Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley

In Feminista Frequencies (University of Washington, 2022), Monica De La Torre unearths the remarkable history of one of the United States’ first full-time Spanish-language community radio stations, Radio KDNA, which began broadcasting in the Yakima Valley in 1979. Extensive interviews reveal the work of Chicana and Chicano producers, on-air announcers, station managers, technical directors, and listeners who contributed to the station’s success. Monica De La Torre weaves these oral histories together with a range of visual and audio artifacts, including radio programs, program guides, and photographs to situate KDNA within the larger network of Chicano community-based broadcasting and social movement activism. Feminista Frequencies highlights the development of a public broadcasting model that centered Chicana radio producers and documents the central role of women in developing this infrastructure in the Yakima Valley. De La Torre shows how KDNA revolutionized community radio programming, adding new depth to the history of the Chicano movement, women’s activism, and media histories.

More from the publisher.

On March 20, 2022, The Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine cover story featured Monica De La Torre and her research. Read more at these links: 

• Feminista Frequencies explores how female radio producers built community – and a powerful support system – at Spanish-speaking KDNA in the Yakima Valley by Brendan Kiley
• How the author of Feminista Frequencies tuned in to the inspiring voices behind Spanish-language community radio by Monica De La Torre