8602372100?profile=originalVocalo acquiring Radio Arte (WRTE 90.5FM) license
to expand community programming


(June 22, 2012) Chicago Public Media (CPM) is partnering with the National Museum of Mexican
Art to expand community programming. CPM is purchasing the community signal of WRTE 90.5 FM
(Radio Arte), the Museum’s youth-driven Latino public radio station. As part of the partnership, CPM is
also pursuing options to purchase key programs from the Radio Arte line-up to expand programming of
WBEW 89.5 FM (Vocalo), sister station of WBEZ. This partnership between two youth-driven public
radio stations builds on a collaborative history and their complementary community missions.
“This is a natural partnership,” said Silvia Rivera, Vocalo’s managing director, whose career in public
media began in 1998 as a result of Radio Arte’s media training program. “Radio Arte has been a trailblazer
in representing marginalized communities and showcasing the diversity of Latino culture. We are going to
honor this legacy and pair up Radio Arte and Vocalo programming to create a format that connects
culturally diverse communities to one another. We are excited by the opportunity to partner with the
National Museum of Mexican Art as the institution continues its commitment to training young people in
media making."


“It is important to our community to be able to continue to tell our stories,” agrees Carlos Tortolero,
founder and president of the National Museum of Mexican Art. “I am pleased to partner with Vocalo and
Chicago Public Media to broaden the audience for these stories and welcome the opportunity to work with
a partner who shares our commitment to the community programming Radio Arte made possible.”
Under the partnership, the National Museum of Mexican Art will receive $450,000 in cash and in-kind
services for the purchase of the WRTE community license. This includes Chicago Public Media’s
commitment to broad media sponsorship of future Museum activities and events.
Jorge Valdivia, general manager of Radio Arte, says the partnership will continue the Radio Arte legacy,
building on the Latino media community that his program has worked to establish. “Vocalo will be able to
tap the Museum’s network of students for potential internships, continuing their media training and giving
them an expanded audience for their work through Chicago Public Media.”


"I am honored to work in partnership with National Museum of Mexican Art to preserve an important
community asset,” said Torey Malatia, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Media. “CPM believes
strongly in the power of public media to shape and strengthen a community. In acquiring this frequency
we are taking responsibility of this asset to serve the communities currently served by Radio Arte. With
that in mind, we will develop programs inspired by the history and legacy of Radio Arte. "


Vocalo.org 89.5 FM was established in June 2007 as an initiative of Chicago Public Media to make public radio more open to the public at large. The website and radio station – committed to fostering conversation between diverse constituents – is a next-generation public media service that connects with younger, culturally diverse audiences through music and stories.

Chicago Public Media is an institution that creates award-winning content for people seeking to learn more about the issues and ideas that affect our community, our nation and our world. Chicago Public Media produces programs such as This American Life, Sound Opinions, Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me! (a co-production with NPR), Eight Forty- Eight, The Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards, Worldview and Radio M. It operates WBEZ 91.5 FM, one of the country’s premiere public radio stations, along with Vocalo 89.5 FM.

The National Museum of Mexican Art showcases 3,000 years of creativity from both sides of the Mexican
border, connecting visitors to the diversity of authentic Mexican art and culture. Works from the museum’s 7,000-piece permanent collection are exhibited in four warm and welcoming bilingual galleries, and the museum’s location in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood—the nation’s third-largest Mexican community—allows for a total immersion in the richness of Mexico’s culture. Admission is always free at the National Museum of Mexican Art, the only nationally accredited Latino museum in the U.S. To learn more, visit www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org. The National Museum of Mexican Art acquired its Class D radio station in 1996 from the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago, and has since supported the various initiatives that catapulted Radio Arte into a national award-winning institution. Since 1997, Radio Arte has offered a comprehensive bilingual one-year media-training program to hundreds of youth, ages 15-21. Radio Arte’s public affairs programming is driven by young people who consider the airwaves a tool of empowerment for themselves and their communities.

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Contact: Rob. Walton/Beth Silverman
The Silverman Group, Inc.
312.932.9950
rob@silvermangroupchicago.com

Michelle Damico
Marj Halperin Consulting

312.423.6627
michelle@marjhalperin.com

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