DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this corner of Texas history. Now settle in, because this one starts with a voice — and not just any voice. October 28, 1928.
A radio station in San Antonio, call letters KGCI — known today as KMAC — flips a switch and sends something out over the airwaves that Texas had never heard before. Two full hours. Every word in Spanish.
They called it The International Goodwill Program, and friend, that name was not accidental. The man who owned that station went by a name you couldn't make up if you tried: Sam Liberto, known around town as Radio Sam. His studios sat right there at St.
Mary's University, and Radio Sam had a vision. He teamed up with a businessman named Edward Buckley, and together those two went looking for the right person to bring this thing to life. They found him in Julián F.
Lozano. Now, persuaded is the word the marker uses — Radio Sam and Buckley persuaded Lozano to produce and announce the program. Whatever that conversation looked like, Lozano said yes.
And then he didn't stop saying yes. Night after night, that program went out — two hours, entirely in Spanish — and Lozano spent the rest of his life promoting the cause of international understanding. He kept at it until his death on January 31, 1951.
The tradition he established didn't die with him. San Antonio radio stations went right on scheduling many hours of Spanish-language programs each day. One voice, one October night, and the dial was never quite the same again.
What the marker says
"The International Goodwill Program" On October 28, 1928, "Radio Sam" (KGCI, Now KMAC) initiated a two-hour nightly program entirely in Spanish. The station's owner, Sam Liberto, with studios located at St. Mary's University, and Edward Buckley, a businessman, persuaded Julián F. Lozano to produce and announce the program. Until his death on January 31, 1951, Lozano promoted cause of international understanding. In the tradition he established, San Antonio radio stations schedule many hours of programs in Spanish each day. (1973)