Rhode Island’s Latino Public Radio in danger of going off the air
By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer
CRANSTON — For more than a decade, Latino Public Radio has served Rhode Island’s Spanish-speaking community, currently 150,000 and growing. The nonprofit, 24-7 station provides bilingual news and information, including health, educational and financial programming, and culturally targeted entertainment.
But the station, 1290 AM WRNI, is facing a potential financial crisis as it ticks down a six-month option to buy its license, says Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, LPR Rhode Island president, CEO and board chairman. Its five-year lease with the station’s landlord, Rhode Island Public Radio, expired in September. The station has since signed a six-month lease. (Rodriguez resigned from the RIPR board when the purchase option arose.)
The nearly all-volunteer station operates on grants, fundraising and donations that last year totaled about $230,000; for now, it’s cash-in, cash-out, Rodriguez says. Of the three employees, station manager Reynaldo Almonte and his wife, administrator Lorraine Almonte, are paid. Rodriguez volunteers his time.
«Latino Public Radio is in peril,» Rodriguez said. «We have to raise an enormous amount of money in order to buy the frequency the station sits on from Rhode Island Public Radio. If we can’t raise funds, then the frequency, 1290 AM, will be for sale and we will likely be off the air.»
LPR is the sole public bilingual radio station in the Northeast, he said. The programming «is trailblazing and essential to the Spanish-speaking Latino community that is in dire need of services we provide.»
He added, «We’re trying our best to save the station. It’s just difficult to think that we can raise the amount of money necessary to buy the signal in six months,» an estimated $500,000 to $800,000.
The station is appealing to the governor’s office and the Rhode Island congressional delegation for help. The National Latino Public Radio Consortium — of which LPRRI is one of some 50 member stations — intends to help with fundraising strategies and audience substantiation, says Magaly Rivera, the consortium’s board chairperson.
The Rhode Island Foundation, a major funder, is paying for an audit, which is essential for attracting national donors and others, said foundation president Neil Steinberg.
Torey Malatia, executive director of Rhode Island Public Radio, said that «as appraised by an outside expert,» the estimated value of the signal is $500,000. A purchase price would have to be negotiated.
«We realized during the five-year [lease] period that we needed to sell that station at a loss. We just can’t keep operating it. We bought it [from Boston University] for $1.8 million; it’s worth about a few hundred thousand now.»
RIPR still owes money to BU, Malatia said in a phone interview.
«We are in fact clearing the field of potential offers to give Latino Public Radio an exclusive opportunity to negotiate to purchase 1290 — should they choose to do so.»
RIPR is patient when LPRRI falls behind in rent or utilities. And, he added, «It is not after six months you’re off the air — it’s after six months, you’re still on the air but we have to talk to other buyers.»
The station is a labor of love for co-founders Rodriguez and Almonte. Almonte previously broadcast commercial programming several hours a day at 88.1 FM for more than a decade.
Rodriguez has personally donated $300,000 to keep the station afloat: «I can’t do this anymore,» he said. He does an award-winning weekday morning show, «Nuestra Salud» (Our Health) from his office in Pawtucket, and «Hablemos,» (Let’s Talk) on Saturday from the Cranston studio.
Rodriguez, an obstetrician and gynecologist, is chairman of Women & Infants Health Care Alliance and president and CEO of Women’s Care.
«We are a required stop for politicians during the electoral season, and really throughout the year,» Rodriguez said. Saturday programming often includes «two or three hours of conversation on political issues affecting the state the country and the world.»
«It is the kind of programming you cannot find in commercial radio stations that are dedicated to entertainment, shock-jock format,» he added.
The station produces 48 hours of local programming per week: five hours a day and more on the weekend. That includes an innovative medical intern program. Music targeting a Hispanic market accounts for the rest.
Arbitron ratings estimated 75,000 listeners in 2011, when the station went from FM to AM during a signal transfer with RIPR and Wheeler School. Rodriguez said the station cannot afford to pay for new ratings estimates.
Almonte operates from a home studio in Cranston. He often works double shifts, covering local civic and political events, and writing and programming.
Almonte said he believes the station will need to raise more than $500,000. That includes money to bolster programming, and possibly purchase the signal tower and land on which it sits.
Almonte describes the station’s listening audience: «The newcomers — they need a lot of information. The second generation; they want to get information in Spanish. The third [generation] — they’re bilingual. They love the music in English, the press conferences in English. You have to accommodate each one.»
Rivera, of the national Latino Public Radio Consortium, said that like all of its member stations, LPR in Rhode Island provides «the everyday tools and information that any community needs to turn to,» including potentially life-saving emergency preparedness. Like others in the United States, «Latinos still want to have a connection to their cultural heritage.» The station’s programming «aligns with that cultural pride.»
kziner@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7375
On Twitter: @karenleez