Twice a week, Global Spices brings you the culture of a country in an hour.
This is the basic idea of my radio show on WHYS 96.3 Eau Claire community radio, a progressive liberal 8 years old local station. Global Spices started with the beginning of the spring semester 2011, when I had to find myself an internship that could demonstrate and develop my skills in Media. I got to come up with an idea to propose for the station, nothing sounded better than diversity to spread awareness about.
My idea of the program aspires to breaking stereotypes. Every time I get a guest from a different country/nationality, he/she comes with traditional music from their country. I come with alternative music from that same country. We meet behind the microphones and sail away with music we've chosen, moreover we discuss politics, faith, food, education, entertainment, relationships...etc we talk about the country my guest came from and compare what happens there to the United States. We talk about the obsticles this person went through, his experience of becoming a minority in a new place, and his opinion about the American society, pointing out things he'll be leaving or taking from here when he goes back home.
Being a URI youth ambassador gives me more space to give examples from these people's countries about religious harmony, peace after war and healthy patriotism. Examples that prove how in the end of the day, we all belong to one human family. The people I interview are mostly young; they are eager to learn and criticize the place they came from. Especially in a country like the United States, that claims freedom, hard work and independence. It is nice to see how international people perceive American culture.
I consider myself lucky for being in Wisconsin at a time that people are standing up -inspired by the revolution in the middle east- against a governor that seems to be working against unions.
Until last week I had guests from Germany, Venezuela, United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, France, China, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Serbia, India, USA, Malaysia and Jordan. My next spice is going to be Mongolian. If the idea of my show appealed to you, please don’t hesitate to give me an ear by tuning in to WHYS 96.3 if you were in Eau Claire or paste this link to your browser: www.whysradio.org, at these times:
(WI, USA):
Sundays 3pm - 4pm
Tuesdays 6pm-7pm
Hop on to:
WHYS Radio 96.3
or, www.whysradio.org
