The Radio Ink Medallas de Cortez award for Lifetime Leadership was given to three Hispanic radio pioneers, the Liberman brothers: Elias, Jose and Julio. Accepting the award on their behalf last night at the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio conference was Entravision COO Jeff Liberman, pictured here with Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads and
President of McGavren Guild Media, Lisa Sirotka-Sonnenklar.
The Liberman brothers got into the radio industry in the 1960's after finding themselves buying so much radio time to move products from their pharmaceutical company that they decided to make radio their career. They initially purchased XEGM in Tijuana and in 1974 purchased KLVE in L.A. for $2 million. They flipped that station?s format to make it the first Spanish-language FM in the city and the second in the United States. The company added KTNQ-AM a few years later. Today, Elias and Julio are retired. Jose and his son Lenard started and continue to operate Liberman Broadcasting. Julio's son, Jeffery Liberman, also followed his father's footsteps and serves as the COO of Entravision Communications.
