FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patricia Hernandez
patriciah@radiobilingue.org

On February 25, Línea Abierta, the first and only national talk show in Spanish in public radio, will mark ten years on the satellite airwaves. Radio Bilingüe, producer of the series, celebrates the occasion as it completes agreements with stations that will broadcast this informational service to new and under-served audiences. Radio Michoacán, a network of twelve stations in the most migrant state of Mexico, and two stations in the U.S., have just signed agreements to carry the program.

Línea Abierta went on the air in 1995 before a live audience in Albuquerque, where fellow colleagues of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters held a conference. The first program focused on the then-heated debate to overhaul the U.S. welfare system. Addressing this and other pressing news impacting the lives of Latinos has become the trademark of Línea Abierta. After ten years, Línea Abierta continues being the first and only live news-oriented radio show that has continuously served Spanish-speaking radio audiences across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Translated as Open Line, Línea Abierta was created to serve as an accessible forum where listeners could find needed information or exchange views on relevant issues. In its nearly 4,500 hours on the air, Línea Abierta has involved thousands of listeners who participate from around the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. On the public airwaves, they often express anguish and concern over their health and immigration status, as well as hope or determination over ballot propositions and public education. Listeners who call in are often professionals and citizens who are engaged in the civic life of their community. Many are also farm workers and migrants who call in from the shadows to use Línea Abierta’s toll-free line to dialogue with elected officials and opinion leaders while at the same time learning about the institutions and political system in their adopted country.

During these ten years, Línea Abierta has marked a number of milestones, including:

• 1995. Kick off from Albuquerque in collaboration with WRTU Radio Universidad de San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1996. The opening of a news bureau in San Francisco provides access to live conversations with visitors from around the Spanish-speaking world.
• 1997. Beginning of live simulcasts with public station in Jalisco, Mexico to interconnect audiences in the U.S. and Western Mexico.
• 1997. A year-long series on emerging issues such as cultural competence standards puts mental health care on the headlines of the radio service.
• 1998. Beginning of weekly broadcast of Voz Pública, a citizen-opinion edition from Mexico City hosted by pioneering civic journalist Paco Huerta.
• 1999. Live broadcast from Tijuana on U.S.-Mexico border issues marks start of collaboration with Radio Tecnológico.
• 2000. Live election-day program culminates extended news coverage of landmark Mexican presidential election.
• 2001. The attack on the Twin Towers in New York signaled the start of a number of call-in shows where listeners debated the call to war.
• 2002. For the first time, top Mexican officials answer live listener questions in a special bi-national series. Also, Nobel-winning and top scientists highlighted a collaborative series encouraging disadvantaged kids to pursue careers in science and engineering.
• 2003. Developing healthy lifestyles among farm workers and openly talking about end-of-life and hospice care issues were the subject of two special series.
• 2004. The only live gavel-to-gavel broadcast in Spanish of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions was provided by Línea Abierta. Also, a live broadcast on immigrants’ civil rights in times of war went on the air on approximately 170 stations throughout the continent in collaboration with ALER (Asociación Latino Americana para la Educación Radiofónica) in Quito.
• 2005. Radio Michoacán’s twelve stations will join Línea Abierta in a live, monthly interconnection to begin a dialogue between Michoacans in the Mexican heartlands and émigrés north of the border.

In these times of increased homeland security and border enforcement measures, immigrant families have found it harder to travel across the U.S. and the border to visit family. For these audiences, radio networking becomes a highly useful medium to maintain a critical line of communication. The new service to the state of Michoacán seeks to encourage listeners to call in toll-free across the border to chat with fellow paisanos or talk with experts. The stations are located in Morelia, the capital of Michoacán, and migrant enclaves such as Zamora, Zacapu, Uruapan, La Piedad, Jiquilpan and Apatzingán.

In the U.S., the newest affiliates that join the network are WCIW, a non-profit farm working station in Immokalee, Florida; and community station WOMA-FM, in Lebanon, an agricultural area in Pennsylvania.

Línea Abierta goes on the air on 48 stations in the U.S., Puerto Rico and México. The talk show service is a production of Radio Bilingüe, the national Latino public radio network with headquarters in Fresno and San Francisco, CA.

Funding for Línea Abierta is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The California Endowment.