Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to start Spanish radio station for music, news, community

The South Dakota Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is starting a Spanish language radio station, and the plan is to get the community involved.

Hispanic Chamber CEO and president Selene Zamorano-Ochoa said it was always a dream of hers to start a Spanish radio station.

“We’d always say ‘one day.’ You dream of it, but think it’ll never happen,” she said.

Surrounding states like Minnesota and Nebraska have Spanish radio stations, but there are none in South Dakota.

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Zamorano-Ochoa brought up how some people who came to Sioux Falls on work visas at the start of the pandemic were cut off, in a sense, with no way to get the local news in their language.

She said if they had a radio station at the time, it would have helped people feel they were “in it together.”

“If it were just music, I’d say it was a luxury, but it’s also the communication we’re missing, so it becomes a necessity,” she said. “With the Chamber, we thought it might finally be possible to get one started.”

Since music is a big part of many Hispanic cultures, Zamorano-Ochoa said, the plan is to have music playing 24 hours a day except for the times when there are little segments for news and community engagement.

The Chamber plans to invite other people and nonprofits on the air to talk about their events or businesses.

The station will also include fun education segments like an English word of the day, which will be used in different sentences throughout the day as a fun way to learn the language.

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“We know Facebook might not be everybody’s easiest form of communication, and this is something they can also have going on in the background at work,” Zamorano-Ochoa said. “Our hope is that this will make people feel closer and more included.”

Fundraising, station name, streaming content

While the Chamber is still in the planning stage and has only begun to buy equipment, the hope is to launch the radio station on Feb. 13, 2023, for National Radio Station Day.

Eventually, the Chamber would like to have a live studio space for their radio channel, but for now, it will be online.

While many people today are used to streaming content, Zamorano-Ochoa said the drawback is that people will need wi-fi or data to listen to their station, which isn’t always available.

“But we do have to start somewhere,” she said.

The radio station won’t have ads and will instead rely solely on grants and donations, and Zamorano-Ochoa they’ve already had a lot of support as well as guidance on how to start a radio station.

A radio fundraising campaign will launch Sept. 15, which is the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Chamber plans to hold a name contest for the station online where people will be able to suggest names and cast votes on their favorite.

“It’s going to be as much theirs (the Hispanic community) as it is ours (the Chamber)," Zamorana-Ochoa said

The South Dakota Hispanic Chamber was founded in October 2021, but officially went public in April.

Since then, the Chamber has put together community events like having Spanish-dubbed films play at Century Theaters and the flea market in July. Another flea market is scheduled for Sept. 17, and an upcoming business expo and job fair is planned for Oct. 15.

“One of our main goals at the Chamber is to do ‘action,’” Zamorana-Ochoa said. “We want to do more than just talk about doing things. We as a Chamber feel more complete now that we’re getting going, and it’s all very exciting.”

People can stay up to date with the radio campaign and other Hispanic Chamber events on their Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Hispanic Chamber starting Spanish radio station