Raoul A. Cortez

Raoul Alfonso Cortez Camarillo (October 17, 1905 – December 17, 1971) was a Mexican media executive, best remembered for founding KCOR, the first full-time Spanish-language radio station in the contiguous United States, in 1946. The station WKAQ was founded earlier in 1922 in Puerto Rico and owned by Angel Ramos.

Life and career

Raoul A. Cortez was born in 1905 in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, one of nine siblings. His father owned a radio station in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. As a young man, Cortez sold eggs on the streets to earn money for airtime on local radio stations, where he would produce a variety of hours in which he sold advertising. In the 1910s, the family emigrated to the United States, soon after the start of the Mexican Revolution. Cortez eventually settled in San Antonio, Texas, where he took on a number of different jobs, such as dressing windows for Penner's men's store However, during World War II, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had suspended the attribution of broadcasting licenses for new radio or TV stations, out of fear that non-English programming could be spreading anti-American propaganda. Once the war was over, the FCC was able to give out licenses again, and Cortez was among the first in line. The license was granted to him, and he eventually opened KCOR 1350 AM in San Antonio in 1946, the first all Spanish-language radio station owned and operated by a Hispanic, using the signature line "La Voz Mexicana, the Voice of Mexican Americans."

In 1947, Cortes requested the FCC to permit KCOR to change "from 1350 kc, 1 kw power, daytime only, to 1350 kc, 5 kw power, unlimited time, employing a directional antenna day and night, to install a new transmitter and change transmitter location." At the same time, the FCC also authorized a conditional grant for an FM Class B station. Being on an AM frequency meant the station had a wide reach. Cortez brought in talent from Mexico and South Texas to play live music on the air. Programming also focused on sharing the Mexican community's challenges and triumphs, through call-in shows and advice programs. The radio station has remained on the air ever since. Today the station still broadcasts in Spanish only, under the same call letters, on the 1350 AM frequency, with programming from Univisión Radio.

Two years later, in 1955, after many years of lobbying, Cortez launched KCOR-TV Channel 41, broadcast on the new Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) band. Initially, due to budget restrictions, programs were aired only in the evening, from 7:00 to 10:00, but slowly but surely, Cortez found sponsors who saw the value of advertising to the Hispanic community, and the station reached all-day broadcasting, offering a variety of daytime shows. Programs such as Teatro KCOR and Teatro Motorola, were written, directed, and performed by popular Tejano actor Lalo Astol, who also had been involved in KCOR radio productions.

Cortez served in various leadership roles with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a leading national organization that fought for the civil rights of Mexican Americans. In 2006, the National Association of Broadcasters jointly honored Nicolas and Cortez with the NAB "Spirit of Broadcasting" award for their pioneering work in bringing Hispanic programming to America. In 2015 a new exhibit, titled American Enterprise, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., featured Cortez and KCOR.

Death Cortez died on December 17, 1971, in San Antonio, Texas.