Sounds of belonging: A cultural history of Spanish -language radio in the United States, 1922--2004.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the historical and political relationship between U.S. Spanish-language radio and its Spanish-speaking listenership throughout the twentieth century. I investigate Spanish-language radio's unique institutional development, programming traits, and audience reception during specific historical instances. I employ a range of multidisciplinary methodologies---archival, policy review, ethnographic, focus groups, and discourse analysis---to construct a cultural history of Spanish-language programming that focuses on the West coast of the United States. Specifically, I argue that a Mexican-dominant listenership---largely characterized by a legacy of Spanish and U.S. colonialism, a history of proletarianism, and linguistic and cultural fluency in Spanish---has shaped the development and character of U.S. Spanish-language radio. For Latinos, broadcasting in Spanish has become increasingly politically symbolic within the context of English-Only and anti-immigrant sentiments. In particular, I argue that radio acts as an acoustic ally to Spanish-speaking listeners through programming that helps listeners negotiate nostalgia as well as navigate the geopolitical present. In order to fully interrogate the cultural import of U.S. Spanish-language radio, this dissertation focuses upon a number of different sites. I document the trajectory from Spanish-language radio's early grassroots activist character to its corporate-sponsored existence. I link reviews of immigration and communication policy with research conducted at bilingual community radio stations through ethnographic methods. I look at radio shows, in particular Q&A immigration call-in shows as well as morning talk radio, as cultural texts and offer a discourse analysis of them. I argue that Arbitron's listening measurements---the listening diary, and Portable People Meter---are linguistically and culturally inappropriate measurements for Latino listeners. Lastly, I include a reception component through focus groups conducted with Latina radio listeners in San Francisco. I situate my analysis within broader discussions of the history of American broadcasting, the role of ethnic media within the United States, as well as immigration politics. Ultimately, I highlight how the growth of Spanish-language radio, its transnational scope and flows, as well as its immigrant-based listenership, challenges academic renderings of U.S. radio as exclusively English-only, national in programming, and as catering to a domestic audience.