Former Bethlehem City Councilwoman Olga Negron has a new radio show on WDIY 88.1, the Lehigh Valley Public Radio Station, located in the Flatiron Building on Broadway in South Bethlehem. The show, called Charla Communitaria, airs monthly.

Negron said, “So the idea about Charla Communitaria is to be the voice about issues that matter to the Latinx community, so we are hoping to grow the audience in terms of the Latinx community, but also important is to make sure that for the broader audience, it’s important to provide information so we can all be better allies.”

News and Information Director James Johnson has plans for local programming for the station, including Negron’s show.

“Coming into this position, there were things I knew I really wanted to do, and one of them was to stretch and represent the entire Lehigh Valley,” James said. “You can’t really have public radio and not represent the public. We’ve been making really good efforts, reaching out and truly taking on the definition of equity and inclusion, and giving the community a chance to have a voice. One of those programs that came to my mind was Latin American programming. Over the last decade, we have had tremendous growth in the Lantinx community, and in thinking of potential hosts, Negron was my first choice, the first person I talked to and she was gracious enough to accept. We have other programming as well that started after the new year.”

Across the listening platforms, including the radio station, the station’s application, streaming through the website, and platforms such as Spotify, Charla Communitaria has between 10,000 and 30,000 listeners daily.

Negron’s guests will be Mayor Matthew Tuerk of Allentown and the city Communications Director Genesis Ortega. This will be the first fully bilingual show. Negron said it is a great way to provide information to the community in their language.

Coming later in spring will be Touchstone Theater’s Latinx initiative. Negron is part of the committee, and she “will have members of the Lantinx community to talk about the upcoming event.” For future episodes, Negron added, “As we move forward, and plans start to happen, I will reach out about events, and also to the cities Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton to see what is happening that affects our audience.”

Negron wants to promote community events too. She said, “The challenge, because the show is prerecorded, if the event is next week, I can’t promote it, but if it’s a recurring event I can still talk about it.”

While she is retired from city council, Negron stays busy. “I am the president of the Board of the Hispanic Center. My law firm rents space from the Hispanic Center, does this in many cities, so we have a space in the heart of the community. While I’m there, I am there as an HGSK law firm person. There are many times I am filling out forms for clients, interpreting, my law firm understands, and supports that.”

Negron’s life balance includes her family. Negron said, “That’s another reason I didn’t run for re-election for city council. My daughter and her family moved here from Philly. She is an ob-gyn, her husband is a professor, so when they need me, I have YaYa’s duties. So I take care of my baby girl.”

How does she do it all? Negron said, “I am super hyper, I never get bored, I have to do something. That’s my nature; I raised my three daughters by myself in Southside Bethlehem. Once they graduated I ran for city council. Now that my baby is back and there’s another baby, I need to do Yaya’s duties.

“I do believe the way I was raised, the youngest of 11 children, my mother and father taught us. My father was president of the Rotary Club in my hometown [Naranjito] in Puerto Rico, and I grew up going to Rotary meetings. In Puerto Rico, there’s a hurricane every year, and the poor people were hurt the most. My house was the drop off center, even as a little girl I sorted donations, it was just part of what we did. To me it’s not even a choice, it’s a duty, to help others, it’s just part of me.”

Negron attended the University of Puerto Rico for drama. She lived in Austin, Texas, and had a public radio show there, the only Caribbean music radio show. When she moved to Pennsylvania, she worked in radio sales.

“I don’t want to be political, it’s a community show. I did start with the mayors (of Bethlehem and Allentown), because they are both new. The hope is it will be different topics, cultural activities, not just the Latinx. I’m not just a Latino, it’s for all of us, and the more we learn about each other the better we can understand each other.”

Charla Communitaria takes about an hour to prepare. Once Negron has plans, she takes them to the station manager. Negron said, “James is good about making suggestions.” Recording the show takes another hour.

You can find the WDIY schedule, including Charla Communitaria, on their website, WDIY.org.