FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: María de Jesús Gómez, chuyag@legacy.radiobilingue.org
Natalie Orozco-Santiago at 510-271-8880
Radio Bilingüe honors fellow trailblazing community broadcasters
Radio Bilingüe, the National Latino Public Radio Network will honor two of its fellow community radio trailblazers — each celebrating 40 years of service by and for people of color — at a reception Thursday May 30, 2013 at 7 p.m. in San Francisco, during a gathering of community stations from across the country. The honorees:
KBBF 89.1 Santa Rosa, CA was the first bilingual radio station in the nation — founded by a coalition of Latino students and community idealists to serve working families in 15 Northern California – continuing today with local, state and national cultural and information programming in Spanish and English since 1973.
KPOO 89.5 San Francisco, CA was the first African-American-owned public station on the West Coast — highlighting people of color, women, Spanish-speakers, GLBT, low income, youth, veterans and others since 1973 – continuing today with pioneering programming such as the first all-gospel, reggae, salsa, rap and blues programs in the country.
Radio Bilingüe, the largest Latino public radio network in the nation and leading producer of national Latino oriented content for the pubic broadcasting system, is hailing the accomplishments of these fellow broadcasting friends, who have been strong partners for decades back to the days when we were all known as “minority stations,” during the 2013 Community Radio Conference of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters being held in San Francisco March 29-June 1.
The private reception runs from 7-9 pm at the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 518 Valencia St., in San Francisco’s Mission District. Alejandro Murguia, San Francisco’s Poet Laureate, will make a special appearance and Son Jarocho music will be featured by Los Soneros del Este.
The event will also include a fund drive to support Puerto Rican activists striving to launch Radio Vieques, a grassroots station in the island of Vieques, by next month.
Radio Bilingüe, with its national news and information bureau based in Oakland and headquarters in Fresno, will also announce breaking developments in the launching of its new website, increased service to the Bay Area, and new Latino community radio stations in the Southwest serving isolated and unserved audiences.
Funding for national distribution is provided in part by The California Endowment, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. The local radio service is possible thanks to the contribution of listener supporters. Radio Bilingüe’s online stream can be heard on www.radiobilingue.org.
