Radio
A new radio station is slated for the Atchafalaya region.
In 2019, when Brandon and Aurore Ballengée purchased acreage adjacent to their nature reserve in Arnaudville, they also got a telecommunications tower thrown in.
“I think there was like a cable company and they went out of business, and they left everything there,” said Aurore, a culinary educator focused on sustainable food and food justice. She and her husband Brandon, who is a multimedia artist and biologist, have operated Atelier de la Nature since 2017 as a nature reserve, sculpture garden, and education center.
And now, with a permit from the FCC in hand, they have finally found a way to make use of their onsite tower. Enter: KRPB-Radio on the Prairie.
The new LPFM community radio station—a collaboration between the Ballengées, artist and environmental activist Monique Verdin, and Louisiana French musician Louis Michot—will officially broadcast in 2026 to the Cecelia/Henderson/Arnaudville area and online.
KRPB was conceived as a means to amplify and archive cultural practices and traditions of this region, as well as educate on subjects like Louisiana’s unique environmental challenges. The Ballengées plan to feature conversations about local foodways, languages, history, and, of course, music. Plans are in place for a “mad scientist” show by biologist Ben Dubansky, and other programs focused on topics ranging from prairie habitat to fermenting foods.
“But it’s going to be more than just entertainment radio,” said Aurore. The station will also serve as an important element of the Ballengée’s ongoing project to outfit Atelier de la Nature as a “lighthouse” shelter for the area—a refuge members of the surrounding community can come to during disasters for power and food. “We’ve got a solar generator and some emergency provisions,” said Brandon. And now, they will also have a means of real-time communication that doesn’t rely on electricity or the internet.
“There are also some devices you can get, working with FEMA and NOAA, where you can get hyperlocalized weather alerts,” said Aurore. “So, we’re planning on setting that up so we can be that resource for this area.”
The Ballengées envision the station as a community contribution that is simultaneously a celebration of heritage, an exploration of environment, and display of resilience looking to the future and its challenges. The next year will be spent fundraising for equipment, infrastructure, and programming, and Atelier de la Nature is currently accepting donations at atelierdelanature.org.
