Listening Room: Oral Histories

with Rita Gonzales & Eduardo Archuleta

[Music]

Rita Gonzales
I was actually there at the very, very beginning when it was brought to GLLU (Gay Lesbian Latinos Unidos) to do a radio show. Oscar de la O, who was president of GLLU at the time, and I believe I was his vice president, we went to some event and Josie Cattoggio, who was doing IMRU was at the event. And we just started talking and she says, "We don't have enough diverse voices on IMRU." And she says, "We need more voices. How would GLLU like to have a half hour show once a month?" It's like radio. Wow. We'll be on the airwaves. So the group unanimously said yes. So, they gave us a time slot, but they also helped us, walked us through it because none of us had ever done radio before, much less be in a radio station.

Rita Gonzales

So we went to KPFK and they said, "We will have the engineers for you, but you're going to have to learn how to edit your own show." Now we're talking, this is before digital. We're talking reel to reel, the big tapes that you see. So they taught us how to do that, where you cut, you splice, and then you do little splices here and there, and then you drop the piece and you're trying to find it with all the other pieces on the floor. And then it's just, to see if that's your piece. We learned how to do that. They taught us, we had a couple of training sessions, really didn't take that long. They just gave us a razor blade and tape, and they said, go for it.

Eduardo Archuleta
There were a lot of people excited, myself included. And so, we decided to go for it. And then I think it was, I want to say Louis Jacinto who had come up with the jingle. And God bless all of us, none of us could sing, but he got us together and we did the jingle. I don't think I was a part of it because yeah, I really can't sing. And it came out and it sounded really good. He was like a taskmaster and made sure that it sounded good and the jingle, and I won't sing it for you now. And it was a lot of fun.

Rita Gonzales
I remember Oscar was kicked out of the jingle [LAUGHS] so I guess he couldn't... Louis just pointed to him and then pointed out. Like, you can't sing, you're out. And we were just going, “G-L-L-U Radio GLLU.” That was the jingle. And gosh darn, there were maybe eight of us at that first meeting. It was very exciting because now we have a voice for our organization. So there were a lot of people that were involved at the beginning. But it is a lot of work. It is a lot of work. Like I said, the editing part was hard.

Eduardo Archuleta
And it was pretty much an entire Saturday. We'd start in the morning, we would talk to whoever we were talking to, whoever the interviewee was, and then we'd spend the rest of the day editing. And we found a great little place just around the corner where we'd go and sit and talk, and discuss how we were going to piece it all together and make it work.

Rita Gonzales
And then after we did our interview, we would go have lunch, because Eduardo liked to look at the firemen that used to come at lunch at the same place. And that was his big thing. [LAUGHS] So I said, okay. And they were good looking. The dog was too. I love that dog. But he would sit in the truck. So that was our big Saturday. And then after that we would go back and edit. And then our editing would take us into the night sometimes. So, it was a lot for people. And I think some people just doing that work, because if you did a piece you had to edit it. So it eventually just came down to Eduardo and I. I guess we had no lives, huh? Because it was just him and I.

Eduardo Archuleta
I still don't, but that's okay. [LAUGHTER]

Rita Gonzales
But it was so much fun. We got to meet so many gay Latinos everywhere in the community that I did not know existed.

Eduardo Archuleta
We did get to meet and talk to a ton of people in the community that I know I wasn't aware of, or the things that were going on, different committees that had come up, even on a national scope for gay and lesbian Latinos. And it was really great and really insightful. And I have to say, there wasn't an interview that we did that I didn't learn something from. And I was always very grateful and very appreciative of that. We were able to showcase different poets and writers of the time. Again, I was always enthralled and mesmerized by people that could actually write these poems and these stories and share them. That was one of my unfulfilled dreams was to be that type of person, because I enjoyed hearing people speak and read their work.

Rita Gonzales
But everybody's somebody, in my opinion, everybody is somebody. We all have a story. 99% of our guests were Latinos on our show. Every once in a while we'd have someone that wasn't Latino. And that had to do a lot with the AIDS crisis too, to talk about some of the services that were out there, because there was also the AIDS crisis. So we would have some people from the health area that would come on our show to talk about it. HIV AIDS, and lesbian health was very important too. No one ever talked about lesbian health, so it wasn't all political. We tried to be well-rounded for that one half hour, once a month. After we aired our show, we didn't have a copy of it. IMRU kept the copy of our shows because after we edited, we put it in their box, their mailbox, and they kept the copies of it. Unfortunately, whoever had copies of IMRU and Radio GLLU was in their garage and there was a house fire or garage fire. So a lot of our tapes were destroyed.

[Music]

Eduardo Archuleta
Around gay pride, they would do a whole day of programming. And the station got a call from this woman who said she thought they were just blaspheming Latinos and saying negative things, and we're not queer, and we're not gay or lesbian and how can they be degrading the community of Latinos and saying, we're this and we're that. So she was on the phone talking and they came to me and they said, would you please talk to her? And I did. And we were talking and she verbalized her sentiments to me about they're just trying to make us look bad and that we're not queer. And I said, "I'm gay and I'm Latino, and we've done this show. This is done and produced by Latinos and Latinas, and it's going to be on a little later." And just talked to her, and found out in fact that she had a gay brother and she was just distraught by the whole process.

Eduardo Archuleta
And we talked for a while, and hopefully as a result of our conversation, she was a little more supportive of her brother or even the fact that he's not alone, that there are tons of us out there and this is like a safe place, if you will, where he can learn more about the community, hopefully come to involve himself in different aspects of the community. But that one always stuck with me all these years, that conversation I had with that woman about how she felt and then learning that in fact her brother was gay.

Eduardo Archuleta

Providing exposure to folks to let them know that we're out there, they're not alone. And I know that was like a big thing for IMRU, is they were out there providing support to people that may not be able to express themselves openly. And this was a way for them to connect with a broader community via the radio. So I know for me that was big. And it was exciting. It was different.

Rita Gonzales
I think I did it also for the exposure, but also when you volunteer for any organization, it's a lot of work, no matter what it is. And it's a commitment that you make, that you want to do better for your community. And talking to the people that were able to talk about their organization, even though some of them couldn't give their names, it was very brave of them. You felt good. You were giving back to the community, because it wasn't glorious to say I'm on radio, because you were a voice, but we were a collective, even though it was mostly Eduardo and I, towards the end, people still would contribute stories and help give us ideas who to contact. Because like I said, this was before social media. People remembered the show. I don't know if you were there. I did the jingle for them. G-L-L-U Radio GLLU.

Rita Gonzales
Welcome to another edition of Radio GLLU. I am Rita Gonzalez

Eduardo Archuleta
and I'm Eduardo Archuleta.

Eduardo Archuleta
You do me well. [LAUGHS]

Rita Gonzales
So that's why people remembered that show. Oh yeah. I used to listen to that. We had some great memories. Do you remember Eduardo? Because, okay, we were only on once a month. Okay. So if we had someone as our guest and if they were a no show, we had to come up with something, because we had to fill the air. And do you remember, I think I pretended I was Celia Cruz.

Eduardo Archuleta
I forgot about that. But yes. [LAUGHS]

Rita Gonzales
Celia Cruz, and here she comes. And then, I will sing for you now.[LAUGHING]

[Music]

Eduardo Archuleta
Because it was on KPFK, which was a progressive radio station, Pacifica Radio, I think that the audience was maybe a little broader than it might have been on say another station. But because that was progressive radio, I like to hope that we were able to reach queer Latinos at home or wherever they were, it was a big deal just to be out gay and lesbian. The community hadn't evolved to where it is today. I think it's a more inclusive community today than it was. God, what is that? 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Oh dear Lord, have mercy.

Rita Gonzales
I know. I had naturally dark hair then.

Eduardo Archuleta
I actually had hair. [LAUGHTER]

Rita Gonzales
Some people weren't out. So we respected that. We had school teachers that were closeted, they were Latinas, but they couldn't give their names because in those days you could be fired for being a lesbian and a school teacher. We would ask people, do you want to use your name or do you want to make up a name or something? And some people did. They just made up a name. We never took their photos, because they did not want to be outed. Eduardo and I made a commitment that we would be out, on the air. I wasn't going to use any other name. And I introduced myself, Rita Gonzales, out in the public, from Radio GLLU, because I thought it was important for me to do that as a person. I thought, I can't be somebody I'm not on the airwaves. If I'm asking other people to talk about themselves, then I need to be upfront with people also.

Eduardo Archuleta
Yeah, absolutely. It was important to be out. When I came out a hundred years ago, it was a big deal. There were people that when they came out, they were disowned by their families. And most of the people that I knew or that had heard about, that had come out were non-Latino, primarily white. So it was a big deal for me to be an out Chicano. I didn't shy away from it, not from family, not from friends, not professionally. And fortunately, I don't believe I suffered any repercussions as a result of that. I hate to use the word role model, but at least somebody who was out, who was okay, whose life wasn't upended as a result of that.

Eduardo Archuleta
That goes back to why I joined GLLU in the first place. Again, Lesbian, Latino Unidos. I was in college at the time that I found out about it. I want to say I may be read it in Frontiers, which was one of the gay rags of the time, magazines, forgive me. And I heard that there was this group and there was this meeting that was held at, again, Lesbian Center at the time. So when I found out about the Latino gay and lesbian queer community, it was very cool. And it was like, oh, thank God. I can be who I am.

Eduardo Archuleta
Because pretty much in school for the years up to that point, very closeted. I didn't date men or women and it was very different. And again, finding that, it was just like a relief to say, oh, here, these are my people, if you will. Because there were a ton of white dominant gay organizations throughout LA, West Hollywood, at Hollywood in particular. Finding again, Lesbian Latino Unidos was just a godsend. It was very cool. It really was finding home. It was great. And that also was a catalyst for me coming out to family and friends.

Rita Gonzales
I was in and out of different Latino groups and in the Latino movement prior to GLLU. And then as a phone installer, I was asked to go to the Gay Lesbian Center to install some phones. And I go, why is there a Gay Lesbian Center? Why do gays need a center? So I went. I was very reluctant, but I went because I was closeted at the phone company because they were very hostile against gays at that time, especially if you're a phone installer. So that's where I met Laura Esquivel and Arturo Alivez with GLLU.

Rita Gonzales
And then after being there a few days, because this phone installation took weeks to do, they introduced me to Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos. At first, I didn't tell them I was gay. I didn't go there, hey, I'm here to fix your phone. By the way, I'm gay. They even asked me after I was there a few times, are you a lesbian? And I finally said, yes I am. So they invited me to a meeting and that's how I got involved with GLLU. And it was just like, wow, there's gay Latinos, meeting other Latinos that were doing such great work in the gay community. It was just like, we were all taking a risk to do it. And I thought, I'm not going to back down from this.

Rita Gonzales
So the show, and when we did the show to promote these people that were doing wonderful work and not getting the kudos, like you see a lot of people do in the communities, they always highlight all the head people, but all the little people down there that are doing the work in the community, that was important to us. And all these small groups that were really trying to do something, make a difference in the community. So yeah, it helped me be who I am today. It made me who I am today. Take it or leave it. It made me. Those were the best years. We laughed a lot.

Eduardo Archuleta
We did.

Rita Gonzales
On the air and off the air. We just laughed a lot.

Eduardo Archuleta
We did.

Rita Gonzales
I still stand at Pershing Square and go “G-L-L-U Radio GLLU.” And they go, look at that crazy lady again. That crazy lady again. [LAUGHTER]

[Music]

Credits:
“Gonzales, Rita and Eduardo Archuleta.” Interview by Ángel Labarthe del Solare & Umi Hsu. 28 October 2022. Together On the Air, ONE Archives Foundation. Digital audio file.