![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/juanitagrad5.5.25-19-scaled.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuanita Hurtado Hu\u00e9rfano<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuanita Hurtado Hu\u00e9rfano<\/p>\n
At WMNF 88.5 FM, our mission is not a slogan framed on a wall. It is something we live, on the air, in our newsroom, and in the people we choose to bring into this community. That\u2019s why welcoming Juanita Hurtado as our new Assistant News Director is more than a hire. It\u2019s a statement. It\u2019s a commitment. It\u2019s community radio in action.<\/p>\n
A Journey \u2014 In Every Sense of the Word<\/p>\n
Juanita started at the beginning of this year. She drove from Colorado to Tampa in the middle of winter in an electric car. Yes, you read that right. A full winter odyssey across states, charging stations, snow, and uncertainty. But no winter storm was going to stop her.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something poetic about that journey. Because Juanita didn\u2019t just travel miles to get here, she carried with her a powerful vision of journalism rooted in integrity, activism, culture, and language rights. And now, that voice belongs to Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
From Bogot\u00e1 to Boulder to Tampa<\/p>\n
Juanita hails from Bogot\u00e1, Colombia\u2019s capital, a city celebrated as a birthplace of many of Latin America\u2019s most influential writers and journalists. Literature, storytelling, and sharp political thinking are part of its DNA. Her love for writing started early. She told me that when her mom realized how much she enjoyed reading and writing, she said something beautifully practical:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s great. But you need to eat and pay your bills.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Juanita chose journalism. (That sounds familiar. I made a similar decision 35 years ago.) She earned her degree in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder, with minors in creative writing and linguistics, a combination that explains her precision with language and her deep respect for storytelling.<\/p>\n
Before arriving at WMNF, Juanita helped rebuild and lead a struggling community radio newsroom in Colorado. She didn\u2019t just report stories, she built infrastructure. She recruited volunteers. She created editorial systems. She opened a Spanish-language department. She expanded programming. She helped recover an FCC license.<\/p>\n
By the time she graduated, the newsroom had grown from a handful of producers to 80 volunteers and had collected over 40 awards, including multiple National Mark of Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n
Most recently, she won 1st Place (tie) in the Student Audio Competition, Comedy or Drama category, at the BEA Festival of Media Arts for Ruidosas Episode 14: Las Brujas de Cachiche. \ud83c\udfa7 Enjoy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Journalism That Makes You Think<\/p>\n Juanita told us that one of the first shows she heard on WMNF was an episode of Midpoint that didn\u2019t just report the news, it questioned it. It zoomed out. It asked listeners to think critically about media noise and transparency.<\/p>\n