Pair hope to launch Spanish radio program

Hourlong format would include language lessons

Lucy Miller, left, and Donna Frantz are trying to launch a Spanish radio program in Lawrence. They hope to provide an hourlong program with information on events and services in the community, plus an English language lesson.

Despite Lawrence’s growing Hispanic population, the city does not have any local Spanish-language media programs.

Two local women are seeking to fill that void.

Lucy Miller, translator for Lawrence public schools, and Donna Frantz, who has been involved with the Hispanic community since moving here 10 years ago from Denver, have developed an hourlong radio program that would serve Spanish-speaking residents in Lawrence. Now they just need a radio station willing to broadcast their program.

Miller, who worked in the De Soto school system for four years as a translator before transferring to Lawrence, said her experiences working with Spanish-speaking parents and children showed her the need for local Spanish-language media.

“I’ve been thinking about this idea for the last three years,” Miller said. “Working with all the school districts, I saw the need for all this information that is so valuable to the parents and to the community.”

In addition to providing an outlet for information, Frantz and Miller’s goal is to help educate Spanish-speaking immigrants in the English language. The program would be conducted predominantly in Spanish, but every segment would contain a language lesson, Frantz said.

“They (Hispanics) all know there is a great need to learn English. They know that. There is a huge lack of confidence to pursue another language. Through the radio, we wanted to give them a very safe and anonymous environment to learn something about the English language,” she said.

Service-oriented

Every segment of the program also would expose listeners to various services in the community, Frantz said. Guests would be invited on the program to talk about a variety of resources, including community, educational and legal services, and “cultural do’s and don’ts,” among other topics, she said. The guest interviews would also serve as a language lesson.

“We would have a conversation back and forth in English, learning conversation through how it is really spoken,” Frantz said.

Frantz said several community members who are active in the Hispanic community have agreed to come on the program as guests.

Lydia Leon, manager for the Centro Hispano Resource Center, a Lawrence-based organization that works with families whose strongest language is Spanish, could be among the guests. The center helps families connect with the community and access medical, educational and legal resources, among other services.

“I think it is a way for families to learn more about the community with the goal of making integration easier, to facilitate that process,” Leon said of the radio program. “I think there is definitely a need because there is a growing immigrant population.”

Miller and Frantz both point out that Lawrence does not have any Spanish-language media. Spanish radio stations from the Kansas City area focus on information specific to Kansas City. And while the programs often mention church events on the air, the Kansas City stations are more oriented toward entertainment, Miller said.

“Most of the radio programming for Hispanics is insulting,” Frantz said. “It really reaches for the lowest common denominator. It is music and silly jokes and stereotypical banter.”

Positive reception

Frantz and Miller both said the response to their program within the Hispanic community has been positive. Whether anything comes of the program, however, is another matter.

Frantz and Miller submitted a proposal to KLWN, but they haven’t heard back from the station. Miller said management at the radio station told them they liked the proposal, but did not yet know whether it would have an available time slot.

“The thing is, Lawrence has no public access radio,” Frantz said.

If the program is not picked up by KLWN, Frantz said she and Miller would consider other options. She said they would check the possibility that Kansas University could broadcast the program. They could even modify the program into a television piece for public access television, Frantz said. Whatever the option, Frantz and Miller want to keep the program in Lawrence.

“We have both decided that we want this to be a community effort,” Frantz said. “We live here. These are the Hispanics we have worked with over the years.”