Latino Satellite Network Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
September 16, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Patricia Hernández
(559) 455-5782
patriciah@radiobilingue.org
Satélite Radio Bilingüe celebrates its tenth anniversary on September 16, 2003 with an investment in a new set of satellite downlinks to interconnect stations to Satélite's bilingual, public-service programming.
The satellite receivers are funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help broadcast health-oriented information to underserved audiences. Recently, funding from RWJF was instrumental in distributing critical Spanish-language information on end-of-life issues and hospice care for dying people.
The anniversary celebration of this Latino-owned network coincides with El Grito de Independencia, the Mexican Independence Day fiestas that celebrate freedom, self-determination and cultural pride.
Satélite Radio Bilingüe provides 24 hours of bilingual programming seven days a week through a satellite signal whose footprint reaches the United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.
During its ten years, the Latino satellite service has distributed award-winning news, talk shows and cultural programming to nearly one hundred stations in North America. Sixty affiliate stations use the service continuously; others have carried programs on a temporary basis or for special broadcasts.
New broadcast or exchange agreements with stations in Mexico and the U.S. are in the making to firmly establish Satélite Radio Bilingüe as a bi-national network that is able to reach major immigrant enclaves and heartlands on both sides of the border.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, NJ, is the largest philanthrophic organization devoted exclusively to health and health care in the United States.
Satélite Radio Bilingüe is owned by Radio Bilingüe, a non-profit network of five community radio stations in California, with main offices in Fresno and San Francisco.