“Que-ci qui parle?”

A telephone rings in a radio studio. In a deep bellowing voice, the person answering the phone call asks, “que-ci qui parle?” This translates to who’s speaking. An exchange follows, and, more than likely, the usual question of “comment ti dis...” is asked. When translated, the question means, “how do you say.”
This scene plays out across the airwaves of KVPI in Ville Platte on its popular French program called La Tasse de Cafe. Faithful listeners of the program can now enjoy the conversations five days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
“We have a little jewel over here, and my goal when I became station manager was to continue and not change anything,” Mamou native Mark Layne told the Rotary Club of Ville Platte on Tuesday, September 1. He addressed the club on the first day the program went to five days a week.
Layne has been at KVPI 49 years and was hired by Dan Andrus, who was one of the original voices of La Tasse de Cafe.
“Back in 1966,” Layne said, “Floyd Soileau, who used to work for KVPI, told Jim Soileau, the station manager, he needed to start a call-in radio show. Jim thought about it and said it sounded like a pretty good idea. Dan Andrus was his sales manager, so he and Dan were the original hosts of La Tasse de Cafe.”
Layne went on to say, “Originally, it was once a week for 15 minutes to a half hour. Through the years, it has grown by leaps and bounds.”
Over the decades, the program has attracted a national and international audience due to live streaming online. It has also attracted attention from news outlets across the country as the subject of feature pieces.
The latest attention came last year from the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters. Layne said, “The broadcasters of Louisiana honored us with a special award called Uniquely Louisiana that they give to one radio or TV station. We won it for La Tasse de Cafe.”
Also speaking at the Rotary meeting were two other hosts of the program, Mike Perron and Charlie Manuel.
Perron’s radio career began when he heard Layne by himself on La Tasse de Cafe. “I told him to call me if he ever needed,” Perron said.
Layne eventually called Perron to become the new host of the station’s live French broadcast every Saturday at Fred’s Lounge in Mamou. “It’s not easy to read in English and say it in French, but I did it,” Perron said. “I get away with it, and it works out.”
Perron is now hosting La Tasse de Cafe on Mondays with Jim Soileau and on Thursdays with Charlie Manuel.
As for Manuel, he is on his second stint at KVPI. In 1999, when Jim Soileau retired, the station hired Manuel to help out with the French programming.
“It’s always been fun,” Manuel said. “I don’t consider my job at KVPI doing La Tasse de Cafe work. I never thought once in my life someone would pay me to have a good time, and that’s exactly what KVPI is doing. They’re paying me to have a great time. I’m trying to do something to pay them back, and I hope the listeners are satisfied.”
For Layne, the most important part of La Tasse de Cafe is preserving the Cajun culture that is unique to the area. He explained, “We have something special down here in South Louisiana that nobody else has, and that’s our culture that we got from our parents and grandparents. Part of that culture is our language. I don’t want to lose that language.”
He concluded, “Our music, our food, and our language are so special and unique. I’m sure it is to you, too. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to preserve it.”