Carmelau Monestime (April 6, 1931 – January 16, 2016) was a Haitian-born American community leader, activist and broadcaster. Monestime was a pioneer of Haitian Creole radio broadcasting in South Florida. In 1978, Monestime co-established Express Publicite Radio on WMBM, the first Haitian radio show to be broadcast in South Florida and the Miami metropolitan area. [1] Express Publicite Radio aired on WMBM (1490 AM) for thirty years. [1] Monestime also established and launched Radio Collective Internationale on 99.1 FM, the first radio station to be owned and operated by Haitians and Haitian Americans. [1]
Haitian Creole is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12 million people worldwide, and the only language of most Haitians. It is a creole language based largely on 18th-century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, English, Taíno, and West African languages. Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world.
Radio broadcasting is transmission by radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both. The signal types can be either analog audio or digital audio.
South Florida is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Florida's southernmost counties, and is the fourth most populous urban agglomeration in the United States. It is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regions, the others being Central Florida and North Florida. It includes the populous Miami metropolitan area, the Everglades, the Florida Keys, and other localities. South Florida is the only part of the continental United States with a tropical climate.
Monestime was born in Gonaïves, Haiti, on April 6, 1931. [1] He fled from Haiti to the United States in 1964 to escape the dictatorship of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. [1] He settled to New York City. During the 1960s and 1970s, Monestime operated some of the first Haitian nightclubs in New York City, including The Flatbush Terrace, which was located in Brooklyn. [1]
Gonaïves is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. It has a population of about 300,000 people. The city of Gonaïves was founded in 1422 by Indians who named it Gonaibo. It is also known as Haiti's "independence city". The Bay of Gonaïves is named after the town.
The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
A nightclub, music club or club, is an entertainment venue and bar that usually operates late into the night. A nightclub is generally distinguished from regular bars, pubs or taverns by the inclusion of a stage for live music, one or more dance floor areas and a DJ booth, where a DJ plays recorded music. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities and their guests. Nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with informal clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night. Most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or hip hop.
In 1977, he and his wife, Elvire Monestime, moved from New York to Miami, Florida. [1] He owned his driving school, Panorama Express Driving School, which he opened shortly after relocating to Miami. [1]
Driver's education, driver education, driving education, driver's ed, or driving tuition or driving lessons is a formal class or program that prepares a new driver to obtain a learner's permit or driver's license. The formal class program may also prepare existing license holders for an overseas license conversion or medical assessment driving test or refresher course. It may take place in a classroom, in a vehicle, online, or a combination of the above. Topics of instruction include traffic code or laws and vehicle operation. Typically, instruction will warn of dangerous conditions in driving such as road conditions, driver impairments, and hazardous weather. Instructional videos may also be shown, demonstrating proper driving strategies and the consequences for not observing the rules.
Monestime became a noted broadcaster and activist for the Haitian community in South Florida. He lobbied the U.S. federal government to grant legal resident status to undocumented Haitian immigrants. [1] According to Gepsie Metellus, the executive director of Sant La, a Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami, "He was always at the forefront of significant community issues, whether it was the Haitian boat crisis or making sure our government would grant status to Haitians to make a new life in the U.S...He represents a lasting and important legacy … and a model and example for us to emulate in how we move forward." [1]
In 1978, Monestime partnered with two colleagues, Pierre Mendes Alcindor, a psychology student, and Ferdinand Forté, a newscaster, to create the Express Publicite Radio on WMBM 1490-AM. [1] Express Publicite Radio, which aired on WMBM for more than thirty years, was the first Haitian Creole radio show in South Florida. [1] The show celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2008.
Carmelau Monestime died on January 16, 2016, at the age of 84. Monestime, who was predeceased by his wife, Elvire, was survived by his two sisters, four children, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. [1]
