Asheville, NC – The Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP) is producing and will be airing a Spanish-language radionovela (radio soap-opera) as part of its ongoing effort to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. Tierra del Cielo (Land of the Sky) uses local voice actors and issue-driven dramatic storylines to educate listeners about HIV/AIDS and decrease stigma about the disease and those living with it.

“Tierra del Cielo is the creative realization of an idea developed by local artist and Latino community advocate, Victor Palomino,” says Lorena Flores, WNCAP’s Latino Outreach Worker and the person responsible for writing the script. “Asheville FM has been a terrific community partner in helping us with the production and actual airing of the 10-episode series. Voice-acting, technical support and use of radio equipment has all been donated by local individuals who are dedicated to raising awareness and educating the community about HIV/AIDS.”

A radionovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming populaor in Latin American, Portugese, and Spanish radio programming. The word combines radio and novela, a Spanish word for "novel." Radionovelas are different from soap operas because they are created with an ending and are not designed to run indefinitely. WNCAP’s Tierra del Cielo is a story of love, friendship and secrets among a group of friends that sheds light on a historically taboo subject within the Latino community - HIV/AIDS.

According to the CDC, Latinos are disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States. In 2009, Latinos accounted for 20% of new HIV infections in the US while representing only 16% of the total US population. “The main goal for this project is to reach as many individuals as possible”, says Flores. “In addition to its airtime on Asheville FM, Tierra del Cielo will be introduced to our migrant worker community during outreach visits in upcoming months.”

Beginning August 23rd, Tierra del Cielo is scheduled to air each Thursday at 7pm during Asheville FM’s weekly news hour and will conclude on Thursday, October 25th. The show can be accessed at http://www.ashevillfm.org and will continue to be available on the website after all episodes have been aired.

WNCAP is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide HIV-related services to the people of Western North Carolina through client support, prevention education and outreach, in a collaborative and financially responsible manner.

For more information about WNCAP or Tierra del Cielo, please visit http://www.WNCAP.org or contact Lorena Flores at lflores@wncap.org or 828-252-7489 ext.321.