ABSTRACT
Latino studies scholars have investigated Spanish-language radio in relation to the ethnolinguistic racialization of Latinos and have contextualized the topic in a larger historically rooted struggle for media access. Dolores Inés Casillas, for example, confronts problematic audience measurements that underestimate Latino listenership and sustain hierarchies of language and race by failing to recognize the complexity of language preference, and by identifying Latino participants as the problem rather than modifying its techniques. Mari Castañeda works at the intersection of transculturation and political economy to reveal how radio embodies a national vision that reinforces whiteness and the marginalization of minorities. She finds that while U.S. Latino media policy activism works to democratize communication resources, Latinos continue to face difficulties in areas of media ownership, employment, and programming (“Role of Media Policy”). Other scholars have examined Spanish-language radio’s role in raising Latino voter turnout (Panagopoulos and Green) and helping Latino organizations reach the national Latino public to mobilize protests and immigrant naturalization within a contentious political climate (Félix, González, and Ramírez). In contrast to an overtly political angle, in this chapter I consider how Latinos use radio as a vehicle for internal resistance, but we must not forget that this is only one aspect in a wide range of issues surrounding Latino identity and expression.
