Object Details
- Description
- This radio license gave Raoul A. Cortez -- journalist, entrepreneur, and civil rights leader -- the right to open his own radio station and broadcast on AM 1350. Cortez first applied for the license in 1944, but the the Federal Communications Commission had banned foreign language broadcasting for the duration of World War II (1941-1945). Cortez argued that Spanish-lanugage programming would bolster Mexican American support for the war. Nevertheless, he had to wait two years before the FCC granted him permission to broadcast in 1946.
- The license also marked an important milestone in broadcasting history; Cortez launched the first station owned and operated by a Mexican American in the contentinal United States. The call letters, KCOR, incorportated his last name, Cortez. The K indicated that the station was west of the Mississippi River. The KCOR studio in San Antonio, Texas became a stopping point for major performers from Texas, Mexico and the wider US, including Leonardo "Lalo" Garcia Astol and Bob Hope. It also broadcast news, religious programming, and talk shows that served the needs of the Mexican American community, and announcers used the signature line La Voz Mexicana.
- Credit Line
- Gift of Univision Communications, Inc.
- May 1, 1946
- ID Number
- 2015.3001.02
- catalog number
- 2015.3001.02
- nonaccession number
- 2015.3001
- Object Name
- license
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 14 in x 11 1/8 in; 35.56 cm x 28.2575 cm
- place made
- United States
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing
- KCOR Radio and Television
- Exhibition
- American Enterprise
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Latino
- Radio and television broadcasting
- Entertainment
- Record ID
- nmah_1692431
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-ee72-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
