KPBS LATINO NEWS SHOW GETS NEW BOSS

Born in Mexico City, raised in Chicago and educated in New York, Maria Hinojosa brings a sharp news sense, along with a cosmopolitan background, to her job as the new producer of National Public Radio’s “Enfoque Nacional.”

The only NPR program to emanate from San Diego, “Enfoque Nacional” is produced each week at the KPBS (89.5 FM) studios and beamed by satellite to about 80 radio stations around the country. The 30-minute news program, in Spanish, focuses on national issues of concern to Latinos. Its name translates as “National Focus.”

Hinojosa, 25, is still amazed at being tapped to produce “Enfoque,” which made a big impression on her as a teen-ager. She first heard the program over a Chicago radio station while she was a high school senior.

“I was glad to hear non-commercial Latino news, seriously and professionally done--not ‘And here comes the latest news from Mexico City!’ ” Hinojosa said, mimicking a juiced-up Latino disc jockey. “Hearing about Latinos nationally in Texas and California and the issues--I’ll never forget it. I never thought I would be working here.”

Hinojosa gives an impression of endless energy held under tight control. She came to San Diego last month, fresh from a year’s stint in Washington as a field producer on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” There she earned a reputation as a producer with a nose for the important story and the skill to make it a human story as well.

Working with “Weekend” host Scott Simon, Hinojosa chose and produced the kind of touching and incisive news features that have become “Weekend’s” trademark. Among them: a segment on a 22-year-old New York City “crack” addict named Hawk; a series about detainees in a holding facility for illegal immigrants in Harlingen, Tex., and a profile of the Vietnamese community that is struggling to adapt to life in Corpus Christi, Tex.

At “Enfoque,” which airs locally at 9:30 p.m. Thursdays and is repeated at the same time Fridays, moves from producing segments to producing the entire 30-minute program.

One of three NPR programs produced in Spanish, “Enfoque” was born in 1979. It is the brainchild of three men: Jose Mireles, Hector Molina and Jose McMurray, who once lobbied NPR to produce programs in Spanish.

“We saw a need for a national bilingual program and the need for NPR to take a leadership role,” said McMurray, now NPR’s producer of bilingual programs. “We have such a growing Spanish-speaking population in the United States, and the Latinos--surveys have shown--are the people who listen to the radio the most.”

Of the 14 million to 15 million people in the United States who speak Spanish--20 million if Puerto Rico is included, McMurray said: “We listen to radio a lot. When we get information in Spanish, we tend to believe it more.”

Designed to inform the Spanish-speaking population in the United States of matters that affect them, “Enfoque” homes in not only on obvious issues, such as the Simpson-Rodino immigration bill, but puts the news in an ethnic perspective.

When the United States bombed Libya in March, “Enfoque” ran a segment interviewing the family of Puerto Rican-born Capt. Fernando Rivas-Dominicci, one of two Air Force officers lost in the raid. A network of 40 to 50 correspondents around the country and in Latin America make such reporting possible.

“Enfoque” has highlighted illiteracy in Latino communities from Chicago and New York to cities along the border.

“Many of the people who cross the border illegally can’t read the signs in Spanish or English,” Mireles said. “They don’t understand stop lights, things we take for granted.”

Hinojosa brings an intense ethnic pride to her job. Although she has never become an American citizen, she has lived in the United States since she was an infant. Her father, a research doctor, moved his family from Mexico City to take a position at the University of Chicago.

Coming to San Diego was Hinojosa’s first visit to California, and it brought major culture shock. The open spaces and greenery were only part of it. “When I hear things like ‘This person’s energy is wonderful,’ I know instantly I’m in California,” Hinojosa said.

If California is alienating, Tijuana provides a return to Hinojosa’s roots. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It was like a breath of fresh air, people out on the streets. It was wonderful.”

Hinojosa hinted at possible changes she may make in “Enfoque.”

“I have a lot of ideas about ‘Enfoque,’ but I want to take it slow.” She hopes the program can cover Latin America more.

“I think we could go into more depth--rather than a three-minute update (on the war in El Salvador), I would like to cover what’s happening to the people,” she said.

“We only have a half hour a week, which is really nothing to cover a population that is so great.”

Another change the staff is hoping to see is an English version of “Enfoque” that may occur within the year.

“We’d like to do it in English,” Hinojosa said, “but not at the expense of sacrificing our program in Spanish. Our first priority is to serve our Latino community.”