San Antonio media "maverick" honored with Google Doodle
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The Google Doodle for Oct. 17. Photo: Courtesy of Rafael Lopez/Google Doodles
Latino media trailblazer Raoul A. Cortez, who made San Antonio his springboard for innovation, was honored with a Google Doodle on Tuesday, which would have been his 118th birthday..
Catch up quick: Cortez, who was born in Mexico but moved to San Antonio when was young, started the first Spanish language radio station in the U.S.
- KCOR started broadcasting from San Antonio in 1946, playing musicians from South Texas and Mexico and focusing on challenges faced by Latinos.
- In 1955, he launched KCOR-TV, the first Spanish language TV station in the U.S. and the forerunner to Univision, now a global leader for Spanish-speaking media.
Of note: During his time as a director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Cortez oversaw the Delgado v. Bastrop Independent School District case, which marked the end of segregation against Mexican Americans in Texas public schools.
- He later served two terms as president of LULAC.
Context: Doodles are the variations to the Google logo on the search engine's homepage that celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of distinguished people in history.
What they did: Google tapped artist Rafael Lopez, who splits time between San Diego and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to create the Doodle.
- Lopez says the geometric patterns in the Doodle were inspired by the Aztec mask sculpture that was a symbol of KCOR.
- The artist says he has been commissioned recently to create other works depicting Latino heritage. Cortez, like other figures he has painted, was "overlooked or marginalized for far too long," he says.
What they're saying: Guillermo Nicolas, Cortez's grandson, calls him an "American maverick."
- "He wanted to entertain, educate and create a platform for Latinos and issues important to us," Nicolas says in a statement.
- Cortez died in 1971 in San Antonio at age 66.