A new radio program on KCSS 91.9, titled “Música, Cultura y Geografía,” is bringing Spanish-language music and cultural discussion to Stanislaus State. The show airs every Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and is hosted by José R. Díaz-Garayúa, a geography professor, alongside student Yanet Soto Pallares.
The program uses music as an entry point for broader conversations about culture, history, and geography. It is broadcast mainly in Spanish with bilingual commentary. According to Díaz-Garayúa, the show aims to reflect the experiences of the university’s Hispanic student population and continue a tradition of Spanish-language programming at KCSS.
“When I came for my campus interview in 2016, I noticed that although more than half of our students identify as Hispanic, that presence was not always visible in campus imagery or cultural expression,” Díaz-Garayúa said. “I later learned that KCSS had Spanish-language programming in the past, and the idea of giving continuity to that kind of programming has always stayed with me.”
Díaz-Garayúa highlighted recent initiatives at Stanislaus State such as the Warrior Cross Cultural Center and bilingual commencement ceremonies as evidence of progress toward greater cultural representation on campus. He views the radio show as another step forward: “I imagine the University — and I emphasize the word ‘universe’ — as multi- and cross-disciplinary, but also multi- and cross-cultural. That is how new knowledge is created.”
KCSS serves as an educational platform where students are involved in all aspects of production. Díaz-Garayúa collaborated closely with station manager Adin Dibble, production engineer Luis Mincey, and work-study assistant Yanet Soto Pallares during development.
“KCSS is an educational platform with students always at the forefront,” he said. “It provides non-commercial cultural programming, serves the University and surrounding communities, and functions as a laboratory where students learn how a non-commercial radio station operates.”
He acknowledged support from Greg Jacquay, general manager at KCSS: “All of them have offered excellent support,” Díaz-Garayúa said. “This is the main reason this has been possible.”
For co-host Soto Pallares, who studies leadership at Stanislaus State, participating in the show has personal significance.
“As a first-generation Mexican American, I have my best conversations when I can speak Spanglish (English and Spanish) — when I don’t have to translate every thought and emotion in my head before speaking. I hope to inspire people (like my mom) who might feel like they lost their voice. This show is really about opening the conversation and meeting people halfway through music, culture and places that connect us.”
Soto Pallares added: “I am a first-generation Mexican American, and I heavily rely on ‘Spanglish.’ I can have a full conversation in either Spanish or English, but I don’t fully feel myself. I have the best conversations when I am able to speak both languages.” She mentioned discovering artists like LUNA LUNA or Cuco affirmed her belief that blended identities can be represented naturally through music.
“What I hope to accomplish with ‘Música, Cultura y Geografía’ is to share the different sounds of music that are created by many talented Latinx artists,” Soto Pallares said. “A lot of their music speaks to similar hurdles or heartbreak that we experience in life. Music has always been a way of finding common ground to understand yourself and most importantly one another.”
Geography plays an important role throughout each episode by shaping both song choices and discussions between hosts.
“Originally, I wanted to start an all-Latin Spanish radio show,” she said. “But there are so many artists from different countries and backgrounds who have created masterpieces over the years. Geography became part of the conversation because Professor Díaz- Garayúa is a geography professor, and we both had a vision to share music and sounds from around the world.”
Díaz-Garayúa links musical traditions such as Afro-Puerto Rican Plena—a genre rooted in percussion often called a “sung newspaper”—to social history through his expertise in cultural geography.
“It is hard to think about a cultural group without music,” he said. “Songs tell stories about people, place and social conditions. In that sense music is deeply tied to geography.”
KCSS 91.9 has operated since 1974 as Stanislaus State’s student-run non-commercial educational radio station serving both campus listeners and the wider region.
