Radio Bilingüe - About Us (English Text)

Click here for more info

Home

Programming

Línea Abierta

Noticiero Latino

Rockin' Da House

News Releases

Press Archives

About Us

Services

Affiliates

Join Us

Job Openings

EEO Reports

EEO Report 2006-2007

EEO Public File Report - Form 990

Radio Bilingue Audit for Fiscal Year 06-07

Search - Advanced Search

Join our mailing list

Print this Article Previous Programs Send to a Friend
Services

This satellite network was formed to provide stations with news, information, and cultural programming in Spanish and musical programs showcasing a variety of Latino formats with emphasis on Mexican folk and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Satélite Radio Bilingüe builds on Radio Bilingüe's decades-old tradition of talk programs, special events coverage and its flagship news service, Noticiero Latino, for stations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Stations receive program and scheduling information via DACS (NPR's Direct Access Communications System). The DACS are also a source of information for special radio events and organizational activities. Radio programs are distributed 24 hours per day, seven days a week over the Galaxy VI satellite.

For nearly fifteen years, Radio Bilingüe has worked together with Radio Educación in Mexico and other Mexican public broadcasters to bring Mexico's news and views to U.S. audiences. Since 1994, radio station WRTU FM - Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico - is also a partner and brings with it more Caribbean cultural programming as well as four early morning newscasts.

Funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration help build the network which includes one uplink located in Fresno, California and another at the partner facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

SRB also receives in-kind C-Band satellite distribution by the public radio satellite system owned by all CPB-supported stations and administered by National Public Radio.

Our Mission

Radio Bilingüe is a network of five public radio stations in California with an established tradition of producing and distributing Latino news and information programming for both commercial radio and the national public radio system.

The network's flagship station, KSJV in Fresno, California was founded in 1976 by a group of farm workers, artists and professionals with the mission of providing access to the airwaves for the Mexican-American community. This access translated into folk and diverse Latino musical styles, open discussions of Latino public affairs and basic information services for immigrants and field workers. The station went on the air on July 4, 1980 and soon after started providing bilingual news and information services to stations nationwide.

Radio Bilingüe made programming exchanges and co-production agreements with Radio Educación and other Mexican broadcasters, a partnership that has provided many U.S. stations access to a unique view of Mexico.

During this decade, operations have expanded and now four more stations broadcast under Radio Bilingüe's umbrella: KMPO in Modesto, KUBO in El Centro/Calexico, KTQX in Bakersfield, and KHDC in Salinas.

In addition, Radio Bilingüe has reached out to other underserved audiences. In the past eight years, Radio Bilingüe's programming has also offered African-American and Southeast Asian music and public services.

The network is currently preparing for the challenges of the year 2000, when Latinos will number 30 million, constituting the second largest population group in the nation. With the help of state-of-the-art computer systems and digital technology, Radio Bilingüe strives to provide high-quality programming and timely information to the growing Spanish-speaking audiences in North America.

20 Years of Service

It has been nearly twenty years since Radio Bilingüe was founded in 1976, a small grassroots radio station serving the Central Valley's Latino farmworkers. Since then, it has become a powerful source of news and cultural information for all Latinos, operating five community radio stations in California: KSJV-Fresno, KMPO-Modesto/Stockton, KTQX-Bakersfield, KHDC-Salinas and KUBO-El Centro. Through 24-hour public radio satellite, Radio Bilingüe also reaches out to listeners in nearly 80 communities across the United States, Puerto Rico and parts of Mexico.

As a nonprofit radio network with Latino control and leadership, Radio Bilingüe is the only producer of national Spanish-language programming in the public radio system. Its goal is to serve the Latino community with innovative cultural and informational programming, and to foster multicultural understanding within the larger community. Through this mission, Radio Bilingüe also offers important public access to the airwaves to other underserved members of our communities: African Americans, Hmong, Filipino and Pacific Islanders.

Radio Bilingüe celebrates its many accomplishments, all of them steps toward improving its public radio services to local listeners as well as national audiences:

Radio Bilingüe purchased its own building in Fresno in late 1995, installing state-of-the-art digital studios and production facilities, a move to ensure the organization's stability and quality of its programming.

In December 1996, Radio Bilingüe announced the opening of a San Francisco Bureau to contribute to "Línea Abierta," the nation's only daily Spanish-language talk show. Guests at our grand opening included Bay Area friends and supporters and Robert Coonrod, Executive Vice- President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and Frank Cruz, a CPB board member from Los Angeles. The San Francisco Bureau is the result of a partnership with the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB). It brings to Radio Bilingüe's programming a strong urban voice with a more culturally diverse perspective. Our new base at Fort Mason Center strengthens our ability to develop live programming that addresses the needs and concerns of all Latinos, whether rural or urban, Mexican American or Central American.

In 1997, a partnership with the Mexican Museum in Chicago added a new affiliate WRTE-FM, another vehicle for Radio Bilingüe's presence in the urban areas.

Radio Bilingüe completed the installation of 17 satellite downlinks in 1997 that make it possible for radio stations in other parts of the U.S. and Mexico to access its national Satélite Radio Bilingüe programming. Little Rock, Arkansas; Blythe, California; Farmington, New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah; Laredo, Texas; and Granger, Washington are some of the communities that have joined the network. Funding for this important satellite project came from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Radio Bilingüe completed the 1996 Noticiero Latino Producers Training Program, which was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and has begun a new cycle with support from the John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation. By providing in-depth, on-the-job training fellowships to Latino reporters and producers, this unique program has made a major contribution toward expanding the pool of skilled Spanish-speaking Latino reporters and independent producers.

Recognizing the fact that government funding for public broadcasting --including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, its primary supporter -- is dwindling, Radio Bilingüe has increased its efforts to pursue other sources, including foundation grants, corporate underwriting and individual support. Grants from CPB and the California Arts Council are helping Radio Bilingüe develop other funding sources.

Radio Bilingüe has received national recognition, not only for its work as a Latino organization, but also for its leadership. In 1994, Executive Director Hugo Morales was honored with a John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation Fellowship for his lifelong commitment to working to improve the life of Latinos and people of color.

In 1996, Radio Bilingüe Executive Producer, Samuel Orozco, founder of the news service "Noticiero Latino" and the daily talk show "Línea Abierta," was selected to be a Kaiser Media Fellow by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a prestigious national honor recognizing the work of the country's top professional journalists. Five fellows are selected annually in this prestigious national competition. Past honorees have included representatives from the country's top newspaper, television and radio journalists.

In 1996, Radio Bilingüe's Bakersfield station, KTQX, installed a new mountaintop satellite link that makes this one of the most powerful radio stations in the U.S., with a radius of 120 miles. Now you can hear Radio Bilingüe all the way from Fresno, down to Tehachapi

1996 was also the year of partnerships that would strengthen the quality of our national programming: WRTU-FM in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Radio Educación in Mexico City, and radio stations in Oaxaca and Baja California. At the local level, partnerships with the Calexico School District in El Centro and Kern County Schools in Bakersfield strengthened the ties with community organizations and youth.