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. He served as director for District 15, which included San Antonio, and led the organization for two consecutive terms as president in 1948 and 1949, during which he oversaw the
Delgado v. Bastrop Independent School District case, marking the end of
segregation against Mexican Americans in Texas public schools. Cortez was active in helping the wider community of citizens in South Texas, including raising funds to help victims of the 1954 floods in the Rio Grande Valley. He also worked with Mexican President
Miguel Aleman and U.S. President
Harry S. Truman to ameliorate the plight of Black
immigrant workers, through the bi-national "
Bracero Program". == Accolades ==