Story by Chris Graham 

Diane Taylor was reaching out to the Latino community in Charlottesville when she first came across Carlos Teran of the local Spanish-language newspaper Nuevas Raices.

“I had created a bilingual television commercial for the Charlottesville Transit Service - a first of its kind in our area. And then after that, I started also putting some Hispanic-language advertising in Nuevas Raices. Carlos and I then began to get active in the community with various organizations that were finding it difficult to expand communication about services to those people with limited English proficiency. And as we started to talk about my experience with TV, and his experience with radio, we decided that what the community at large needed was a bilingual television show,” said Taylor, who cohosts and coproduces the weekly “Zona Latina” that airs weekly on WVAW-ABC16.

The newsmagazine show features segments on American and world cultures, an interview segment focusing on Latino authors, scholars and artists, a health segment, a cooking segment and a Latino lifestyles segment.

“There are many people who are learning English, and in the meantime, with their limited English, need to find out about everything from employment information to education to medical services to transportation - the list goes on and on,” Taylor said.

“We’re trying to not only bridge some of the barriers because of language and culture between our English- and Spanish-speaking communities, but we’re also providing educational programming with the kinds of things we’re doing that focuses on the diversity of the Hispanic community and also helps to dispel some of the stereotypes that are out there in the community,” Taylor said.

One key misconception “has to do with language,” Taylor said.

“Just like their European counterparts who immigrated to this country, by their third generation, the number-one language in 80 percent of Latino households is English. But it takes three generations to get there. How do people get from Point A to Point B? They need information - and that’s what we’re trying to do, try to help people find out what they need to know,” Taylor said.

Taylor and Teran are trying to position “Zona Latina” for possible national syndication down the road.

“The magazine format allows any community more or less cut and paste to include information that is of value in their specific community, but at the same time, the rest of the content that is there is appropriate for any community. And because it is captioned in both English and Spanish, it’s hitting a larger target audience than just Spanish-speaking viewers,” Taylor said.

For now, the two are busy with their duties getting the show to air.

“Carlos right now has earphones on editing and translating something that I just put together for one segment. We go out, and we’re behind the camera. And then we’re in front of the camera. And then trying to find marketing opportunities and the whole bit. We both wear every hat imaginable,” Taylor said.

Filed under: 8-January 2007 Issue