A major figure in Spanish-language radio in this country has died.
Raúl Alarcón Sr. was 82.
The Cuban exile came to New York in the 1960s and “lived the American dream on a grand scale,” as described in a retrospective in the Miami Herald.
Eduardo Caballero, a friend and broadcast business colleague, called him a visionary. “When he was in New York, he incorporated the idea that the music to be played had to be open for all artists,” Cabellero was quoted. “He was boycotted, but overcame it and imposed a better concept for radio.”
Alarcón was 25 when he started a shortwave station in Camaguey, Cuba; eventually he owned stations that were later confiscated by the Castro regime.
SBS has 21 U.S. radio stations, a Florida TV station and music Web site. He served as chairman of the board of SBS until November 1999.
