TV show focuses on Milwaukee area's Hmong achievements, issues

Barely more than a dozen episodes into its first season, Nyob Zoo Milwaukee TV is already nearing a kind of programming identity crisis.

That's a good thing since it means people have been watching — and caring.

The show, which airs Friday nights on Channel 38, (with a rebroadcast on Saturday morning) is by, for and about the area's Hmong American community. The response has been dynamic and one of the key questions facing producers going into 2018 is whether to shift more of the program from Hmong to English.

"We're really trying to connect with viewers in their twenties and thirties, young professionals who watch and support the show," said Dawn Yang, the general manager of "Nyob Zoo Milwaukee," which is pronounced "Nyaw Zhong", and means hello in Hmong.

The language question is a classic among immigrant communities, torn between preserving culture while honoring elders, and staying relevant to second generations who are quickly assimilating.

Yang and her husband, Thay Yang, a creative director at Milwaukee Public Television, launched the program (which also has a presence on Facebook and YouTube) as an alternate platform for the growing, diverse Hmong community.

"I felt it was time to highlight how everyone’s living, working, playing," she said, with an emphasis on positive news.

It has recently done extensive coverage of Hmong New Year events at State Fair Park and features on Hmong-owned businesses. But "Nyob Zoo Milwaukee" also covered the insanity defense trial of Dan Popp, who last year killed his three neighbors, including Hmong couple Phia and Mai Vue.

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"The positive spin we put on it was about leadership and activism — how can you show up and help" and featured an interview with a Twin Cities Hmong activist who had come to town to help manage the support of many in the community who attended the trial and felt Popp should have also been charged with a hate crime.

The 30-minute show, in a newsmagazine format, features a former Miss Hmong Milwaukee, Mai Yer Xiong, as an anchor introducing edited segments reported in the field, and interviews with newsmakers and entrepreneurs. It is shot on a professional yet portable set — designed and built by Thay Yang — often at the couple's Oak Creek home.

"We have a team to make this work," she said, including a reporter, cameraman, sound engineer and video editor. "For the most part, this show is passion work for all of us. Everyone contributing is a student or working full time" at another job.

The Yangs financed the startup, but are now starting to sell some ads and exploring other kinds of support.

Dawn Yang was born in Thailand and came to the United States in 1976, among the first wave of Hmong refugees. Her family lived briefly in Chicago and Minnesota before settling near Two Rivers. She studied business and management at Alverno College and remained in the Milwaukee area.

With some 50,000 residents, Wisconsin boasts the third largest Hmong population in the U.S. behind California and Minnesota.

'Brings us all together'

May Yer Thao, executive director of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, calls "Nyob Zoo Milwaukee" a much-needed outlet.

"This is a huge accomplishment," she said. "In Wisconsin, we are a very spread out community and this brings us all together."

Thao said the chamber offered advice to the Yangs as they were defining the show's mission and helps steer them to chamber members who would make good subjects for coverage.

"This is their show, we’re just helping to provide content," Thao said. "But economic development is where the community needs to focus, to encourage people to see other ways to build wealth, to reach their goals," other than becoming a doctor or lawyer, careers many first-wave refugees pushed for their children.

While so much media has gone to the internet, Thao appreciates the Yangs' approach.

"Over-the-air TV has a significant symbolism. Anyone can go online or be a YouTuber, but it takes more to be on the traditional platforms minority communities didn't always get access to," Thao said.

Her Lor, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said she learned of "Nyob Zoo Milwaukee" over Facebook and has watched a few episodes. She liked the fact the anchor is a woman roughly her age.

"I feel like while I listen to her, I feel more connected. I think she can relate to me," said Lor, who speaks Hmong with her family, but nearly always English at school. She said likes the show and has recommended it to others.

"Don’t think everyone in the community is aware yet," she said. "I don’t think they’ve promoted it enough."

Chia Vang, a history professor at UWM, said focus groups she met with during civic engagement research last year showed many people in the Hmong community mentioned there was no outlet to share positive news about local events and people.

That was the extra assurance to the Yangs that the program could succeed.

"Thay had been thinking of this a long time and the stars seemed to finally align," Vang said.

She believes the show could evolve into a way for southeast Wisconsin Hmong to really share divergent views and expand their influence in business, arts and politics.

"I'm hopeful it becomes a vehicle to raise awareness of what’s happening in the community because if people don’t know, they think nothing’s happening," Vang said.