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In its continuous attempt to preserve the Basque-American heritage, Boise's Basque Museum and Cultural Center is now immersed in a new and “very exciting” chapter, as put by Eneko Tuduri, intern at the educational institution, in a conversation with EuskalKultura.com. Tuduri is digitalizing the historic 'Basque Radio Program,' aired between the years 1952 and 1984, on KBOI, and "listened even in Canada, and Mexico."

Boise, ID. “It's very exciting to listen to these people speak in Basque on an American radio program, forty and fifty years ago,” said Eneko Tuduri (Donostia, 1990). He arrived in Boise on January 11, with a grant from the Basque Government, to work on a couple of projects at the Basque Museum and Cultural Center.

For one of those projects, the art historian is digitalizing the important 'Basque Radio Program' which, as he explained, aired for 32 years on local station KBOI, but that, due to its strong signal, was listened all across the US, Canada, and Mexico. “Almost everything was recorded on tapes and, at the moment, I'm listening to them and taking notes.” The intern explained that, in the program, the speakers used to play music, wish people happy birthday, or inform about important news about the US, the Basque Country, and Spain. "It was a very important program because it was a sort of bridge between America and their homeland.”

Among the news they aired and interviews they conducted, Tuduri highlighted the end of Franco's dictatorship; an interview with an influential politician, writer, and linguist Jose Luis Alvarez Enparantza, aka Txillardegi; and a series of conversations with different pilotaris.

Seeking information

Tuduri explained to EuskalKultura.com that during these three decades there were four main hosts: Jose Lachiondo, Cecilio Jaio, Iñaki Eguiguren, and Espe Alegria. Unfortunately, all of them, but Jaio, passed away. “Now I would like to interview Jaio, because we know all the speakers were volunteers, and that the station was lent to them, for free, an hour on Sundays, but we don't know many other details.” The Museum is also looking for any kind of information people could give them.

“The idea is to build a website with all the programs, but we don't know how we're going to do it yet, because the files are very large. We're just in the first phase.”

Basque-American musicians

The other undertaking he is involved with is related to the Basque-American musicians. As he explained, the idea is to make a list of all the musicians and bands that lived and played in the States. If possible, the Museum would also like to include audio and video clips, for which they would very much appreciate the help of fellow Amerikanuak.