Stoughton-based TV show establishes following

For Shirley Nigri Farber, it's all about making connections.

Whether it's connections between the Portuguese and Brazilian communities in town or between Brazilians, Portuguese and English-speaking residents, she's trying to bring everyone together.

Along with hosting her weekly television show, "Bate Papo com Shirley," which means chit chat with Shirley, Farber also started a monthly magazine under the same name.

"The idea of the show is to make connections between Brazilians and Americans and vice-versa," said Farber, who lives in Stoughton and whose show is broadcast locally on channel 9.

She started the television show in September 2005 with the idea of focusing her show on the Stoughton community, considering the town's substantial Brazilian and Portuguese populations. But her audience grew quickly and expanded well beyond Stoughton's borders. Now, 14 towns in Massachusetts see her show each week, and she's still getting requests from people in other communities to bring "Bate Papo" to their towns.

"Bate Papo" might appeal to viewers outside Stoughton, but for Farber, it will always be a Stoughton product.

"It goes everywhere but it's made in Stoughton," she said.

Realizing there are limited media outlets for Brazilians in Massachusetts, she certainly sees the importance of bringing information to towns all over the state, though it has also kept her days busy.

"It was a lot of leg work," she said about getting the show started in the different communities, since she had to drive to the different towns to drop off copies of the show.

She tries to touch a lot of bases by mixing her show between serious political topics, purely informational topics and entertainment. Last week, her show featured a Brazilian cleaning company that specializes in environmentally safe products, a Brazilian-American hip-hop group and the winners of Massachusetts's most recent Miss Brazil pageant. Local politicians and other public figures in Stoughton have appeared on her show to talk about their views and how they pertain to Brazilians and Portuguese.

She's found it's easier to make those connections if she gives her audience lots to choose from.

"It could be anything," she said regarding her show's topics. "It's a little for all."

<p style="text-indent: 0in;">With some communities having significantly larger Portuguese and Brazilian communities than others, such as Framingham, she had to cater to those to a degree.

Farber said she used the Portuguese community in Stoughton, which was already well established, to open the door for Brazilians and to get things rolling.

"There was really no representation for Brazilians," she said, adding she thinks her show and magazine can help give members of the Brazilian community a voice in town and beyond.

In that respect, the show first appealed mainly to the Portuguese community but now she said it is closer to a 50-50 ratio between Portuguese and Brazilians who watch the show and read the magazine.

Farber said "Bate Papo" has a non-Portuguese speaking following as residents have told her they not only watch the show but also have taken steps to learn a little bit about the Brazilian culture.

"It encourages you to learn a little more," she said, adding working with Stoughton's No Place for Hate chapter has helped broaden horizons even more.

Farber typically gives a brief synopsis of her show at the beginning in Portuguese and English but after that it's mostly Portuguese, which is the language typically spoken in Brazil.

There are several Portuguese publications in Massachusetts, especially in the New Bedford and Fall River area, but those publications are specific to Portuguese news, not Brazil's news. Brazilians can understand the newspapers because they're written in Portuguese but it's hard to get Brazilians to care about Portugal's news.

"Portuguese news is not necessarily Brazilian news," Farber said.

That's where her show comes in to fill the void.