Popular training at XEYT, radio cultural campesina

SUMMARY: XEYT, Radio Cultural Campesina, is one of the two independent community stations in Mexico (i.e. not a university-based, or a government-run indigenous radio). The station trains through the production of socio-dramas, ensuring popular participation.

THE STATION: XEYT has been running for 27 years. It serves an area which includes four municipalities: Teocelo, Ixhuacan, Xico, and Cozautlan. It is located in Teocelo. AVERCOP, the Popular Communicators’ Association of Veracruz, is an independent body which manages and owns the station. The station is therefore legally owned by AVERCOP’s members, i.e. the peasants who participate in the station.

OBJECTIVES: The station aims to maximize integration of the local residents’ concerns into the station’s activities.

METHODS: AVERCOP has a training committee which works with the announcers and other programmers, and a news committee which trains local correspondents who gather news from various municipalities.

Training Committee: The committee holds training sessions each month in each municipality. In these sessions, people with varying degrees of experience collectively record a socio-drama program. The people choose a them based on something which affects their community, they then write the script (including scenes, characters, sound effects,etc.), act it out, and record it. Every year there are also two or three meetings with people from all four municipalities to learn different dramatized formats. The shows always focus on finding community solutions to community problems. Finally, there are 6 month courses for new announcers.

News Committee: Tries to cover news from local communities.The news committee accompanies people from the region, providing training while covering local events.