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<> LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN <>
<>.<>.<> Los Angeles, Alta California <>.<>.<>September 5, 2006
FCC commissioners hear complaint from Academia Semillas del Pueblo
Over 250 citizens attended a Federal Communications Commission hearing at the University of Southern California to express deep frustration over the extremely low broadcasting standards of many Los Angeles area radio stations. Among the worst mentioned is Disney's KABC that broadcasts on the 790 AM frequency. KABC 790 as well as KFI 640 have become extremely crass and vulgar and both stations have racist hosts that negatively target Los Angeles area's non-White communities, said many at the hearing. Attendees included members of Congress, labor leaders, school administrators, librarians and parents of school age children.
There was a large contingent of teachers and parents from LAUSD's Academia Semillas del Pueblo Charter School present. They strongly voiced their concerns about KABC's hateful vendetta against their K-8th grade school located in the LA community of El Sereno. Repetitive and extremely racist commentaries over the KABC airwaves have caused grave consequences for the school that serves mostly children of Mexican descent. The constant hate mongering by KABC radio against the school has endangered the lives of the school children. The school has now received arson and bomb threats and on one occassion the school had to be evacuated.
The FCC hearing on Thursday at USC was organized by the National Latino Media Council because of their deep concern that racists on mainstream radio stations are now utilizing the airwaves to foment violence against the area's Mexican and Latino populations. There have been an alarming number of hate crimes against Mexican immigrants in the area and KABC's racist broadcasting is only aggravating the situation.
Academia Semillas del Pueblo came to the hearing well prepared. A school's co-founder brought and played an audio tape of one of KABC's most racist and hateful broadcast. The FCC commissioners were shocked. The co-founder of the charter school demanded that the FCC revoke the station's license. A father of two students at Academia Semillas del Pueblo accused KABC radio of spreading hate and lies. "They threatened the lives of our children," the father said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, KABC executives did not return their calls on Friday nor executives at the Walt Disney Company. One of the FCC commissioners said he was alarmed and shocked by what he heard and promised to investigate the matter. "This was a powerful statement of the deep level of concern within the Latino community about the state of the media in Los Angeles. The frustration is understandable," the commissioner concluded.
Related La Voz de Aztlan articles:KABC Radio Attacks on the Mexican Community Must Cease
Disney KABC Radio in Los Angeles Targets Mexicans
Bomb threats now against "Academia Semillas del Pueblo" says LAUSD
Arson threat against "Academia Semillas del Pueblo"
