Dramatic growth over the last decade in the number of Vietnamese-language radio programs based in Orange County has fundamentally changed the Vietnamese emigre community, observers say.
It was radio that brought some 15,000 people into the streets of Westminster for a single rally earlier this year, and the power of the medium--which already reaches across the country--is only likely to increase with use of the Internet and plans for a full-fledged Vietnamese-language radio station in the works.
"The sense of community is definitely strengthened by radio. There's no lag time. What happens in Little Saigon today will be talked about in Washington, D.C., today," said Nguyen Ngoc Bich, director of Vietnamese services for Washington-based Radio Free Asia, the U.S. government-funded network that broadcasts in Asia.
At least a dozen professional radio production companies in Orange County's Little Saigon, home to the nation's largest Vietnamese community, lease air time--up to 12 hours a day--on three frequencies.
Three of the programs are simulcast in San Jose and Houston, also home to large Vietnamese communities. Excerpts from programs also are broadcast in cities ranging from Atlanta to Seattle to Washington, D.C.
"Radio has brought the Vietnamese community closer together. It connects us as a people," said Le Tung, program director for Saigon Hai Ngoai (Overseas) Radio in Westminster.
The proliferation is fueled by an ever-growing appetite for news from local communities as well as Vietnam. Its impact was most forcefully felt during the height of anti-communist protests in Little Saigon earlier this year.
Activists were gearing up for a showdown and issued their clarion call for support via Vietnamese-language radio.
The effect was immediate: Some 15,000 people turned out along Bolsa Avenue for the single largest rally during the two months of protests. The radio broadcasts went national, and within days, Vietnamese American communities throughout the country, from San Jose to Houston to Washington, D.C., had organized supporting rallies.
"We saw the true power of radio," Tung said. "The protests would not have happened without us."
What could have merely been a local incident reached national and even international audiences, Tung said.
"Sitting at home, people could hear the events as they happened live. They were glued to their radios," Tung said. "That really fueled their emotions. I think without radio, this would have never become as big as it did."
