January 10, 2007
By CHRIS ECHEGARAY

DJs Everardo "El Tigere" Lopez and Victor "El Peligroso" Ramirez - Tiger and Dangerous - start out running a typical zany morning show. They tease a caller about having smelly feet and athlete's foot, and Ramirez throws on laugh tracks.

In an instant, the mood turns stern.

"Don't drive without licenses," Lopez tells his listeners. "Take public transportation. You can even ride your bicycle to the bus stop and place it at the front of the bus."

It's early Monday morning at La Ley 760 AM, a Tampa Spanish-language radio station whose name means "the law." The disc jockeys know who's tuning in - some of them illegal immigrants who aren't allowed driver's licenses but decide to drive uninsured, unregistered cars anyway.

Numbers of such stations are growing and, in this region, increasingly becoming the main platform where the immigrant community debates the issues and gets vital information. Nationwide, Clear Channel converted 20 stations to the Spanish-language format in a two-year span.

Last year, U.S. Spanish-language radio stations spurred conversation on immigration reform and spread the word on "Day Without an Immigrant" marches that drew millions.

In Hillsborough County, listeners of Mega Communication's La Ley and three other Spanish-language stations are more than 64,000 Mexicans, Guatemalans, Costa Ricans and Hondurans, according to 2005 census figures. That's not counting migrants typically unreached by census workers.

DJs Lopez and Ramirez are Mexican and often serve as counselors and confidants to their callers - and it doesn't cost anything to listen.

For instance, in October, Lopez and the audience urged a woman who was scammed out of $5,000 to report it to police. She did.

"I wasn't going to report it," station caller Melida Roa said. "I was afraid, but they were so adamant about it that I did. I wouldn't have the courage to do it if not for the radio."

The scammers weren't found - but at least others might not fall victim. It was the right thing to do, Roa said they convinced her.

In November, a caller described sneaking through the desert in Arizona and hurting his toe on a cactus. His toe was infected, and he went to a Tampa Bay area hospital.

The caller said doctors amputated his toe in the emergency room and showed him the door. Days later, the problems reappeared. Lopez confirmed the man's story and lined up medical help through the Mexican Consulate.

"You do get some prank calls and fraudulent people," Lopez said. "But this was real. It's one of those things that people know to call us. We try to help if we can."

On Monday, listeners called from Plant City and Dade City, from strawberry fields and from a carwash to chime in and offer shout-outs to friends and family.

"How many days a week do you work?" Ramirez asks the man working at the carwash.

"Every day," the man says.

With a growing Mexican and Central American population in Hillsborough County, La Ley was poised for success, former owner Alfredo Alonso said. The signal reaches from Sarasota to Gainesville.

New York-based Alonso is senior vice president of Hispanic radio for Clear Channel.

"The immigration push came from the West Coast, and it was more of a Mexican phenomenon," he said. "Florida has a Caribbean-heavy population, but you see the change in Tampa with a lot of Mexicans."

Most immigrants get their information from radio because it carries local news they can identify with, Alonso said.

"There's not too many media outlets the newly arrived immigrant can go to," he said. "So they go to local radio for local content opposed to the national news the major [Spanish-language] TV networks have. This allows them to get a local perspective."

Alonso was part of the English-to-Spanish conversion at Clear Channel. The company has 40 Spanish-language stations. "Advertisers realize they have to cater to" a growing number of Spanish speakers, he said.

Brenda Canino, the Tampa Police Department's Hispanic liaison, uses La Ley and the other Spanish stations to talk about issues of domestic violence, recourses available if employers cheat listeners, and child and family safety.

"These stations are very important because we can educate them on Florida laws," Canino said. "The station also refers listeners with problems to me."

The radio station is where the police department and the immigrant population talk without an adversarial relationship, Canino said.

"They have to go somewhere they can trust," she said. "The radio station is very community-oriented. Everyone calls them."

Source: The Tampa Tribune