Hugo Morales

About Hugo's Work

Hugo Morales is the co-founder and director of Radio Bilingüe, one of the first community-based, bilingual, public radio stations in the United States.

The focus of Morales' work is to encourage pride in Mexican culture, to disseminate information on the rights and responsibilities of immigrants and migrant workers, to advocate for better education for farm-working children, and to strengthen the farm-worker community.  Morales co-founded Radio Bilingüe in 1976, and over the next four years, secured financial backing to launch the station on July 4, 1980; it is now broadcasting on a network of five community radio stations.  In 1993, under his leadership, a twenty-four-hour-a-day satellite network, Satélite, was created, making Radio Bilingüe’s Spanish-language programming available nationwide.  The network serves over half a million listeners with its daily national talk show, Línea Abierta, its independently produced news service, Noticiero Latino, and a wide array of Spanish-language folk music.

Biography

Morales is the executive director of Radio Bilingüe and the vice-chairperson of California Tomorrow, which promotes a fair, multicultural society.  He is the founder of the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and co-founder of Fresno Tomorrow, an effort by citizens to address the problems of youth at risk.

Morales received an A.B. (1972) and a J.D. (1975) from Harvard University.

Last updated January 1, 2005