Preserving Asian American Radio Heritage

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Voices at the Crossroads: Preserving Asian American radio heritage for America's 250th

Edward Junhao Lim, Vanessa Garcia Rhonda Kauffman, and Angela Rola, University of Connecticut

As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, whose voices tell that story? This panel explores digitizing the Asian American Forum (1990-1996)—arguably the first Asian American college radio program on the East Coast—to preserve vital voices often excluded from national narratives. Project team members, a student transcript reviewer, and Angela Rola (founding Director, UConn Asian American Cultural Center) discuss rights management challenges, student-led archival detective work, historical significance for Connecticut's new AAPI curriculum mandate, and connections between 1990s activism and today's anti-Asian violence. Demonstrates how digital preservation reshapes whose history counts.

This presentation was given at the Connecticut Digital Humanities Conference in at the Elihu Burritt Library in New Britain, CT on March 19, 2026.

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Preserving Asian American Radio Heritage

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