Gateways/Portales: Interview with Eduardo Lopez

Eduardo Lopez, producer of the 'Linea Directa' public service television series, talked about birth in Mexico and growing up in El Salvador; why his family moved to Washington, D.C. area, specifically Silver Spring, MD; his first impressions of the United States; and growing up in Silver Spring, MD, and then San Francisco, CA in the late 60s, early 70s, and then back to Silver Spring, MD for high school. He also spoke of his experience working for the high school newspaper, and studying photojournalism in Syracuse, NY. Lopez explained his desire to develop a Spanish language television show to help war refugees coming to the United States; he saw a need to communicate to the immigrant community who were lacking access to back information. Lopez talked about the origin and development of 'Linea Directa;' the show's impact on the community; the struggle to keep the show on the air from beginning to the present; the production of the dramatic vignettes; and partnership with Univision and then NBC-4. 'Linea Directa' was Washington, D.C.'s first Spanish language local news program; it was first created in 1991. Clips of this interview were included in the 'Civil Unrest and Community Change' and 'Local Media' sections of the exhibition.

Interview. Related to exhibition 'Gateways/Portales.' Dated 20161104.