American Indian Movement Finding Strength in Broadcasting
The San Diego Union-Tribune
American Indian Movement is finding strength in broadcasting
By Chet Barfield
STAFF WRITER
January 9, 2005
JIM BAIRD / Union-Tribune
Co-hosts Joseph Redbear (in the foreground) and Marty FireRider Hiles were on the air - or on the Net - with their weekly, San Diego-based, call-in radio show, "American Indian Movement Today," on a recent afternoon. It's a Wednesday, 3 p.m. The headphones are on, the microphones are set and the man behind the control-booth window signals 3-2-1-GO!
The American Indian Movement is on the air.
Over the next hour, two local leaders of the Indian advocacy group will tell an Internet radio audience about buffalo being killed in Wyoming, a disenrollment battle on a Riverside County reservation and an allegedly corrupt tribal chairman being ousted in Texas.
Also, on some occasions, they'll recount memories of Christmastime in Indian country, and sing a parody mocking the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
"BIA - that's 'Bosses Indians Around,' " quips Joseph Redbear, president of AIM's San Diego chapter and co-host of the weekly call-in show, "American Indian Movement Today."
"We try to right the wrongs that are going around in Indian country," Redbear, a Lakota Indian, said before a recent broadcast. "We tell the world what's going on."
He's not exaggerating much. Since the show began in August on San Diego-based World Talk Radio, its audience has been steadily increasing across the United States and abroad.
"We have listeners in Amsterdam," said co-host Marty FireRider Hiles, the AIM chapter's executive officer. "Anything about Indian culture is really fascinating with Europeans."
Forged in the 1960s, the American Indian Movement advocates civil, legal and sovereignty rights for Indians. Redbear and Hiles say the organization is less militant than most people think. "Our goal is to bring unity to all Indian country," Hiles said.
Broadcast from Kearny Mesa, AIM's radio hour - augmented online with a studio camera photo every 30 seconds - is the more hard-edged of two Indian-based shows on World Radio's eclectic mix of 70 programs. It is sandwiched Wednesday afternoons between shows on child abuse and TV nostalgia.
As with most other World Radio hosts, Redbear and Hiles are not professional broadcasters. At times that's obvious, but perfectly OK, said Edward Keyes, station president and co-founder.
"A lot of listeners can look past the awkwardness," he said. "These guys . . . have strong beliefs. They were both in the U.S. military at one point (Marines in Vietnam), and now they're working for the cause of the Indian nation."
And their radio skills are getting better.
"I've seen a dramatic improvement from when they first came in and were reading off a piece of paper everything they were going to say," Keyes said. "They started adding more personality and authenticity."
The show, aimed at Indian and general audiences, covers a wide range of topics and usually draws from two to 20 calls and scores of e-mails.
It is attracting 5,000 to 10,000 listeners a month, and the number is growing, Keyes said. Most of them don't listen live, but log onto www.worldtalkradio.com whenever they want, and click on the latest show or archives from previous weeks.
Hiles, who begins each broadcast with a hearty "Aa-nii" - "hello and welcome" in his native Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language - said e-mails indicate the show's following is expanding.
"A lot of Indians get together and go to tribal offices" to hear it, he said. "We've had college professors tell us they turn our show on in classes."
Part of the appeal, he said, is that the show is opinionated and delves into controversial topics.
"Indians have always been excluded, always been marginalized, always been left out of the political process," Hiles said. "Now we're learning how to fight back."
Xposted to.. lots of places..
American Indian Movement is finding strength in broadcasting
By Chet Barfield
STAFF WRITER
January 9, 2005
JIM BAIRD / Union-Tribune
Co-hosts Joseph Redbear (in the foreground) and Marty FireRider Hiles were on the air - or on the Net - with their weekly, San Diego-based, call-in radio show, "American Indian Movement Today," on a recent afternoon. It's a Wednesday, 3 p.m. The headphones are on, the microphones are set and the man behind the control-booth window signals 3-2-1-GO!
The American Indian Movement is on the air.
Over the next hour, two local leaders of the Indian advocacy group will tell an Internet radio audience about buffalo being killed in Wyoming, a disenrollment battle on a Riverside County reservation and an allegedly corrupt tribal chairman being ousted in Texas.
Also, on some occasions, they'll recount memories of Christmastime in Indian country, and sing a parody mocking the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
"BIA - that's 'Bosses Indians Around,' " quips Joseph Redbear, president of AIM's San Diego chapter and co-host of the weekly call-in show, "American Indian Movement Today."
"We try to right the wrongs that are going around in Indian country," Redbear, a Lakota Indian, said before a recent broadcast. "We tell the world what's going on."
He's not exaggerating much. Since the show began in August on San Diego-based World Talk Radio, its audience has been steadily increasing across the United States and abroad.
"We have listeners in Amsterdam," said co-host Marty FireRider Hiles, the AIM chapter's executive officer. "Anything about Indian culture is really fascinating with Europeans."
Forged in the 1960s, the American Indian Movement advocates civil, legal and sovereignty rights for Indians. Redbear and Hiles say the organization is less militant than most people think. "Our goal is to bring unity to all Indian country," Hiles said.
Broadcast from Kearny Mesa, AIM's radio hour - augmented online with a studio camera photo every 30 seconds - is the more hard-edged of two Indian-based shows on World Radio's eclectic mix of 70 programs. It is sandwiched Wednesday afternoons between shows on child abuse and TV nostalgia.
As with most other World Radio hosts, Redbear and Hiles are not professional broadcasters. At times that's obvious, but perfectly OK, said Edward Keyes, station president and co-founder.
"A lot of listeners can look past the awkwardness," he said. "These guys . . . have strong beliefs. They were both in the U.S. military at one point (Marines in Vietnam), and now they're working for the cause of the Indian nation."
And their radio skills are getting better.
"I've seen a dramatic improvement from when they first came in and were reading off a piece of paper everything they were going to say," Keyes said. "They started adding more personality and authenticity."
The show, aimed at Indian and general audiences, covers a wide range of topics and usually draws from two to 20 calls and scores of e-mails.
It is attracting 5,000 to 10,000 listeners a month, and the number is growing, Keyes said. Most of them don't listen live, but log onto www.worldtalkradio.com whenever they want, and click on the latest show or archives from previous weeks.
Hiles, who begins each broadcast with a hearty "Aa-nii" - "hello and welcome" in his native Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language - said e-mails indicate the show's following is expanding.
"A lot of Indians get together and go to tribal offices" to hear it, he said. "We've had college professors tell us they turn our show on in classes."
Part of the appeal, he said, is that the show is opinionated and delves into controversial topics.
"Indians have always been excluded, always been marginalized, always been left out of the political process," Hiles said. "Now we're learning how to fight back."
Xposted to.. lots of places..