Lancaster's Radio Centro attracts International Latino Stars

Radio Centro (91.3 WLCH) first entered the local airwaves on September 14, 1987. Station Manager Enid Vasquez-Pereira was there on that Monday morning, and today she easily recalls the small beginnings: “It was a little studio. You’d walk into the production studio and then walk into the on-air studio, so there were a lot of interruptions.” It was a Now the station occupies a generous first-floor space for their lively headquarters at 30 N Ann St.

Radio Centro (RC) is a Spanish public broadcasting station serving Hispanic and Latino listeners in Lancaster and beyond. Being an NPR-affiliated broadcaster, the station offers a blend of educational and cultural programming, some of which is produced by larger national studios, such as Radio Bilingue's Linea Abierta (airing Monday through Friday at 3:00pm). Much of RC’s educational programming, however, is homegrown, produced right here at the Downtown Lancaster studio.

Music plays an important role in RC’s programming. And, although most of the music is Spanish-language, there exists a wide range of ethnic genres. As Lancaster has grown in its diversity of Hispanic nationalities, Vasquez-Pereira explained, RC has sought to provide specialized blocks of programming catered to various styles—from Cuban to Dominican. Occasionally, up-and-coming artists have visited RC from New York City or other urban centers to talk on the air. According to Vasquez-Pereira, “we have had some who are now international stars,” such as Andy Andy and Aventura.

Aside from providing Spanish-speakers with valuable news and information, one of RC’s greatest accomplishments is preserving Hispanic and Latino culture by connecting older and younger generations.

Vasquez-Pereira explained the dynamic: “We do have some programs that the older individuals might appreciate. This is music that you won’t hear elsewhere—like the old trio songs that my parents used to love….Then you have individuals like myself that appreciate listening to it because it reminds me of my parents.” Also, “with the radio station, I hear [the younger generation] using their Spanish a little bit more, and even appreciating their Spanish music a lot more than they used to.”

Radio Centro broadcasts from Downtown Lancaster and reaches as far as York. In the future, the station hopes to expand its coverage, and continue cultivating Hispanic and Latino culture in Lancaster City and beyond.

The month of March is a crucial time for Radio Centro in raising support for their operations as a public broadcasting station. For more information about Radio Centro and how you can support their programming, visit www.wlchradio.org.

Prince Street Café major downtown draw

By Cliff B. Lewis

In late 2005, Keith and Crystal Weaver; Dave and Carol Witmer; Kevin and Valentina Weaver; and Ed and Joan McManness all put their heads together: "We all had a very common vision," Crystal Weaver explains, "and that was to provide a place where people could come hang out and not feel like they just needed to move along…. We wanted a place that was well-done, that felt like someone had put some time, energy, and quality into it."

Ever since the Prince Street Café's opening in August of 2006, this vision has been tremendously successful. People often ask Weaver if business has dropped in the current recession, but the fact is the Café just experienced its busiest winter yet: "It's been on the incline ever since we moved in. I don’t think we’ve leveled off. I keep thinking, 'By now the hype should be over and it should level off…' But things haven’t slowed down yet."

Another early purpose for the Café was to bring more people Downtown, "for people outside the city to come in and start to feel comfortable in the city and feel safe in it." Weaver, who was raised on a farm in Centerville, said that most of the people she grew up with were afraid to come Downtown. Today, Weaver estimates that her Lancaster City business receives more than half of its traffic from people outside city limits.

According to Marshall Snively, Deputy Director of the James Street Improvement District (which includes the Downtown Investment District), the city has collected a younger, more "hip" crowd in recent years. The pattern cannot be directly traced to the arrival of the Prince Street Café, but the Café's success is certainly emblematic of the trend.

For Lancaster's city-goers and city-dwellers, the Prince Street Café provides a winning combination of quality and affordability. It isn't the quintessential "Ritz," but it isn't a hole-in-the-wall, either. Although the concept of affordable quality appears obvious enough, Weaver believes this is something that the city could use more of: "I think there’s a need for a place that is mid-range—nice, but not really expensive."

It took eight owners and a great idea to start up Lancaster City's Prince Street Café—a business that now stands as a parable to how a strong vision can go a long way when enough people put their heads and wallets together. And, after all, isn't that what cities are all about?

The Café is located at 15 N. Prince St and is open from 6:30am to 11pm on Monday through Thursday, and perpetually from 6:30am Friday to 3:30pm Sunday.

Building Character: Pulsates spirit of adaption and reuse

(First report by Cliff B. Lewis on the Downtown cultural scene)

The 300 block of North Queen Street may well be the cradle of a cultural Renaissance in Downtown Lancaster. And the glowing center of this gestating movement would have to be Building Character.

Tucked away from the west side of Queen, Building Character's exposed brick walls and bare rafters have come to shelter a colorful arrangement of local music, art, clothing, and film. The now city-wide tradition of Music Fridays (on the third week of each month) first pulsed through these very walls to the tune of the Faux Minx, Lancaster's hardest-working jazz-funk quintet. And, from the looks of things, this is only the beginning of Building Character's impact on Lancaster's local culture.

Before April 2007, Building Character was a drab and silent warehouse. Had it not been for the efforts of local preservationists, this 19th century structure, designed by the same architect as Penn Square's Greist building, would have been flattened into a parking lot. Instead, the building served as a small-time storage facility until less than two years ago, when Tony Nies and Marty Hulse conceived the idea for a Downtown-based market for antique architectural salvage material.

Not long after its initial opening, the facility became a fresh venue for emerging Lancaster musicians—apparently a hot commodity at the moment: "The Chameleon," Nies explained, "kind of lost the [status of being] known as the local, raw, underground space for up and coming local artists. Now they're booking David Archuleta." Two years ago, when folk artist and former "Vigilante of Love” Bill Malone visited Lancaster, he performed at the Chameleon. This Saturday, February 28, Malone will perform at Building Character.

Building Character bears a stark and stylish atmosphere, setting a new local standard for the adaptive reuse of historic industrial structures. Indeed, its entire eclectic block is defined by a spirit of adaptation and reuse—from clothing, to windows, to vintage cigarette lighters. As Nies puts it, "Almost everything in the block reuses in some way….That's one of the things that the block stands for."

Building Character is located at 342 North Queen, Warehouse B. Building Character houses a diverse array of cultural events, all of which are listed on their Event Calendar.