KVCR Public Media

09/26/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Maria Elena Salinas was born in Los Angeles and spent part of her childhood in Mexico. She began her career as a reporter for KMEX-TV, the Univision affiliate in Los Angeles and became anchor of the Spanish language news program Noticiero Univision in 1987. Maria Salinas has spent more than 30 years working in the United States and 18 different Latin American countries as a reporter and anchor. She has interviewed heads of state, rebel leaders, dictators, top entertainers and sports icons and nearly every US President since Jimmy Carter. She was also one of the first female journalists in Baghdad during wartime. She participated in the bilingual Democratic presidential candidate debate in 2004 and 2007 and co-hosted the first Democratic and Republican presidential candidate forums in Spanish on the Univision network. Maria Salinas is probably the most recognized Hispanic female journalist in the United States and has been called "The Voice of Hispanic America" by the New York Times. She ended her long career at Univision in 2017, contributed to CBS and ABC for a few years, and now runs her own podcast "Cinco Preguntas".

09/25/2025

So... While I was away...

The guests on KVC-Arts ranged from Lee Mills, with Palm Springs Friends of the Philharmonic... to the wonderful Eva Mikhailovna talking about Postmodern Jukebox and several performances in the region... to a re-broadcast of a conversation with The Skipper, jazz bassist Henry Franklin... to Eva once again celebrating my 600th episode - and finding out more about the various bands Eva performs with, new music and more... to Adam Rainey-Ruiz sitting in for me exploring the artwork of Riverside's Richie Velazquez, who also goes by his artist name, Deladeso. He's the originator of Grime Art. Then that show inadvertently ended up running two weeks in a row. Congratulations, Adam! You got show #601 AND 602!

A few of these recent programs didn't make it to the archives, but as of this morning, everything's in place. If you missed any of these, just go to kvcrnews.org/arts. I'm also providing a link for show #600 with Eva. After checking that one out, go to the "programs" link on the page for the rest.

As always, thanks for listening to ANY of them. It's been a fantastic journey of artistic exploration.

And please, support your local public broadcasting station! https://www.kvcrnews.org/.../kvc-arts-9-7-25-episode-600...

For KVC-Arts #600 I thought it fitting to feature Eva Mikhailovna once again. I first met Eva in late 2015 and had her on the show in early 2016. She's been on the show several times since highlighting various albums, videos and more. For show #600 she and I will be discussing some of the various ty...

09/25/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Fernando Reyes Medina was born and raised in Mexico City. He moved to the United States after college, working as a software engineer for Microsoft. He later started working at 343 Industries, the company that made the "Halo" video games for XBox. Fernando Medina is now a senior designer for the Halo franchise and is in charge of the Big Team Battle section for "Halo Infinite". Fernando Medina has won several awards for game design and is highly respected in the industry. He is also the cofounder of Latinx in Gaming, a not-for-profit company that supports Latinx people interested in careers in video games. Fernando Medina always felt gaming and diversity are inextricably linked. He says Latinxs don't have many role models when it comes to gaming, and wants to help change that for this and future generations.

09/24/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Gloria Estefan was born in Havana, Cuba. Her grandfather, Jose Gonzales, was a Cuban soldier and a car es**rt for the wife of Cuba's President at the time. When the Cuban revolution hit, the family fled to Miami and ran one of the first Cuban restaurants in the city. Her father enlisted in the US military and was part of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. (Believe it or not, he was actually captured by his own cousin, who was a Cuban soldier.) Gloria attended the University of Miami and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a minor in French. She worked part time as a French, Spanish and English translator for the Miami International Airport, and was once approached by the CIA to come work for them. While she attended college she met her future husband Emilio Estefan with his band "The Miami Latin Boys". They invited her to join the group as a singer and they later renamed the band "The Miami Sound Machine". What was once a fun thing for her to do on weekends while studying at college ended up being her career, as The Miami Sound Machine earned worldwide fame and success with hits like "Conga" and "The Rhythm is Gonna to Get You". Gloria Estefan is one of the best selling female singers in the world, selling over 100 million albums worldwide and winning 8 Grammy awards.

09/24/2025

✨ Celebrate Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month with KVCR PBS! ✨

All month long, tune in to Channel 24 for powerful stories, inspiring voices, and special programming that honors the rich history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latinx communities. 🌎📺

09/23/2025

Introducing the IE Migration Postcard ✉️✨. This is a hands-on art experience that celebrates our stories, our movement, and the love carried across generations. Just like postcards travel, this workshop reminds us that movement across borders creates connection, opportunity, and pride in where we come from. 💪❤️🌍

This inspiring session will be led by Cynthia Huerta, a Mexican American, first generation, multidisciplinary community artist, curator, and arts advocate who has been creating, collaborating, and uplifting Inland Empire communities for over 19 years. 🎨🌸

📸 We cannot wait to see what you create!

09/23/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Dr. Julio Palmaz was born and raised in Argentina. He received his medical degree from the National University of La Plata, Argentina in 1971 and moved to the United States in 1977. In 1983, he became the Chief of Angiography and Special Procedures at the University of Texas Health and Science Center. Dr. Julio Palmaz is the inventor of the adjustable stent, a stainless steel insertable mesh that could be expanded after it was placed inside the body to allow better blood flow. It wasn't an easy thing to make. Julio Palmaz worked on this creation for a long time starting in 1978. It wasn't until 1983 when he came up with a successful prototype. He secured funding for it's development from a rather ironic partner: Phil Romano, the owner of Fuddruckers and The Macaroni Grill restaurants. With the help of Dr. Richard Schatz, a cardiologist at Brooke Army Medical Center, they patented the technology in 1985 and licensed it to Johnson and Johnson. Dr. Palmaz's stent is now used in over 80% of coronary procedures, helping vast amounts of people with coronary heart disease.

09/22/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Eva Longoria was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and her ancestors are Tejano (People of Mexican descent who lived in Texas before it became part of the United States). Eva Longoria is best known as an actress, but she also has a master’s degree in Chicano studies and is active in politics. She has campaigned for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, giving speeches at the 2020 and 2024 Democratic National Conventions, and has spoken out against unjust immigration laws. Eva Longoria is also a top business woman, owning a production studio, a restaurant, a line of kitchen cookware, a food company known for gluten free products and a brand of tequila called Casa Del Sol. She invested six million dollars of her own money to help complete a financially struggling independent film that was close to shutting down production. That film was “John Wick”, which doubled her investment in ten years, and she still receives royalties from it. She also founded Eva’s Heroes, a charity that helps people with developmental disabilities, and co-founded the Eva Longoria Foundation (along with Warren Buffet’s son Howard Buffet), which helps Latinas excel in school and college.

09/22/2025

09/21/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Lin-Manuel Miranda was and raised in New York City. His family is mostly from Puerto Rico. He enjoyed participating in school plays and started to write his own musicals while he was still in high school, incorporating stories of his experiences growing up. In his sophomore year in college, he wrote a rough draft of what eventually became his first Broadway musical “In the Heights”, winning four Tony awards. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote and produced music for several movies and theatrical productions but the primary work he is known for is “Hamilton”, one of the most successful plays of all time. He has also worked with Disney and created the Oscar nominated songs "How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas" for the films “Moana” and “Encanto”. Lin-Manuel Miranda continues to write, perform and produce musicals, increasing representation for people of color.

09/20/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Rea Ann Silva was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her family didn’t have much money and she found a part time job as a perfume saleswoman at a department store. She discovered she had a talent for makeup, so she transferred to the cosmetics section of the department store and eventually found work as a makeup artist for television and film. Television is a fast-paced industry, and she discovered it was not easy to fix makeup issues quickly for television hosts and guests, especially if you use airbrushing. As a result of this problem, Rea Ann Silva created The Beauty Blender, a makeup sponge that quickly, accurately and easily applies makeup to people. This invention caught on worldwide and she now owns her own company, earning millions of dollars each year.

09/19/2025

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a few Hispanic Americans who have made some enormous contributions to our country:

Alberto “Beto” Perez was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. He had a passion for dance but couldn’t afford dance lessons. In fact, he was working three jobs by the age of 14 to help his single mother. In 1999, Beto Perez moved to Miami, Florida, hoping opportunities would be better. He eventually found work at a gym and taught aerobic classes. One day he forgot his usual popular rock music cassette, so he grabbed a cassette of Latin dance music and did an improv aerobics class to that music instead. Smiles began to show and Beto Perez started using Latin music in all of his classes. He created an original exercise dance routine and, with the help of a couple of his friends, started a new fitness company called Zumba. (He came up with the word Zumba by taking “rumba”, a popular form of Cuban music, and replacing the first letter with a Z, based on his childhood hero Zorro.) The Zumba company began selling DVDs by infomercial in 2002 and is now practiced in over 180 different countries, earning millions of dollars each year.