Hello, and welcome to Somos Hispanos.

I'm your host, Christiana Malacara, and we will discuss the long time Saginaw Bay's publication, K?

ONDA!

We have the owner and writer with us today, Miguel Torrez, and he's here to share the story and what's next.

Hi Miguel, thank you for joining today on Somos Hispanos.

You have been doing amazing things for quite a while with a publication that you founded.

And that is called K?

ONDA!

When did K?

ONDA!

start?

K?

ONDA!, we started it back in 2010, actually.

February of 2010, because, at that time, there was a lot of Hispanic dances that were going on at the time.

In Saginaw, Bay City, Alma, Midland area, there was a lot of stuff, but nobody knew about them.

And back then Facebook was like it was out there, but it wasn't.

People were in on it like they were like, they are now.

And, it was kind of like, you know, that was publications and fliers in the community.

And then also the radio program that we have on Saturdays, which is here at Delta.

You know, that was the only way that people really knew about stuff.

And, we decided to start a publication.

Me and my lady, her name is Christina.

She wasn't able to be here today but, she used to do.

She used to be a student at Saginaw Valley.

And she would always give, you know, information to the students at Saginaw Valley about what was happening in Saginaw.

And then she started working at the casino and started doing the same thing, started giving information, making little fliers like what would become K?

ONDA!

She started making little fliers and giving them out to the workers at the casino.

Wow, so K?

ONDA!

is an entire publication now.

Multiple pages across the state.

But you're saying this started out as fliers just sharing information.

Sharing information, pretty much about the latest dances, deejays and whatever was going on in the community at that time.

So music based.

Yeah, pretty much music based and, events.

And that's what our publication still, you know, that's why you see, when you open it up, you typically see a lot of information about dances and artists and stuff like that.

Because that's pretty much, you know, you know what?

we found it in under.

What made you say, I want to start this and I want to focus on the music, the culture portion, but music When we started K?

ONDA!

it was kind of like, you know... Back in February 2010, we went to a dance in Grand Rapids, there was a techno DJ that was playing at a hall.

It was just a dance of deejays or like ten different deejays.

And then, the next day after the dance was over, we said, we went to a Mexican restaurant in Mexican town, and we seen a flier for, you know, a famous Tejano Nathaniel artist.

Well, which is well known in this area to the Latino community and the music scene.

And there was a flier out there that said he was in the area.

And it was like, wow.

You know, it was like no one knew about it here.

And back then at that time, he was like real popular with the Latino community here.

And if they would have known, a lot of them would have went.

So that was kind of like the basis for K?

ONDA!

We seen a flier come out, we seen the flier on the, on the pole and like, wow, you know, this is if people would've known they would have came out, you know.

Yeah.

So that was kind of like the basis that was like what sparked the idea for K?

ONDA!

start and then we haven't looked back ever since.

Well, the next day we went to the courthouse and got to know that paperwork said, and haven't looked back since.

Wow, that's truly remarkable.

I didn't know that.

And I'm sure our viewers are excited to know that back story.

So when you started out, you started out as a flier.

And then I'm assuming you added pages in.

You know, I know where it is now.

Yeah, right.

So what were those first few years looking like?

When we first originally started K?

ONDA!

we just listed all the deejays and all the bands that were playing at the time, because at that time we had a lot of Hispanic bands just in Saginaw and Bay City area.

So we started just listing the bands deejays put in the restaurants.

It was just a one page flier with just information, you know, about the deejays and bands.

Never thought that it was going to get any.

I mean, I'll be honest with you, we just put it out occasionally.

Never thought that people, you know would want to advertise in it.

And, you know, when we put that first issue out, you know, we put it out there and people picked it up and we put like, I think we started off with like 20 copies and, you know, from, from like some of the local bakeries here, those 20 copies went real quick.

So how many copies do you print now?

Right now.

Right now we print our 3000 copies a month.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, it's statewide 3000 copies.

And you do this monthly?

Yeah.

Every month.

Yeah.

So if I were to pick up a K?

ONDA!

magazine publication, what are some of the things that I might see in there?

What are you going to see information about events, going on in the community, new restaurants opening.

You'll see information for some of the school districts and, and highlighting of student highlights, a little bit of everything, a little bit of, you know, community news, mainly music and stuff.

And then, if I may, of course, information about our events that we do in the community.

This is mind blowing and the fact that inspiration came from, hey, I don't want to miss this dance too.

Now we have a resource for the Latino population.

Have you noticed a difference in Latino communication over the years?

Has has it in your perspective, in your eyes?

Has it gotten better?

Is there more out there for the Latino community?

Now there is, I can honestly say now that there is more more people, you know, and more resources for the Latino community than it was back then.

Back then when we started, I think the only thing that was that was out there, you know, we had, we had the Mi Gente magazine and we had Delta College 90.1 El Gueroman was out there.

And that was it as far as the media goes.

But now we have more, you know, we have a lot more resources, like we have like Mexican stations in Grand Rapids.

We have ?

??

magazine and other other magazines and, and shows like Somos Hispanos.

And then also, you know, we have more we have more leaders out there in the community now than we did back then.

You know, back then there was only a handful of people that were out there.

It's a great way to have the representation.

So the along these many years of your publication, writers who's writing, who is in these pages writing for you?

We've had many writers over the years.

We had like, Rosa Morales, she helped us out, you know, some writing.

And then, had this lady named Heather de Gracia.

We even had Angelo Kapp he wrote some articles for us.

Let's see, we've had different, writers throughout the... Oh, Tejano Soy her name is.

She's from Diana.

Her name is Diana.

She's from originally from Bay city.

Now she lives in San Antonio area.

And she wrote for us a few times, you know, so and then we've had just different people contribute articles throughout the year, you know, different people like Minnie Rosales is also sent articles for us and just different people, different organizations.

So it's definitely a community collaboration.

And we're always accepting articles.

Anybody that wants to send a story or anything, you know, that we don't necessarily have to write it if they want to write it and send it to me.

And, you know, there are more than welcome to do that.

I have to ask.

I can't go any further without asking K?

ONDA!

the title.

Where did it come from?

What does it mean?

Was originally for the you know, people that you know Spanish.

It's supposed to be q u e KONDA but we pretty much, the founder of it.

Her name or my lady, her name is Christina.

And, her name starts with a K. So since she was the one, like, the brains behind it originally, we pretty much put the K. You know, we dedicated the first letter of the K?

ONDA!

to her.

Instead of saying K?

ONDA!

which is q u e ONDA.

We just put K, you know, pretty much just like a dedication to her.

In our non Spanish speaking, viewers, what does K?

ONDA mean?

What’s up, what’s happening You know, what's kind of like what's going on.

What's going on, what's happening.

So in the in the sense of what's going on, what's next.

What do you see since, you know, a flier to an entire publication and 3000 plus copies, what has been the big thing that's coming up next for you?

Well, next we hope to focus more on the website.

You know, we do have we are we do have online.

We do focused.

We're trying to focus more on an online platform.

You know, right now we have a website.

And also trying to focus more on the social media, Facebook because, you know, that's right.

Now that's like the main that's one of the main ways to get the word out.

And then also recently we just started, you know, we want to focus then also maybe turn on the full magazine or maybe a newspaper, you know, or something upgraded.

We're always looking to upgrade.

Always room for improvement.

Right.

Pretty much.

So I've heard that K?

ONDA!

actually expanded into the nonprofit sector.

You share a little bit about that?

Yeah, Recently we started Fiesta K?

ONDA!

nonprofit organization.

And that organization was started actually a year ago.

Why is it we started a year ago officially, but we were doing Fiestas.

We've been doing this thing is called Fiesta K?

ONDA!

And, the past five years, it's, annual Fiesta that's held the a three day event held annually the third week in September.

And basically that's a three day event where we have live entertainment, music, we have different contests like a jalapeno contest, ?

??

contest, taco contest.

And that's an event that was originally started during Covid, you know, to give the people something to do.

And that's what the nonprofit came out of.

Well, I'll tell you a little bit about the Fiesta, if you want.

Yes, definitely.

The Fiesta was started back in 2022 during Covid.

You know, and me and my lady, you know, we always used to go out all the time to Wisconsin or she she goes by the name La Chicano.

So I'd say like to kind of, we used to go to Wisconsin fanfare, you know, and all these festivals, and we would see how they would do events, how they would do the Fiestas.

And it was like, like, wow, why can't we do something like that here?

You know, they'd have like three stages and stuff.

And so finally during, during Covid in September of 2022, it said, you know what?

Let's just go for it.

Let's just create an event.

And that first event I went and I knocked on doors, went to different businesses and got people to support and even even put money out of my own pocket to, to make it happen.

And I never thought that it would grow to what I never thought there would be in the fifth year.

It was just originally supposed to be like a one time event just to do it, you know, just, you know, just wanted to do it, you know.

Just like how the publication started out with the filer.

Yeah.

And here we are today.

So what do you see is next?

What is something that is just in an ambitious idea that you want to see next for either the nonprofit or the publication?

Well, I definitely want to focus on the nonprofit because the nonprofit is a music... Basically, what the nonprofit is, is a music... It's a platform for musicians, artists, new, up and coming.

It's kind of like, like in Texas, they have the Texas Talent Association, and that's kind of what, what Fiesta K?

ONDA!

is.

It's a platform for anybody that wants to get in music, art, just to give them that platform to to be able to just get out there and perform, you know.

Because a lot of the times people just need a a little push, you know, saying they want it.

There's a lot of talented artists here.

But, you know, they just don't have no place to play in.

It's like, are they are they get nervous or they don't want to.

They just, you know, they and we've helped a lot of artists over the years.

There's a lot of deejays and a lot of bands, a lot of musicians.

And they just they've gotten this start from us, you know.

For instance, over the years since we've been doing events, there's been a lot of different artists and groups that people had never heard of that otherwise would have never got a chance to play around here.

And, you know, that's.

Giving them exposure and a boost of confidence along the way, too.

I'm being published in a magazine.

Is it's a it's, in my eyes, a tremendous honor.

And, you know, being able to share the goodness that you can serve.

So let me let me ask you this, have you had a favorite cover or favorite story throughout the years that you're like, this is so cool.

I'm excited to share this.

One of the one of the covers that was awesome was when, back, few years ago when they used to have a lot of Hispanic dancers, like, we had Michael Salgado that was on the cover one.

And then also, I think George Lopez was on the cover one, and he actually got to see it and it was like, wow.

You know, just seeing a famous comedian like George Lopez and a well-known tejano artist like Michael Selgado got to actually pick up the K?

ONDA!

an hold you know, take a picture with the cover.

I’m like you know, that was actually one of the highlights of, you know.

and then also seeing people on the cover that never, you know, the people they know about.

Like there was, for instance, there was a fundraiser, I think, for a student one time that had cancer.

And, you know, that was another cover that was memorable because a lot of people picked it up.

And then, you know, they made a lot of because a lot of people didn't know about this, this person's story, you know, they ended up, you know, they had unfortunately, they ended up passing away.

But but, you know, everybody, they got a lot of support because they were on the cover of the publication for that month.

So it was that that's another thing you know.

was that's another memorable cover, you know.

That's amazing, so when the community goes out to look for K?

ONDA!

publication, where can they look either online or in person?

In person?

You can check it out the Hispanic restaurants in Saginaw and all the local establishments, for example, like, Rancho Granada restaurant, Coco Loco, and then also like Saginaw County Courthouse.

And then also you can check out the K?

ONDA!

Facebook page at least every month.

You know, we list every month where the publications can be distributed or on the Fiesta K?

ONDA!

dot com website.

Well, thank you for being here.

And thank you for contributing and giving back into the Latino community and beyond in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

I appreciate you being here.

All right, thank you for having me today.

Of course, all right.