Aguirre, Raul

Part 1 of 5 was recorded on February 12th, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

b. 1955 

  • Childhood in Nogales. Economic disparity between Sonora and Arizona. Transborder employment. Grandfather was Mexican border agent. 

  • Early trips from Nogales to Tucson. Move to Tucson in 1969. 

  • English language classes. The politics of language and bilingualism. 

  • Living in South Tucson. 

  • Career counseling and tracking at Pueblo High School, college support from Spanish teacher.  

Part 2 of 5 was recorded on March 12th, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

  • Working graveyard shift at Denny’s during high school. 

  • Fighting among high school kids. 

  • Studying English. Struggling in New Start Program before starting at UA. 

  • Getting an English-Spanish translation and voiceover job from a Denny’s patron. First exposure to working in media. 

  • Starting at the University of Arizona in 1974 and trying to get a program on KUAZ in 1975/6. 

  • Pitching bilingual radio to Spanish-language radio pioneer Ernesto Portillo of KXCW-FM. 

  • Development and growth of Chicano radio in the later 1970s. 

  • Politics of Chicano radio and Aguirre’s personal social conscience. 

  • KXCW-FM is sold in 1977. Aguirre’s program takes whole overnight shift at KXCW-AM. 

  • Hosting TV show “Fiesta” at KUAT-TV in 1977. Too political. Replaced by Arizona Illustrated. 

  • Chicano identity and the generational/ideological debate over Hispanic and Mexican American. 

  • A few more comments on the UA’s New Start program. 

  • College jobs: cooking at the Santa Rita Hotel, an aside about the opening of Cafe Poca Cosa. DJing at local nightclubs. 

Part 3 of 5 was recorded on March 27th, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

Formation of MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) at the University of Arizona and, later, statewide in the mid-1970s. 

Supporting United Farmworkers actions in high school and college. UFW’s conflicting sympathies between organized labor and immigration. 

A chronological jump ahead: the connection between activism, civil rights, and socioeconomic opportunity. Bringing an activist sensibility into the corporate space. Recognizing the reality of capitalism and trying to create generational wealth in the Chicano community. 

A little more information about “Fiesta” on KUAT-TV in 1977. 

Consolidation of commercial radio in the 1970s and 1980s. Loss of local programming and news. Aguirre’s program in the 1980s “Taboos and Realities: Let’s Talk About Life” on KXCW. Acquisition of Spanish-language stations by non-Latino conglomerates. 

Departure from radio in the 1980s and taking an unexpected job in behavioral health as the Director of Resource Development and Education for ADAPT in 1982 (later SAMHC, later Pasadera, later Community Bridges, Incorporated). 

Part 4 of 5 was recorded on April 18th, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

  • Work in behavioral health at ADAPT. Behavioral health providers in Tucson during the 1980s. Asymmetry in services between white and nonwhite communities. A heroin epidemic in Old Pascua. 

  • Founding the Corazon de Aztlan Chicano youth leadership camp in 1980. 

  • Changes in youth culture from the 1970s to 1980s with a discussion of gangs, drugs, weapons, lowrider car clubs, and music. Chicano community activities as an alternative to gang identity. The Tucson Police Department’s attempts at community policing. 

  • Learning to work with corporate donors on charitable causes. 

  • Starting a local Univision show in 1989 and moving to Univision national in 1991. Lack of diversity at Univision, the network’s right-wing politics. Disagreements with the network. 

  • Starting the REA Media Group, a Latino-focused, bilingual marketing company in 2000. 

Part 5 of 5 was recorded on April 23rd, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

  • Tucson’s advertising scene in 2000 and lack of agencies focused on Latino consumers. 

  • Talking to large clients about the Latino market. Trying to use advertising for prosocial causes. Stories about the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Health Safari, Cox Cable and Sunnyside School Distract, Arizona Public Service and minority businesses. 

  • Competing with traditional agencies professing to understand the Latino market. 

  • Pitching Donor Network on a Latino-focused organ donation campaign.  

  • Trying to respect rather than exploit consumers. 

  • Pushing clients to give back to their communities. 

  • Staffing at the REA Media Group. Scaling up and down based on changes in marketing landscape and technology. 

  • Creative side projects while running the agency: helping musicians and speaking to college students about Chicano history. 

  • The ad industry’s move from long campaigns for discrete projects in the 2010s. 

  • Changes in media over Aguirre’s career. Diminishing attention spans, disappearance of Spanish-language radio news. 

Aengus Anderson