About Us
Radio Miami International was founded in 1989 by Jeff White (currently General Manager) and Kiko Espinosa (chief engineer, who passed away in 2005). RMI began broadcasting in 1989 via hired airtime on other shortwave facilities in various locations. Eventually, White and Espinosa applied for a license from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to put their own station on the air from Miami, and they brought two additional partners into the company. In June of 1994, WRMI went on the air.
The station broadcasts with a 50,000-watt Wilkinson AM50,000B transmitter, as well as a 5,000-watt auxiliary transmitter. WRMI has a corner reflector antenna beaming 160 degrees toward the Caribbean and Latin America, and a yagi-style log periodic antenna beaming 317 degrees toward North America. The two antennas are used at different times of the day, meaning that certain hours are beamed to North America and other hours are beamed to the Caribbean and Latin America.
WRMI broadcasts some of its own programming, mainly the program "Viva Miami" (in both English and Spanish editions) with travel features, letters from listeners, music that's popular in Miami, interviews with studio guests etc. But most of our airtime is sold to outside organizations. including political, religious, commercial and cultural organizations, overseas relays and more. Most of our programming is in English or Spanish, but some programs are in Creole, Portuguese and other languages.
WRMI is a member of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB), and WRMI General Manager Jeff White is currently president of the NASB.
The personnel of WRMI has a wealth of experience in shortwave broadcasting. General Manager Jeff White graduated with a degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University in 1980. He has worked as a radio news correpondent and an audience research consultant for a number of national and international radio networks, including National Public Radio, NBC/Mutual Radio, the World Service of the Christian Science Monitor, the Voice of America, BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle and many more. He also managed commercial shortwave radio projects Radio Earth in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles; and Radio Discovery in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Jeff is fluent in Spanish and English, and produces our program "Viva Miami" in both languages. In his "free time," he likes to travel with his wife Thais.
Thais White, Jeff's wife, is our office administrator and manager of our Travel Department. She can also be heard occasionally on "Viva Miami." Thais was a travel agent in her native Venezuela, and she now oversees our new travel department, which specializes in cruises. Miami is the cruise capital of the world, and Radio Miami International is a member of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). We arrange cruises and other travel services (hotels, flights, rental cars, etc.) for people who are planning to travel to Miami, for example, and want to experience a cruise vacation to the Caribbean while they are here.
Jose Raul Mena is our Technical Director. He is the son-in-law of our founding chief engineer, Kiko Espinosa. Raul is in charge of WRMI's transmitter plant, overseeing technical projects and keeping the transmitters running and maintained. He has worked in technical positions for a number of local radio and television stations in the past.
Javier Garcia is our studio engineer. He records programs for local groups in the Miami area who use our studios to produce their programs. Javier is originally from Nicaragua and has lived in Miami for more than 20 years. |
