KUFW

KUFW (90.5 FM, "La Campesina 90.5 FM") is an American non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve the community of Woodlake in Tulare County, California. The station is operated by Farmworker Educational Radio Network, Inc., and its broadcast license is held by the Cesar Chavez Foundation. Signing on in May 1983, KUFW became the first radio station in the United States "dedicated to the needs of farmworkers".

Programming

KUFW broadcasts a Regional Mexican music and educational programming format branded as "La Campesina 90.5 FM" to the farmworkers of the Visalia metropolitan area as part of the Radio Campesina Network. ("Campesina" is a Spanish word meaning "peasant" or "farmworker".) Anthony Chavez, president of Farmworker Educational Radio Network, Inc., is the youngest son of American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist César Chávez.

History

In July 1980, the United Farm Workers union, working through a subsidiary named Farmworkers Communications, Inc., applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit for a new broadcast radio station. The FCC granted this permit on August 31, 1981, with a scheduled expiration date of August 31, 1982. The new station was assigned call sign "KUFW" on November 30, 1981. After multiple extensions, construction and testing were completed in May 1983 and KUFW began broadcasting under program test authority. The station was granted its broadcast license on June 28, 1984.