Here is a citizen helping immigrants with the most important aspect of becoming American - learning English. DP
By Sarah N. Lynch, Tribune
East Valley Tribune : Most of the time, only static is transmitted through the speakers of radios tuned to 1710 AM in west Mesa’s Nuestro Neighborhood.
But at 5 o’clock every evening, the hissing void comes to life with cheerful Latino music and the lively voice of 79-year-old Mesa resident Jack Hannon.
Since October, Hannon has spent an hour each night trying to reach out to his neighbors through his radio station, “Radio Barrio” — or in English: “Neighborhood Radio.”
The station is operated, literally, out of a small shed in the backyard of Hannon’s South Macdonald home. He uses a shoebox-sized transmitter perched in a tree to broadcast the signal about a half-mile in all directions.
The goal of his program is to give Hispanic immigrants a way to enjoy the music of their culture while at the same time learning practical English words.
The radio, he says, is a nonintrusive way to accomplish those goals. Radio Barrio is a low-powered, unlicensed station that runs on 1 milliwatt of power. Hannon hopes to use a higher-powered FM frequency some day, but for now he’s content serving his barrio.
During the broadcasts, Hannon’s neighbors can switch on the radio and hear something like this:
“It’s time to study,” Hannon will say in Spanish into a small microphone. Then he tells his listeners he will repeat helpful phrases.
“La repetición es la madre de aprender,” he says. “Repetition is the mother of learning.”
He then reads several phrases out of a book called “English on the Job.”
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