Now We Shall Lead

Note: In the non-profit world, legal entities are composed of the board of directors. The board is the entity. Therefore, board composition is a big deal, or more accurately, the whole deal. So how did the KUVO board come about? Founding president and general manager Flo Hernández-Ramos tells the story.

Granfalloon/KHUM turned control of 89.3 FM to KUVO in April 1983 by changing the composition of the Board of Directors of Denver Educational Broadcasting (DEB). The principals of Western Community Bilingual Radio and the General Managers of Latino-controlled stations around the country were voted onto the Board of Directors as members and officers.

Hugo Morales, founder of Radio Bilingüe became President of the Denver Educational Broadcasting (DEB) Board while Marc Hand, Executive Director of Western Community Bilingual Radio was elected Treasurer. Rosa Ramon, General Manager of KDNA in Granger, Washington, Suzanne Manriguez, General Manager of KUBO from Salinas, California, Josue Lopez, former General Manager of KBBF, Santa Rosa, California were elected members. Also a member of the new DEB Board was Arturo Vasquez, Station Manager of a radio project for ETCOM in El Paso, Texas. His radio project became KXCR FM and trained KUVO’s first Program Director, Mercedes Hernández.

The goal was to have truly participative community radio through local leadership and control of 89.3 FM. Hugo and Mark introduced the concept of Latino-led public radio at a house meeting organized by Tep Falcón in 1983. By January 1984 Denver members of the DEB Board of Directors were Abelardo (Lalo) Delgado, Adrienne Benavidez, Joseph Ortega, Barbara Bustillos, Carlos Santistevan, Ron Little, and Ron Kashner.

In February 1984 in an article penned by Clark Seacrest (Denver Post) shared an anonymous quote, “If you depend primarily on the Hispanics, it’s just not going to happen.” But as Marc Hand wrote in a brief to the FCC in requesting an extension of KUVO’s construction permit, “What is critical to note at this stage is not the amount of time which has elapsed since the original construction permit was granted in 1979 (to Granfalloon/KHUM), but rather the amount of time which has elapsed and the strides made since the new Board (majority Hispanic) was elected.

KUVO celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2025 is proof, contrary to the Denver Post article, that Hispanics made it happen!