RESOLUTION
PUBLIC SESSION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Monday, December 11, 2023
unanimously
Resolved,
That the Board of Directors
of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Expresses its Heartfelt Condolences
to the Family and Friends of
Maria Martin
Pioneering Latina Public Radio Journalist
Creator, Latino USA
We will long remember public radio journalist Maria Emilia Martin, who dedicated her professional life to bringing Latino voices and stories to English-language public radio and helped inspire and launch the careers of a cadre of Latino journalists in the U.S. and Central America.
Maria got her start in 1975 at KBBF in Santa Rosa, Calif., the first Latino-owned community radio station in the U.S. She was an editor on NPR's national show Latin File, then in 1990 became NPR’s first and only Latin American affairs editor on the national desk.
She left NPR in 1993 to create the English-language public radio program Latino USA, which was praised by President Clinton at its official launch on May 5, 1993, at the Public Radio Conference. Latino USA is now the longest running national Latino news and cultural public radio program in the nation.
In 2015, Maria Martin was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame.
The CPB Board of Directors marks Maria Martin’s leadership, vision, and extraordinary service to public media and the American public with deep respect and appreciation and offers our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.