We’re doing something different! Today, Maria Hinojosa joins listeners for a special message announcing something new from Futuro. Been dreaming of immediate full season access, and behind the scenes chisme from your favorite shows at Futuro? We have too! Listen to hear more about what’s next for Futuro. To help us grow the future of journalism go to: futuromediagroup.org/joinplusThe Futuro Plus team includes producer Sam J Leeds, production managers Francis Poon and Jessica Ellis, marketing manager Luis Luna, development manager Danetsy Len, and engineers Gabriela Baez and Stephanie Lebow. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Suave and all our podcasts. www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus.
Chapter 1: Who is Maria Hinojosa and what inspired her journalism career?
So when I was a little girl, I used to watch the evening news every single night with my family.
They called it the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
We would all be getting ready to have dinner. It was six of us on the south side of Chicago. Mom was always making a meal for us. And I loved watching the news, the television news.
The message to the country is, free yourself by freeing us.
So much was happening.
Man finally has visited the moon after all the ages of wishing and waiting.
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Chapter 2: How did Maria's early experiences shape her view of news representation?
And we watched all the time. But the thing is, is that I never saw anyone who looked like me or my family. I never saw people like us in all of the television news that I was consuming. And of course, that made me think, like, how many other people are out there whose stories aren't being told, right? That kind of planted a seed in my head.
Chapter 3: What was Maria's journey through college radio and early broadcasting?
So fast forward from that to getting to New York, going to Barnard College, and becoming a part of the college radio station, creating my own show called Nueva Canción y Demás. Esta canción del pueblo... pretende hacer un recorrido a través de la historia de nuestro país. We would play Silvio Rodriguez, Pablo Milanes, all the protest music de la nueva canción from Latin America.
We talked Latin American politics. And I was a kid behind a microphone right here in New York City, and I was reaching into people's homes with my voice on the radio. And it always made me think, like, am I reaching a little kid just like me? Like, is that little kid going to hear me on the radio? and say, wow, she sounds like me. She's telling stories about people that I know.
So I did stick with this notion of becoming a journalist. And I got to some pretty incredible networks. I worked with NPR. I worked with CBS. I worked with CNN, WNYC, WNBC. And when I was in those newsrooms, I got a chance to see what they operated like. But I also got a chance to think about what kind of newsroom that I would have if I had my own newsroom.
Chapter 4: How did Maria's career develop at major news networks?
And I wanted to have a newsroom where it was like the journalism was 100% researched, fact-checked. But I wanted to create storytelling and journalism that touched people's hearts, right? I wanted to make people feel something. Now, when I reported at many of these networks, I was very clear about the fact that part of my responsibility was to bring these stories into the newsroom.
And what was interesting was that even though I was bringing this kind of new perspective, remember I was the first Latina in these newsrooms, oftentimes what it felt like was fellow journalists saying, oh, you're coming into our newsroom and you have a bias. Because you care about these stories. And I was like, no, I'm just telling you these stories because these are communities that I know.
And you're seeing this as a bias. OK, I pushed ahead and the show Latino USA, which was founded by the founding executive producer, Maria Martin. She tapped me to become the founding anchor of Latino USA. Wow. What a moment.
This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.
Well, you fast forward from there to the year 2010. And that's the year when I decided to create Futuro Media. I wanted to... Get Futuro Media to be a place where a show like Latino USA could be housed and grow. Make this into a newsroom for other journalists of conscience like me.
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Chapter 5: What is the vision and mission behind Futuro Media?
I wanted to create a newsroom with journalism that had a heart, that wasn't afraid to show emotion or actually care for the people that we were covering. It was a journalism with radical transparency, a journalism of conscience, a journalism that was transparent about who we are, where we come from.
And that really stood in the face of this kind of faux objectivity of a lot of traditional newsrooms. It was a journalism where we understood our role in the question of power in the United States of America. So here we are, 15 years later. Oh, my God. The vision of Futuro has absolutely grown.
You know, Latino USA has been on the air for more than 30 years, and it has launched the careers of so many amazing journalists and storytellers. And then... Futuro Media, we created Futuro Studios, right, to grow. We wanted to create a space for beautiful podcast series and audio documentaries, unlike anything else out there. So we created anything for Selena.
I saw a completely new way of being. I discovered Selena.
We created Loud, the history of reggaeton. Oh my God, La Brega.
But that's La Brega in Puerto Rico. That's La Brega. That's La Brega. That's La Brega in Puerto Rico.
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Chapter 6: What notable projects and podcasts has Futuro Media produced?
There's no perfect English translation for this word that Puerto Ricans use all the time.
We love you, Puerto Rico. And of course, the podcast Suave, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022.
For our audience, it's important for them to know that you are one of two Latinas in history to win a Pulitzer. And you did it out of an organization that you founded. So, so much kudos to you.
So, what's the point, Maria? Well, today we are taking a really big step and we're launching a membership and subscription program. It's a huge step and we're calling it Futuro Plus. Futuro Plus. It's full of exclusive episodes, lots of events and other amazing stuff that we're going to talk about in a second. But first, here's the reason why we're doing it.
I have said often that running an independent journalism nonprofit is not for the faint of heart. This is not easy. And in a lot of ways, it's becoming more difficult now than ever. For one, after a mega podcast boom during the pandemic that we all lived through. I mean, right now, the podcast industry has been in recession, right? It's shrinking.
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Chapter 7: What recognition has Futuro Media and its team achieved?
The big companies that poured money into the industry have dramatically been cutting back their podcast budgets. And that means less shows are getting greenlit. And the ones that are getting greenlit have much smaller budgets. And also, there's more competition than ever for the nonprofit dollars that are out there.
Now, we are incredibly grateful to have the support of some pretty powerful and wonderful foundations and really fabulous individuals. But We have to prepare for the future. You know, funding priorities can change. And so with all of the federal funding that's getting pulled from all across the country, there's more pressure now on those funders to fill those gaps. So we're feeling it.
And because of the rules of public media, actually, Futuro cannot run our own pledge drives on the radio, right? Only the public radio stations themselves can do that. I don't know if you knew this, but Futuro does not get one single dollar, not one penny from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or any other federal sources or public sources.
But it is something that we are proud of because it means that we are truly independent when it comes to reporting on the government. Now, on the other side of things, what we do at Futuro Media, it's not cheap, right? And with all due respect to people who do chatcasts, You know, we don't generally just put two people and sit them in front of a mic and just have them have at it, right?
Our weekly, deeply reported journalism and immersive podcast series cost money to make. And we have to pay our producers, our story editors, our sound designers, our audio engineers. Now, it is important for you to know that we use independent fact checkers for every series because we want to guarantee that you are getting factual, accurate information, right?
And of course, we also have all the normal business expenses required to operate. Legal, accounting, IT, rent. I like to say that we are lean and mean. Of course, the vast majority of our budget goes to creating the stories themselves. But there's no way around it. Making great journalism costs money.
So we are launching our subscription service because we want to be able to continue bringing you the kinds of podcasts that you aren't getting anywhere else. There is no other Futuro Media. And we think that actually being funded by our listeners is really healthy for an organization like ours. It means that we're accountable to our listeners, not to the government, not to corporations.
OK, so what will Futuro Plus look like? Oh, my God, it's going to be great. Basically, you're going to sign up on our website and you're going to get access to members only subscription feeds for all of our shows. I kind of think of it as like OnlyFans, but we keep our clothes on and everybody's skin is in the game. Get it? OK.
Now, on those feeds, first of all, you're going to get completely ad-free listening. Yes! And there will be extended interviews and special exclusive episodes filled with juicy, behind-the-scenes chisme and how we make this all happen. Also, we're going to send members-only newsletters with notes from the field, great recommendations. There's going to be special subscriber-only playlists.
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