Corporation for Public Broadcasting Announces Major Public Media Initiative in Los Angeles with $2 Million Grant to Radio Bilingüe

(Los Angeles, CA) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) awarded a $2 million grant to Radio Bilingüe (RB) for a major public media initiative to design, test, and develop the first-of-its-kind multi-platform English-language programming service in Los Angeles for a young, diverse and underserved audience.

“CPB sees this grant as a critical investment in the future of public media. Los Angeles sits at the juncture of diversity and new media and this is an opportunity to create a national model for public media innovation,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “This new service, developed by Radio Bilingüe, will serve and represent a new community of listeners through fresh and creative content.”

Radio Bilingüe, the nation’s largest producer and distributor of Latino-oriented public broadcasting programming, will work with key partners and other media entities to create a news, information, music and cultural program service targeting L.A.’s young, underserved and diverse audience.

“We are excited about this historic opportunity to create an authentic and groundbreaking service for Los Angeles that will be multimedia in scope and unlike anything being offered in the public media space,” said Hugo Morales, RB’s founder and executive director.

Radio Bilingüe expects the program development phase to take several months, with the service launching in 2010. The search also began today for a Chief Content Officer as well as for a research firm to test the programming and guide branding and marketing efforts. Searches for other key positions will begin in the coming weeks. The service has hired a Project Director based in Los Angeles to oversee the development of the infrastructure for the new venture. Please visit www.lapublicmedia.org for more information.

About CPB:
CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,100 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services.

About Radio Bilingüe:
Radio Bilingüe programming is broadcast on 100 radio stations across the U.S., Puerto Rico and 16 radio stations in Mexico its 24-hour transnational satellite service. Its wide range of music, information and cultural programming in Spanish, English and other languages includes Linea Abierta (Open Line), the first and only national Spanish language live weekday talk show in the public radio system offering roundtable discussions with leading political figures and listener phone calls.

For more information, please contact Max Benavidez, Project Director, at maxbenavidez@gmail.com or call 626-578-9756.