As a child, Victor Rojas was fascinated with his grandfather’s radio in Durango, Mexico, and the voices coming from the box.

“My grandfather had a radio and it was always on. We listened to it all the time while working. I asked my grandfather lots of questions about how it worked,” said Rojas.

Rojas was born in Durango and raised by his grandparents, who were farmers. He was the second child in a family of six brothers and sisters.

The 38-year-old Rojas is now the program director and sales manager for the Spanish-language radio stations “Mexicana Musical” 1390 AM KDQN in De Queen and 1260 AM KBHC in Nashville.

Rojas also broadcasts the news in Spanish.

“He is our program director, sales manager and the only one who can speak Spanish,” said Bonita Smith, chief financial officer for Bunyard Broadcasting and the KDQN-FM station in De Queen.

Rojas is a communication link between the two worlds of Anglo and Latino communities in Southwest Arkansas. It’s bilingual broadcast journalism and he is embedded in the community.

“The main thing I do is to inform people. The point is to try to get people to spend money and shop locally. It’s good for the county and the cities,” he said.

“So much has changed in this region. Most Anglo businesses have opened their doors to Latinos. Banks have really opened their doors and are doing business with Latinos.”

The two AM radio stations have a combined daily audience of about 12,000 listeners, according to the Arbitron rating service.

Spanish-language radio stations in the United States have increased as spending power grows among Hispanics.

In 1980, 67 Spanish-language radio stations existed in the United States, according to a study. In 2000, the number of stations had increased to 559, according to Rural Migration News.

In his own migration, Rojas followed a path out of Mexico to California and finally De Queen.

He was studying to be a “forest engineer” in a Durango college when he was encouraged by childhood friends to move to California in 1988.

After a few years, he became tired of the California life.

“I didn’t like California and had kinfolks in De Queen so I decided to move,” he said.

Rojas worked in the region’s growing poultry industry, but following his childhood passion and ambition, he brought an idea to Jay Bunyard in 1994.

The idea was to switch the De Queen AM station to a Spanish-language station.

Bunyard also was ambitious.

In 1983 Bunyard became the youngest radio station owner in Arkansas at age 22 when he purchased the AM and FM De Queen radio stations.

Bunyard and his family now own 14 radio stations in Arkansas.

“I talked to Jay in 1994 and I was looking for an opportunity. Jay was friendly and I talked to him about my idea. We talked about the needs of the Latino community in the region,” said Rojas. “It was an idea and Jay helped make the dream come true.”

The De Queen station started broadcasting in Spanish on weekends for the first two years. In 1996 the decision was made to broadcast full time in Spanish.

The station subscribed to a Spanish satellite network service while Rojas sold advertising, recorded the advertising messages, planned special events and reported the news in Spanish.

In 2003, the Nashville AM station was converted to broadcasting in Spanish.

“It makes business sense. All businesses need customers and we can bring in the Hispanic customers to the stores,” Rojas said.

The University of Arkansas Extension Service showed Sevier County in 2005 had 4,383 documented Hispanics or nearly 28 percent of the county population. It’s the largest percentage of Hispanics in Southwest Arkansas.

Hempstead County has 2,861 documented Hispanics while Howard County has 1,277 Hispanics. Nashville is the Howard County seat. Hope is the county seat for Hempstead County.

Miller County has 829 documented Hispanics and Little River County has 259.

Rojas does not merely know the numbers. He knows the people and what they need.

For example, part of his programming includes reading obituaries in Spanish.

“I know the people and I feel their loss,” he said.

And he often encourages listeners to enroll in English classes and to take part in community events.

“I talk about the American way and why it helps to learn English. I also tell people to take pride in being an American and take pride in being a Latino,” he said.

Rojas practices what he believes and expressed the pride in being a Latino and an American. He named his youngest daughter America.

“I also wanted something easy to pronounce and you could remember,” he said.

“I also encourage Latinos to become legal. It’s a long process and it takes one step at a time, but it’s a better life.”

Rojas became a U.S. citizen during the amnesty program of the 1980s.

If the Hispanics become “legal,” they can apply for driver’s licenses and learn the traffic rules.

“People aren’t here to break the laws. They’ve come here for a better life,” he said.

But driving violations have become the sarcastic fodder of the on-air Anglo personalities with the KDQN FM station.

During the expansion of U.S. Highway 70 in front of the radio station, vehicle collisions were numerous, especially on Friday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Few drivers and passengers were injured and the wrecks were described as the “Mexican demolition derby.”

When the traffic control lights at the intersection of U.S. highways 70-71 malfunction and drivers are uncertain who should move first, the situation is called a “Mexican standoff.”

Those stories become part of the disc jockey dialogue and newscasts.

The stories, the music and radio programs create memories for the listeners, and Rojas is aware of his role as a communicator and creator of memories.

Part of the memories include birthday wishes.

Hispanics have been participating in contests and radio features of the FM station, including the birthday club.

The Beatles song “Birthday” opens the program with a pounding rock beat where the listener calls to wish a family or friend happy birthday. The disc jockeys read and comment about birthdays for the day. Each Friday, the names of the birthday people are put in a bowl and a disc jockey draws a name. The winner receives a birthday cake from a local bakery.

“The audience becomes a part of you,” Rojas said. “They remember things in their lives and when it happened and the radio is part of it. When they move, sometimes they miss being in De Queen and I have calls from people as far away as Chicago to call to find out what has happened.”

Somewhere over the radio waves coming from the De Queen AM and FM stations, the lyrics of songs have inadvertently and unknowingly told the emotions and the paths of the Hispanic and Anglo communities.

De Queen is along the historical path Native Americans were forced to relocate by the federal government in the early 1800s called the “Trail of Tears.”

In 2007, the hot topic in politics is how the federal government manages the trail of Hispanics into the United States.

Billy Ray Cyrus wrote and recorded the song “Trail of Tears” with these lyrics:

“Too many broken promises

“Too many trail of tears

“How can this world be so dark

“So unfair and so untrue

“God in Heaven, hear my prayer

“Send the children hopes and dreams

“And lots of love

“For this I only ask of you to conquer all their fears

“And let them soar like eagles across the trail of tears.”

As the Hispanics’ and Anglos’ lives develop in Sevier County and Southwest Arkansas, maybe Rojas can communicate through the radio the need to soar above the Trail of Tears.