FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2013

Contact: María de Jesús Gómez, chuyag@radiobilingue.org , 559-455-5782

Ruben Tapia, 310-713-0106

Radio Bilingüe and Pacifica’s KPFK to broadcast town hall meeting on immigration reform

Radio Bilingüe and KPFK join forces for a live town hall broadcast from one of the “hot spot” congressional districts in the current immigration reform debate this Monday, March 25^th from 12 noon to 2 PM PT. Radio Bilingüe’s Línea Abierta and KPFK’s Enfoque Latino will broadcast the special from the district of Rep. Gary Miller (R, San Bernardino, CA) as part of a series to illuminate divergent views on this critical matter and engage Spanish-speaking audiences in the civic discourse.

The forum in Spanish is open to the public and will take place at the SEIU – United Long Term Care Workers Regional Office, at 195 North Arrowhead Avenue in San Bernardino. It will be aired live in the Greater Los Angeles Area through KPFK, Pacifica Radio, and in the rest of the state and the nation through the public radio network Radio Bilingüe.

Rep. Miller has been invited to the forum, where moderators will explore Rep. Miller’s opinions on the immigration-reform principles now on the table in the Senate and the House in Washington, including the proposed legalization plan with a path to citizenship. Congressional District 31 is a newly created district that encompasses areas of San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga and is heavily Latino with a Latino and Asian-American majority. While Rep. Miller has in the past spearheaded restrictive and punitive legislation, such as ending birthright citizenship to exclude undocumented immigrants, he is now reportedly in an “information-gathering stage” on current immigration reform proposals.

The forum is the first in a radio series to scrutinize California’s congressional delegation views on immigration reform and facilitate a direct dialogue between elected officials and their constituents. The March 25 special broadcast also marks a milestone for KPFK in Los Angeles. On this day, the FM station will broadcast for a full 24 hours in Spanish, a first ever for any public station in the Los Angeles area. This coincides with the anniversary of the Los Angeles pro-immigrant mega-rally of 2006, the largest single demonstration in the nation during the historic season that brought millions to the streets in the largest Latino and pro-immigrant marches in the nation’s history.

Hosting the town hall meeting will be seasoned producers Ruben Tapia, of Enfoque Latino, and Línea Abierta’s Samuel Orozco.

Enfoque Latino, is an established Spanish-language weekly radio program. For more than 26 years, this public-affairs program has been serving Latino audiences in the Greater Los Angeles area, including the Inland Empire, Santa Barbara, and southern California, through KPFK-FM, a listener-sponsored station of the Pacifica Radio Network.

Línea Abierta, the first and only Spanish-language news show broadcast nationally over the public radio satellite system, is a service of Radio Bilingüe a national network based in California that distributes programming to more than 100 affiliate stations nationwide. Radio Bilingüe has a decades-long tradition of providing in-depth coverage to special events involving Latino civic participation.

Key community partners in this town hall meeting include Mi Familia Vota, a non-profit organization that promotes Latino civic participation, and SEIU – United Long Term Care Workers, a healthcare workers union from San Bernardino.

Funding for national distribution has been provided in part by The Walter and Evelyn Haas Jr Fund, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation.

The local radio service is possible thanks to the contribution of listener supporters.

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