Where No Others Have Gone Before
By Renee Macalino Rutledge

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Six Filipino American journalists are testing the technological waters with “Pinoy Pod,” an innovative and informative venture that showcases all things Filipino.

On May 23, 2006 The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story on Joey Ayala’s Tagalog version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” written from the perspective of the Filipino American experience. Timely and provocative, the article showed a spectrum of reactions to Ayala’s version of the anthem, highlighting the controversy surrounding immigration policy today. But it also did much more than the typical news article. Those who tuned in to the podcast of the story heard the pride and enthusiasm in Oscar Peñaranda’s voice as the Bay Area poet and teacher declared his support for Ayala’s patriotic views. They sensed the disapproval of San Francisco civic leader Dennis Normandy as he voiced disbelief at what he considered the massacre of an American icon. Most significantly, though, they heard the melody of the song in question, it’s a melody anyone would recognize, but with a completely different feel. Ayala’s version of the “Star Spangled Banner” is accompanied by the hypnotic strum of a guitar; the singer’s warm tone at once mourns and celebrates the Filipino experience on U.S. soil. In this case, the melody itself made the story. Joey Ayala commented: “For me the melody—that is an anthem.”

The news audience could literally hear the melody behind this story through one of the latest innovations in journalism: podcasting. Podcasts are audio files, similar to radio shows, that are accessible through the Internet and easily downloaded to a computer. The podcast of Ayala’s version was the first among a weekly series called “Pinoy Pod,” which carries interviews and features in English and Tagalog. Hosted by The San Francisco Chronicle, “Pinoy Pod” is the first Filipino podcast channel produced by a major U.S. newspaper.

Ben Pimentel, producer of “Pinoy Pod” calls the project a bold experiment that typifies the changing landscape of journalism today. “The Internet has radically changed journalism—newspaper journalism in particular,” Pimentel says. “The Web has allowed us to reach a broader audience, beyond the Bay Area and the United States. More importantly, it allows us to reach specific audiences, such as Filipinos.”

Prior to launching “Pinoy Pod,” Pimentel understood the medium’s potential to bring stories to life in a whole new way. Pimentel’s early contribution to the Chronicle podcasts, an interview with Apl.de.Ap of the Black Eyed Peas, became one of the most popular podcasts on the Chronicle’s website, SFGate. His personal podcast channel, “Kuwento Kuwento” (www.filipinopodcasts.blogspot.com), also features interviews with interesting Pinoys. It wasn’t long before Pimentel joined heads with multimedia editor Marcus Chan, one of the Chronicle’s “podfathers,” to launch the paper’s own podcast channel for and about Filipinos.

Community Resource
Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein, a Pulitzer finalist for his coverage of the Philippines during the final years of the Marcos regime, believes the 400,000 Bay Area Filipinos are more than ready for the resource. “The Filipino community here is quite large, very active, very interested in community issues,” he says. “We would like to find ways to be more involved in communities in the Bay Area. Certainly the Filipino community is one of those.”

Though “Pinoy Pod” is aimed at a Filipino audience, it has universal appeal as well. Bronstein states, “It is a way for those who are not Filipino to get a glimpse into a world they don’t know that well. That’s something I’d like to see happen, for people in the Bay Area in particular, to tune in a little bit to get a sense of what the community is like.”

Bronstein hopes the innovation channel will open similar doors for other Bay Area communities. “I would like to see this be a model for us, in this very diverse region, for ways to get better involved with communities that exist here.”

Pimentel concurs: “If ‘Pinoy Pod’ succeeds,” he says, “and we believe it will, then I think a channel focused on Latinos or African Americans would be a great idea.”

The Filipino community in the United States is unique in that many are immigrants with strong ties to the Philippines. Pimentel says the Internet enables Filipinos here to follow developments in the motherland on a day-to-day basis. “‘Pinoy Pod’ is part of a new world in which journalism can be more global in reach and scope,” he states.

Catalyst
The podcast’s coverage of a range of provocative topics, such as politics and sexuality, is a catalyst for discussion across generations. Take the June 6 podcast on “Usaping Puki,” the “Vagina Monologues” in Tagalog. Columnist Pati Poblete and producer Ben Pimentel interviewed Marily Mondejar and Elena Mangahas about their work on the all-Tagalog version of the play.

“Puki, pek pek, uki. I bet you never expected to hear those words on a podcast produced by a major U.S. newspaper,” Poblete says by way of introduction to the podcast. Poblete also discussed her personal reaction to the play, saying, “It was a bit jarring. I was sitting there with my cousins and it seemed like we were watching our mothers, aunts and grandmothers talk about their vaginas. It was unsettling.” Mondejar explains, however, that the directness gets to the core of violence toward women, and being able to talk about the female sex organ in an open manner is a positive step towards liberating one’s self from this violence.

While it explores new territory on multiple levels, “Pinoy Pod” is considered a risk. Many viewers won’t recognize the word “Pinoy,” the Tagalog word for Filipino, because the podcast is audience-specific rather than general interest. In combination with the whimsical nature of Web surfing, the danger is that the target Filipino audience won’t tune in and spread the word about the weekly podcasts. “That’s really the risk,” Bronstein says, “The effort might not pay off in terms of people in the Filipino community enjoying it, wanting to listen to it, wanting to download it, talking to their friends about it, recommending it to their friends, linking to the broadcast and email/blogs.”
Pimentel, who sees the channel as an exciting development, is far from worried. “Many Filipinos in the Bay Area, the U.S. and the Philippines are excited about the podcast,” he says. “For us, the reactions have been overwhelming.”

Bronstein is also more invested in seeing the project succeed than in worrying about the amount of traffic it gets. “This is the way multimedia is these days—people trying different kinds of things. We’re not really measuring it against the standard of how many page views you get or how many downloads you get. I think because this is an experiment, you want to go with it for a while and see what happens.”

“Pinoy Pod’s” success is largely due to six Filipino Chronicle staff members who are involved with the channel on a day-to-day basis. Benny Evangelista, a veteran technology journalist, introduced the Chronicle to podcasting. Pati Poblete, an editorial writer, columnist and co-anchor, has a book coming out later this year, titled Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America. Cicero Estrella is a metro reporter whose coverage includes Pinoy and Asian communities. Michelle Louie, copy editor, focuses on Pinoy youth, culture and arts. Leslie Guevarra, the Chronicle’s deputy managing editor, is one of the highest-ranking Asian American women in the U.S. newspaper industry. Finally, Ben Pimentel, who has been with the paper since 1993, covers major technology stories. His book, UG, An Underground Tale: The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm Generation, has just come out. His first novel, Ang Mga Gerilya ng Powell Street, will soon be published.

It is difficult to resist Ben Pimentel’s invitation at the podcast’s opening, enlivened with Filipino folk music in the background: “Tuloy po kayo, lakad na po tayo.” Come on in. Let’s get on with our journey. It is a journey well worth taking.

Renee Macalino Rutledge is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.