North Texas Daily

Sadia Saeed | Staff Writer

In 1997, a quiet church was built in Denton. Small, homey and with few people, the Mission Templo Bethel was constructed for the Spanish speaking community. By 2004, the church had grown as more people joined, forcing the church to get a new home. Now, 13 years later, the church stands tall amongst its residents as the congregation grew from 80 to about 200 people.

As a need for communication among the city’s Spanish speaking community grew, Estereo Vida made its way to Denton.

“[My sister] came here just to take a vacation, and that vacation became 17 years,” said Jose Paiz, a pastor at Mision Templo and an Estereo Vida worker. “She opened a church and I came in 2002 to help with the church.”

Paiz and his sister, Sofia Paiz, witnessed the beginning of the radio station when a woman from the church came to Mission Templo with an idea.

“A woman spoke to us that we were going to have a radio station in this city and that moment we started to pray and save money,” Paiz said. “I was working for a big radio station in Dallas at that time so I loved this [idea], and when she told us that God talked to her, we believed it. We had nothing, we didn’t know how to do it.”

Hitting the ground running

A believer in prophecy and Christian faith, the congregation started working on setting a radio station up. With no prior knowledge or experience, the church went ahead and applied to the Federal Communication Commission with the idea for the station on the very last day to submit applications. They were the first ones approved among 8,000 applicants.

“This radio business is for big fish and we are a small one, trying to survive,” Paiz said. “But the FCC approved us. It was a miracle.”

After such strenuous work, the radio did not get on air because the church did not have money to support it. They lost their license and went back to square one – trusting in their belief.

Two months later, the FCC granted the church another license for 18 months, giving Paiz and the congregation another chance. Not wasting another moment, Estereo Vida was on air in 2015.

“We started out first air show from the [radio] tower,” Paiz said. “From there we got our first show and two months later God gave us our office and we started buying equipment. This is our second year [focusing on Estereo Vida] and our volunteers here help us a lot.”

Maria Perez (left) and Bertha Mitchell (right) are the newest members on the team. Perez is known as the youth DJ at the station. Zoee Acosta

The main team consists of Jose Paiz, Juanita Diego Estereo Vida, Marita Perez and Bertha Mitchell, who were all shocked at how far the radio has come.

“Every person involved in this thing has been nothing close to circumstances,” Mitchell said. “Everything has been a miracle. From having nothing to having money to having this is really incredible [resource].”

Mitchell has been involved with radio for many years, and her experience has helped Estereo Vida grow in Denton. As a radio host in Mexico, Mitchell’s dream was always to work at a Christian radio station. When she moved to Texas, her husband ran into Pastor Paiz, who has was looking for someone with experience.

“I didn’t even attend this church,” Mitchell said. “So many years later I realized that God has this plan with your life. I get to work in something I love so much. How we came to happen was random, but nothing to God is random.”

Providing for the community

From the beginning, Paiz has had three goals for the station: to provide education, inspiration and celebration. It was vital for Paiz to aid the community members through a station that caters specifically to the Spanish speaking community.

“When I came here, I saw that our community has a lower level in education, so we started so many programs in church trying to educate our people,” Paiz said. “What a better way to education people than a radio station?”

Education was just to start, as Paiz wanted to also keep people inspired.

“Our people work really hard and they need to live day by day with inspiration,” Paiz said. “Most don’t have any documents, so they just live. They don’t know what’s going to happen so we need to inspire them. The rest, after that, is celebration with music.”

Although the station itself has only been running for about a year, the team has big plans for the future, including reaching out to second and third generations of Spanish immigrants through the culture’s love of music.

“The main focus is the Spanish speaking population,” said Marita Perez, the DJ for Estereo Vida. “We are speaking [for] generations, but our children also like the music. Sometimes they also want other songs from another station, and I figured why not bring it here as well.”

Perez said the community is what brought Estereo Vida together, and it’s because of them that they continue to operate by heading monthly fundraisers and selling food and clothes.

Their support is what guides the radio station, Paiz said.

“[When we started out] we needed $100,000 and we didn’t have any, but people started to [donate] money,” Paiz said. “We don’t have the [most] expensive equipment, but we don’t have the cheap equipment. God provides us what we need.”

Estereo Vida started off as an idea two years ago, from a church that was just finding its foothold. A year later, it has provided the Spanish speaking community of Denton an outlet and a source. From new immigrants to those that need help finding something to live for as they set up their new life, and from a quiet church to a grown platform, Mission Templo Bethel rooted themselves as the providers to the community.

“You see how people grow with education and that’s our goal [with the radio],” Paiz said. “We have four people starting their own businesses. It’s nothing short of a miracle.”

Featured Image: Jose Paiz and Juanita Delgado have been friends for many years. Knowing that Delgado wanted to be more involved at church Paiz asked her to join his radio team. Zoee Acosta