Urban Unrest

29 March 2006 | Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

RadioInk reports something that many of us in Los Angeles realized very quickly: commercial radio DJs heavily influenced people’s attendance to the weekend’s immigrants’ rights rally. More than a few people were heard asking for Piolin, one of Spanish-language radio’s major stars. Djs like El Piolin, Cucuy and others spent literally hours on the air talking about why the Los Angeles rally was important, and how listeners needed to hit the streets.

RadioInk: Radio Personalities Help Bring Half a Million to LA Rally

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, last weekend’s pro-immigrant rally in downtown Los Angeles was expected to draw fewer than 20,000, but that number was dwarfed as police estimated the number of participants at 500,000, making it one of the largest demonstrations in Los Angeles’ history. Why the huge increase in attendance? Deejays made the difference.

Los Angeles radio personality Eddie “El Piolin” Sotelo called for a summit with fellow Spanish language broadcasters including KHJ’s Humberto Luna, KBUE’s Ricardo “El Mandril” Sanchez and Renan “El Cucuy” Almendarez Coello. Together, they got the word out.

Mike Garcia, president of Local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union, said, “If you listened to Spanish-language media, they were just pumping, pumping, pumping this up.”

Soleto got interested after rally organizers told him about the ramifications of the legislation passed by Congress last year. The bill would make undocumented immigrants and those who assist them felons and erect a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

“I told God that if he gave me an opportunity as a radio announcer, I was going to help my people,” said Sotelo, who himself illegally crossed the border in 1986. Soleto added, “I think we have to make sure the message went through to Washington, to let them know we’re not criminals.”

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