PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT

RE: HACIA EL VOTO 2008, A LIVE COVERAGE OF THE NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Radio Bilingüe’s Línea Abierta goes on the road again to bring the developments of the Democratic and Republican Conventions to Spanish-speaking audiences. Opinion polls show Latino voters are highly concerned about the failing economy, the war in Iraq, health care access, education and immigration reform. Radio Bilingüe will bring those issues to the forefront of our special election coverage when a team of producers and reporters travel to Denver, CO, and St. Paul, MN, to air more than ten hours of direct news coverage, including conversations with delegates, party officials, seasoned journalists, political experts, and community advocates. These special programs will include news stories on developments in the convention floor, rallies outside the convention center, keynote address speeches, and acceptance speeches by the presidential candidates. The week of each presidential convention, Línea Abierta will air a special, two-hour extended edition at noon, Pacific Time, Monday through Thursday, culminating with a two-hour live broadcast of the acceptance speech on Thursday evening (projected time: 6 PM Pacific). Radio Bilingüe builds on a decades-long tradition covering elections from the Latino perspective, including its first-of-a-kind, live, bilingual broadcast of the national presidential conventions in 1984 and a subsequent, extensive coverage in Spanish in 2004.

USAGE: Free of charge to all public stations. The radio series can be used in its entirety or in parts. Stations are encouraged to use the entire live broadcast. News features and brief interviews can also be used as self-contained modules or as part of news and information programs.

PROMOS: Audio and written promotional announcements available upon request.

DISTRIBUTION: Public radio satellite system, PRSS ContentDepot, Radio Bilingüe Internet online streaming, and podcasting (http://www.radiobilingue.org/).

CONTACT: Alma Martínez, Marketing coordinator, almam@radiobilingue.org, 559-455-5753.

FUNDING: Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides support for HACIA EL VOTO 2008. Additional support is being provided by the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, The California Endowment, The James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Lumina Foundation for Education, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.