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Talk radio's top topic
Immigration protests monopolize airwaves' passionate bilingual chatter. The only area of agreement: Students should return to school.
By Martin Miller and Maria Elena Fernandez
Times Staff Writers

March 29, 2006

Spanish- and English-language talk radio rallied around the same topic over the last couple of days, as a cavalcade of animated hosts, politicians and energized, often angry, callers jammed the local airwaves with sharply opposing views on the nation's volatile immigration policy debate.

Talk radio needs fuel to run, and the reliable hot-button issue inflamed listener passions in both languages across Southern California. English-language talk programs are dominated by conservatives, and they had a field day with the demonstrations and student protests, hammering away at their theme: the need for tighter immigration laws.

Sounding a familiar theme repeated across the English-language dial, KABC-AM's (790) Al Rantel praised legal immigrants but said Latinos here illegally should have to follow the rules like everyone else. Otherwise, Rantel and others said, our borders won't be secure and soon our schools, hospitals and the American taxpayer will be overburdened. All of which was expressed in typically vivid talk-show language.

"What I see in the street today is a big finger being given to the average American," Rantel told his afternoon audience Monday.

Meanwhile, Spanish-language media — credited with organizing a massive protest over the weekend estimated at half a million participants at least — supported the spirit of the protests. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and popular Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who has written several books about U.S. immigrants, were guests on Radio La Nueva (101.9 FM) on Tuesday morning.

Villaraigosa said he was very proud of what the Latino community had accomplished through the protests, though he urged students to return to school today and participate in a debate about immigration policy sponsored by Los Angeles Unified School District.

"I have a lot of respect for the students who marched because I know they marched because they're scared and they're trying to help their families," Villaraigosa said. "It is important to express your democratic feelings. But it's also important to return to school. We won a small victory yesterday, but it's important to have a strategy to keep applying the pressure."

Ramos, who called in from Mexico, said he was sorry he missed the massive demonstration Saturday.

"What you managed to show in the Spanish media in Los Angeles, particularly in Spanish radio, is that the power in the U.S. is in the media," said Ramos, who has been in this country for 23 years. "You showed that immigrants are not criminals and we are not terrorists and we are not to blame for what happened on Sept. 11. This was a very moving message of courage."

Though the tone and rhetorical styles may have differed sharply, the two talk show universes seemed to merge on one point Tuesday — that protesting students should return to school. Conservative talk show hosts lambasted what they saw as the students' hypocrisy of demanding education while walking out of class.

Talk show host Bill Handel, who has a top-rated morning program on KFI-AM (640), decried the high dropout rate among Latino students and blamed it for severely restricting their futures.

"Your kids are going to be cleaning my kids' houses until the day they die," said Handel on his Tuesday morning show. "That's the shame of it, and it breaks my heart."

Added Handel, who also criticized the display of Mexican flags: "I would have loved to hear a sound bite [from the protests] that said, 'Viva America.' I didn't hear it."

This point was not lost on Radio la Nueva morning DJ Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, who expressed concern that the images of students on Los Angeles freeways on Monday and students refusing to return to school Tuesday would leave a negative impression.

Students from Marshall High School told Piolin on the air that they helped organize Monday's march on Myspace.com, but they were disheartened by adults who provoked some of them to get on the freeways and by some students who joined the march just as an excuse to leave school.

"We are not happy with any of that," said Juan (no last name given), a Marshall student. "We were also very upset with people who carried Mexican flags. The first three hours of our march on City Hall was great, but afterward people started doing things that we were not happy with."

When Piolin started taking calls just before 9 a.m., mothers started calling in with reports about chaos at schools, with children refusing to return to classes today.

"Yes, I agree that it tarnishes the image of what we accomplished on Saturday," Piolin said on the air. "Last Saturday we did a good march. It was well organized. Nobody was arrested, and it was very good.

"Tell everyone to go back to school," he urged. "Please go back to your classes. Trust me. You will show how much you love the U.S. by going back to school."