—continues to report on the immi- third-grade teacher, who knew no Spanish, gration debate. In February, reporters fo- Hugo Morales talks with some of the read him English-language picture books. young participants in the ¡Viva el Mariachi! cused on the citrus freeze, interviewing workshop held during his radio station’s “Toward the end of fifth grade, I began to some of the thousands of farmworker fami- annual mariachi festival. get a clue about what was being talked lies a≠ected and pointing to the slow arrival of federal aid. “Still, people are at the brink of losing their homes because they cannot pay mortgages,” Morales says. “Federal funding does not allow for remuneration to the undocumented workers, and 70 per- cent of the farmworkers are undocumented.” Other topics range from pollution control and AIDS among Latinos to the inflationary rise in tortilla prices. Linea Abierta (“Open Line”), the nation’s first and only Spanish-language live weekday talk show, o≠ers roundtable discussions, inter- views—with former president Bill Clinton and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others—and live call-in dialogue be- tween friends and family members in Mexico and the United States. Parents be among the most exploited class of about in the classroom,” he says. “That’s call in to La Placita Bilingüe, a virtual village workers in the United States,” Morales why I’m in favor of bilingual education.” plaza, to discuss teen obesity or gang vio- asserts. “Who can say that a worker has Seventh grade was spent in a sanato- lence, or to share family recipes and grapple a good quality of life if he or she is earning rium, recovering from tuberculosis. with keeping up traditions, such as a $7 per hour, has no health insurance, no There, he whipped through a year’s worth daughter’s debut at age 15—“A Quinceañera. unemployment insurance, no Social Secu- of schoolwork in about six weeks, catch- Why do we bother doing this here in the rity, and can’t get a driver’s license?” ing the eye of his teacher. At the same States?” La Paz explores conflict resolution, time, he was reading Time magazine and academic achievement, drug abuse, and It is a personal subject. Morales spent national newspapers, awakening a social even teenage pregnancy. “Unfortunately, a much of his own early life picking pro- consciousness that became the core of his disproportion of our youth are marginalized duce in northern California, alongside his adult identity. “I saw how the mainstream economically and are low performers in our parents and siblings. “My dad earned looked at Latinos, and I was shocked peo- public schools,” Morales says. “From the be- about $4,000 a year, which was typical, ple would think we were dumb or lazy,” ginning, we have dedicated programming about $1 to $1.25 an hour,” he says. “Once he says. “I was living among very smart, and music to support them and recognize we came to the U.S., we all worked be- talented people—musicians, poets, writ- they’re part of our family. Many people who cause that salary was not enough to feed ers, carpenters—and I thought, ‘These tune in and write to us are behind bars.” us.” When Morales was a year old, in 1950, people have the wrong idea about us.’ Harvard Magazine 75 JOHN HARVARD’S JOURNAL That’s when I really began to ish-language programs on WHRB, play- excel academically and to articu- ing Mexican folk music as well as Latino late to the outside what it was to rock and jazz, and recruiting Puerto Ri- be poor, and the merits of the cans from outside the Harvard commu- people who were poor.” nity to play salsa, recite poetry, and report In high school, he joined the on the independence movement. “He debate team and the school talked me into becoming a member of newspaper; he was elected stu- WHRB. I became a studio engineer for dent president and was the only his program, in addition to having my person of color in the college- own show,” says Juan Arambula, who also preparatory classes. Always close grew up in a California farmworker fam- to his parents, especially his ily. “He’s very good at that: he has the mother, whom he admires for quality of making it di∞cult for people to raising him alone, he took to say no to him.” heart his dad’s refrain: “It is our By the time he got to law school, duty to help our community.” He Morales had decided to become a public remembers boarding buses with servant—maybe an elected o∞cial or a his family to attend rallies orga- union organizer, and “I wanted to use nized by César Chávez. “I wore radio to empower farm workers to help my UFW [United Farm Workers themselves,” he says. During the summers of America] Eagle pin every day he went home, worked in the fields, and in school; I was very blunt about lived in the farm labor camp with his par- my political views,” he says, with ents. After graduation, he lectured for La a laugh. “Everybody knew who I Raza Studies at California State Univer- was and what I stood for.” sity in Fresno and posted flyers about The potential power of radio starting a bilingual radio station. as an instrument of social “Everyone who called became a board change first dawned on him member,” he says, laughing.

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